Tories pledge £650m tax cuts for Scots
Scots would receive a £650 million cut to their tax bills funded by savings from cutting the SNP 's 'bloated public sector', under plans to be unveiled by the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
Russell Findlay will use a keynote speech to his party conference in Edinburgh to unveil proposals for a Taxpayer Savings Act to rein in wasteful public spending and slash bureaucracy.
The legislation would cut the number of quangos by a quarter, bring business leaders into government to identify savings and cut red tape in the NHS and other bodies.
Mr Findlay will promise that the savings would be used to fund tax cuts of up to £444 per year for workers forced to endure the highest income tax bills in the UK.
The Scottish Tories want to abolish the current 20 per cent and 21 per cent rates of income tax and instead ensure that a 19 per cent rate applies on all taxable earnings up to the higher rate threshold of £43,663.
Mr Findlay's intervention came after he told The Telegraph at the start of the year that Scotland needed a 'MacMusk' to cut the huge amount of SNP 'waste and incompetence' in the country's bloated public sector.
He said that John Swinney, the Scottish First Minister, should follow the example of President Donald Trump's decision to bring Elon Musk into the US administration to cut state bureaucracy and inefficiency. Mr Musk has since left the role and is embroiled in a public feud with the president.
Around 600,000 people are employed in Scotland's public sector, making up 22 per cent of the total workforce, compared with about 17 per cent in the UK as a whole. They are also paid on average £2,400 per year more north of the Border.
Meanwhile, anyone earning more than £30,318 pays more income tax than if they lived elsewhere in the UK. There are six tax bands in Scotland, double the total south of the Border.
'Wielding a claymore on waste'
In his first conference speech as party leader, Mr Findlay is expected to say: 'Putting a stop to wasteful spending is top of our agenda. We need to urgently streamline bloated government.
'Improving services means treating people's money with respect. Today I can announce that our party would introduce a Taxpayer Savings Act to get the books in order and deliver better value.
'This proposal would save £650 million by cutting red tape, getting a grip on spending, and harnessing business expertise. We would then use that money to bring down people's taxes.'
He will pledge that the Tories would shut down quangos that 'don't deliver value' and 'tackle the SNP's culture of cronyism through strict new rules on public appointments.'
'No more jobs for the boys, and we would reduce the number of ministers and advisors. We would introduce a Scottish Agency of Value and Efficiency – run by business leaders,' Mr Findlay is expected to say.
'People in the real world who know how to get things done. They would be tasked with wielding a claymore on waste.'
'More to do'
Mr Findlay will say his party would also introduce an 'Accountability and Transparency Index' to scrutinise organisations that receive public money and 'dismantle the SNP's toxic era of secrecy.'
Workers pay a 19 per cent starter rate of income tax on all earnings above the £12,570 tax-free personal allowance up to £15,397, then a 20 per cent basic rate applies up to £27,491, rising to a 21 per cent intermediate rate up to £43,662.
Under the Tory plan, the 19 per cent rate would apply on all these earnings, from £12,571 up to £43,662. The move would benefit everyone earning £15,398 or above, with the maximum saving being £444 a year.
Ivan McKee, the SNP finance minister, said: 'The Scottish Government is making real progress in reforming the public sector. The number of Scottish public bodies under government control has shrunk from 199 in 2007 to 131.
'However, we know there is more to do, which is why I will soon unveil our Public Service Reform strategy.
'Unfortunately, this work has been made more difficult by the UK Government's decision to pursue Brexit, which in 2023 alone led to an estimated cut in public revenues of about £2.3 billion.'
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