SCOTTISH Labour has outlined plans to pump nearly £1 billion into Scotland’s economy in what it calls “the most radical set of fiscal policies ever to be presented at Holyrood”.
The party’s alternative budget proposals include an extra £100 million for the NHS, a fully-funded public sector pay rise and the introduction of a 50p top rate of income tax.
It comes ahead of the first vote on the SNP’s draft budget plans tomorrow, which will need to secure the support of at least one other party to pass.
But critics branded Labour's plans "last minute" – while the Scottish Government dismissed them as "fantasy figures riddled with factual blunders".
Labour insisted its proposals demonstrated a “radical alternative” to the SNP’s “tinkering around the edges”, and will now seek to build support in Holyrood.
Leader Richard Leonard said it was "time to end the failed experiment of austerity by making radical use of the powers available to the Scottish Parliament".
He added: “When we campaigned for a Scottish Parliament, we saw it as a bulwark against Tory austerity, but in recent years it has simply been a conveyor belt for cuts. That needs to end."
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Labour’s alternative income tax plan matches the Scottish Government's starter rate of 19p, but places the income threshold for a 45p rate at over £60,000 and introduces a new 50p top rate for those earning over £100,000.
The SNP's draft budget would see a 46p rate only kicking in for earnings over £150,000. Both the SNP and Labour proposals would mean those earning above £33,000 paying more tax than they do now.
Labour also called for increased economic powers to be handed over to local authorities, enabling them to charge a “tourist tax” on each hotel night per person, potentially raising £70m a year.
Edinburgh Council – which is run by an SNP-Labour coalition – is already advancing its own case for a similar levy.
A land value tax, meanwhile, would allow councils to tax more than 10,000 hectares of vacant, economically inactive land, while a proposed social responsibility levy would apply to alcohol sales in licensed premises.
Labour said its plans would also fund a pay increase for local government workers, addressing a key criticism of the SNP’s proposals.
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But the Greens – widely seen as the most likely to support the SNP’s budget – blasted Scottish Labour’s plans for arriving a day before the first budget vote.
And Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie, who could also throw his support behind the SNP if certain demands are met, said there was a "whiff of wishful thinking" to the proposals.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay branded Labour's vision "a wish list scribbled on the back of a fag packet.”
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