SNP accused of ‘ignoring difficult tax questions’

The row came after a letter from the Scottish Government stated that its “final” submission on corporation tax was a ten-page document submitted last week.

The UK government said this did not address questions from the Treasury over the cost to the Exchequer and Scotland, estimated to be £2.6 billion, as well as problems of the inter-connectedness of the Scottish economy with the rest of the UK. Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: “The Scottish Government cannot just ignore the difficult questions they have been asked on corporation tax. It would be completely unreasonable to pretend these questions haven’t been asked or to decide that they don’t deserve an answer.”

But a spokesman for SNP finance secretary John Swinney described the UK government’s position as “ridiculous”.

He said: “We have provided a detailed case for devolving corporation tax, including modelling, showing for example how pre-announcing a reduction in corporation tax from 23 per cent to 20 per cent would lead to 27,000 more jobs in the Scottish economy over time. By contrast, the Scottish Secretary didn’t even know how the Scotland Bill’s income tax measures – its central aspect – would affect the Scottish Government’s budget.”

The row came on a day when Prime Minister David Cameron was asked by Western Isles SNP MP Angus MacNeil if he agreed with the 68 per cent of Scots who supported devolving oil revenues to Scotland, according to a recent poll.

To the sound of laughter in the chamber, Mr Cameron said: “Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.”

Afterwards Mr MacNeil said: “I was astonished that the Prime Minister laughed at the hopes and aspirations of seven out of ten Scots. More revealing was that he was joined in this mockery of Scotland by many Labour as well as Tory MPs. It is small wonder that these parties are on a continuing downward spiral in Scotland.”