Meeting of the Parliament 18 June 2025
Under the Scottish National Party, Scots are being hammered with high taxes while public services continue to decline. That is why the motion that I will move in this Parliament—a Parliament that is paid for by each and every taxpayer—will force every member of the Scottish Parliament to decide whose side they are on: whether they want to be on the side of the bloated SNP state or on the side of delivering a better deal for Scottish taxpayers. Those taxpayers are sick and tired of an SNP Government that costs them more but delivers less, of a Government that spends their money on inward-looking fringe obsessions such as gender reform and policing free speech, and of paying for meaningless quangos and a civil service that has doubled in size since 2014.
People are paying more for public services that simply are not working. We all know, deep down, that that is the case, because our constituents tell us so. Our postbags and inboxes lay bare 18 years of SNP failure on schools, hospitals, roads and railways. However, it is clear from the amendments today that it is only the Scottish Conservatives who know what the public want and need. That is why we propose a tax cut for Scottish workers, scrapping the 20p and 21p rates to create a simplified 19p rate for income up to £43,600 a year. That is a tax cut for hard workers of up to £444, while still funding front-line public services.