Minister defends Osborne’s Budget

tories have hailed a tax cut for the rich, rejected devolution of corporation tax and supported council tax reform.

In an address to the Scottish Conservative conference in Troon, Exchequer Secretary David Gauke defended Chancellor George Osborne’s decision in this week’s Budget to cut the top rate of tax introduced by Labour.

He said: “The 50p rate didn’t raise very much money, confirmed by HMRC and the independence Office for Budget Responsibility.

“Now it takes a very special talent to devise a tax that sends a terrible signal on our competitiveness, does little to reduce the deficit and gets next to nothing from the wealthy.”

Mr Gauke claimed the wealthy would now “pay five times more in tax” through the closure of loopholes and increased stamp duty on houses worth more than £2 million.

He added: “The Scottish Government say if they had power over corporation tax, they would take great steps to make Scotland more competitive.

“The details, I have to say, are a little fuzzy. There is not much information about how the tax will be collected or calculated. They tend to brush over the fact that the overwhelming view of business is that a different corporation tax regime in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK would create unwelcome administrative burdens.”

Stirling councillor Neil Benny said: “I come from a council that passed a Conservative budget, and was the only council in Scotland to cut council tax. That is the reformed council tax that we need.” He added: “We did not cut a single thing from front-line services to afford it.”