SWINNEY BRANDED 'HABITUAL LIAR' OVER SNP TAX RISE CLAIMS

JOHN SWINNEY has been accused of leading a government that “habitually lies” to the public as he himself now faces a ministerial code breach claim.

- BY DAVID WALKER Scottish Politics Reporter

The First Minister, left, has refused to accept that he and the SNP have been bragging about false achievements when it comes to income tax - and has in fact doubled down on the position.

In the space of two weeks, he and his SNP Ministers have been caught out in numerous “lies”, mostly about tax.

Rivals suggested Mr Swinney, who has been in the Scottish Government for 18 years, should know better, as they say he “brazenly misled Parliament and he is blatantly conning voters”.

On Thursday, he was 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.