Swinney slammed for ‘conning voters’

Scots Tories urge FM to set the record straight on tax

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confronted in Holyrood by Scottish Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy, who pointed out that his insistence he hadn't broken an SNP manifesto not to raise income tax was not true.

Mr Swinney said: “Presiding Officer, we've maintained our manifesto commitments in relation to taxation.”

Income tax was hiked in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 Scottish Budgets, despite the SNP vowing not to do so ahead of the 2021 Holyrood election.

The party's manifesto specifically said it would “freeze income tax rates and bands and increase thresholds by a maximum of inflation”.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison also repeated the claim that the majority of taxpayers in Scotland continue to pay less income tax than they wouldin the rest of the UK.

She told MSPs on Thursday: “I repeat that, as the Scottish Fiscal Commission has said, the majority of taxpayers pay less in Scotland than they would elsewhere in the UK.”

This is despite the Scottish Fiscal Commission estimating this was not in fact the case in the last two years in a major new report.