Meeting of the Parliament 30 October 2024
I do not have time.
Labour claims to be investing in growth but, at the same time, it risks undermining growth through a stealth tax on jobs. The national insurance tax rate that was announced today will halt investment and stifle growth, and it could force Scottish firms to close altogether. It jeopardises pay rises in the private sector and will cost jobs.
Let us take hospitality across Scotland as an example. Many pubs are staring into the abyss. The SNP has let down the sector time and again, particularly and most recently in relation to rates relief. Wages are the sector’s biggest cost, so hitting it with a jobs tax is bad not just for the sector but for the economy and growth in Scotland.
Labour and the SNP have proved that they cannot be trusted to grow the Scottish economy. It is increasingly clear that there is only one party that businesses can trust, only one party that is standing up for pensioners, only one party that is standing up for Scottish taxpayers and workers and only one party that is standing up for growth in Scotland. That is the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. Between now and the next election, we will work to unite people and businesses that have been let down badly by both Governments and their lamentable budgets. That is why I encourage colleagues to support the motion in my name.
I move,
That the Parliament believes that the Scottish Government has failed to deliver sustained levels of economic growth in Scotland; notes that this failure has cost Scotland’s public services £624 million in 2022-23 alone; recognises that the Scottish Ministers have increased income tax on people in Scotland by over £1.4 billion since 2016 and have created a damaging tax differential with the rest of the UK; acknowledges that, despite increased taxes and higher spending on devolved public services, this has failed to deliver better outcomes for the taxpayers who fund these services, and calls on the Scottish Government to examine the potential positive impact on jobs and economic growth of beginning to lower tax in the upcoming Scottish Budget.
17:06