BENJAMIN Disraeli once likened the 19th century Liberal front bench to “a range of exhausted volcanoes”. At Holyrood the opposition, although less articulate than Dizzy, is increasingly vocal in applying his epithet to the SNP cabinet.

There’s plenty of ammunition. The Government’s perceived failings on education, health, policing and transport are sitting ducks. Its response, or lack of it, to recent UK Budget tax cuts for the better off, presents yet another soft target.

The widening tax differential north and south of the Border brought a predictable negative response. Iain Macwhirter, on these pages, effectively dismantled the canard that a few extra pounds in tax will provoke a mass exodus of the professional classes. Nevertheless, there is still pressure on Finance Secretary Derek Mackay to mirror the cuts for better off Scottish taxpayers in his upcoming budget.

Depressingly, some of the loudest squeals about the consequences of higher tax levels north of the Border have come from the medical profession. They warn of a caravan of white-coated, economic refugees trudging its way over Carter Bar. Ironically, some of the loudest voices belong to those who rightly warn of the impact of an imminent funding crisis for the NHS in Scotland.

And that, in a nutshell, is the problem. We all want and expect world-class hospitals, schools, roads and railways. As long as someone else pays for our public services. Even if, like the medical profession, it’s those very services that fund their very comfortable lifestyle. We want our cake and eat it.

The Finance Secretary need not be apologetic about maintaining Scottish tax levels and declining to pass on the cuts set out in the Chancellor’s Budget. His budget should be set in the context of the funding crisis facing public services in general and the NHS in particular. The full economic impact of our ageing population has yet to be felt. Nevertheless, nearly half of the Scottish Government’s £73billion budget already goes on social care, pensions and health. The annual cost of personal care alone is north of £500 million.

There is no choice or rather, there is a choice. We either pay more or allow our public services to continue to wither. The Brexiters’ additional £350m per week for the NHS has already been exposed as the cynical lie that it always was. Even the Prime Minister has conceded that it may be necessary for us to pay “a little more”.

It’s not that we can’t afford to pay that little more. Data provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals the better off have been getting richer as the poorest households experience a fall of around 1 0per cent in their incomes. It’s difficult to draw Europe-wide comparisons, but in general, the tax burden on the better off is lighter in the UK than in most other countries. The more comfortable in France, Belgium, Austria and Germany all pay more in tax. The Scandinavians are in a league of their own. The payback is the enhanced quality of public services in those countries.

Tax cuts that largely benefit the better off have become mainstream political and economic philosophy. Labour has given no undertaking to reverse Philip Hammond’s tax cuts. Of course, it’s not just the overt perks delivered through tweaking income tax thresholds. The haves have benefited through successive chancellors’ sleight of hand. There are camouflaged handouts delivered by wheezes such as tax relief on the wealthy’s pension contributions. It’s not as if the additional income trickles down to the less well off. An army of wealth and stealth advisers seek loopholes for their clients to slither through.

Are the better off unable to connect their tax cuts and the atrophying of public services? Or is it more likely that, in our “me first” society, they no longer care? The continuing scandal of charitable status subsidises private education. Private medical insurance, often provided by employers, allows the better off to sidestep the inconvenience of NHS waiting lists.

The Finance Secretary will require considerable political skill and above all, courage to resist calls for tax cuts mirroring those in the pipeline for the rest of UK. He needs to treat the electorate as grown-ups and tell us the unvarnished truth. If we want better services or even maintain those we already have, we need to pay up.

The Opposition will contend they can reprise the miracle of the loaves and fishes and it won’t cost us a thing. If we believe that, we’ll believe anything.