To grow we must make work pay

WE desperately need a change in the way Scotland's economy is run. Everyone knows that we are paying more but getting less, as taxes rise and frontline services collapse amid SNP mismanagement.

- Rachael Hamilton

Things, unfortunately, are likely to get worse in next week's Scottish budget, just weeks after Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves followed the SNP's lead by hiking people's bills. The combined impact of the two governments' left-wing policies - especially by dragging workers into higher tax bands - will cost the average full-time worker an extra £1,800 a year by the end of the next Scottish Parliament. Most Scottish workers already pay more than in other parts of the UK, with middle-earners £1,500 more. That's not the wealthiest, but NHS workers, teachers, police, those running small businesses and others.