Willie Rennie will challenge the SNP in a parliamentary debate on their budget this week to actually use the powers that are coming the Scottish Parliament’s way and raise the rate of income tax to pay for a £475m investment in education. The SNP, of course, are holding out for independence and have no intention of showing that the powers they have can make a huge difference. In their 9 years in office, they’ve not even used the tax-raising powers that came to Scotland with devolution in 1999.
Willie’s penny on tax for education is a bold move. Saying you’ll put up taxes is a risk for a party in our position, but this is no time to play it safe. Anyway, just from talking to people, I think that there is a sense that you get what you pay for and if you want world class public services, you need to put money into them.
Willie said:
Liberal Democrats will be using this debate to challenge the SNP to show whether they are conservative or progressive, whether they’ll keep talking left but walking right.
Liberal Democrats are the only ones calling for Parliament to actually use the new powers we’ll get in April. Why wait? There is no point in sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, when we could make a real difference to the life chances of Scots.
Toddlers deserve nursery education. Primary and secondary pupils deserve high-quality schooling, no matter where they’re from. People of all ages deserve the chance to go to college, whether it’s with the aim of changing their career. And businesses need a pool of skilled and experienced people they can draw from.
As John Swinney knows full well, councils are dreading what is round the corner. But there is still time for him to stop his cuts and show whether the SNP are conservative or progressive once and for all.
This is the first time that what the Parliament raises is as important as what it spends, as the BBC’s Scottish political editor wrote the other day:
In which respect, this is a political calculation by the Liberal Democrats. Given their predicament post the UK General Election, they know they need to make an impact. An early impact. Hence the early announcement of this plan.
They know they need to set themselves apart from their rivals. Hence Mr Rennie’s challenge to his opponents today to state their views on his proposals.
It adds yet again to the sense that this will be a different devolved election – one where tax is as prominent as spending.
The other thing that Willie is trying to do is to puncture the SNP’s rhetoric on being “progressive.” Their Council Tax freeze has mainly benefitted the richest and, so far, they have not used the significant powers they have to bring in a progressive fiscal regime.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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10 Comments
It’s an interesting policy and we will see whether it has an impact in the LDs polling as we approach May although I don’t recall the Labour/LD coalition rushing to use the SGs tax varying powers. No doubt Willie Rennie will also be laying out the LDs plans for a progressive fiscal regime.
The policy is a mistake no matter how well intentioned. It will more than likely turn voters away and that we cannot afford, it sends the wrong message at the wrong time in my opinion.
I think the basic rate of tax needs to go up, my only problem is only spending the money on education. In the general election the party had a near obsession with pleasing teachers, starting the election campaign with them and finishing with them whilst other workers were not mentioned at all.
I’ve heard Scotland is behind in education funding, but if Willie Rennie wants to really stand out he should fund something not traditionally Lib Dem too.
Regards
Are the SNP a progressive party or are they just pretending to be progressive? They’re pretending. The SNP are nationalists on the centre right blaming the tories in Westminster for cuts that they themselves have the power, but not the will, to stop.
Now before attacking the SNP for this, how about looking closer to home? Are the lib dems a progressive party? Less than one year ago they were claiming to be moderates exactly equidistant between labour and the tories. That’s surely not a party in favour of tax rises to fund education? But now they are? Or is it different messages in different parts of the country again? Yes to tax rises in Scotland, no to tax rises in the west country? Do you not see the irony?
I told a school teacher about the lib dems tax hike for schools policy. She told me that she liked the policy but would never vote lib dem as you just couldn’t trust them.
I believe this is a good policy but I also believe the lib dems will lose seats in May. I think seats will be lost despite this policy, not because of it.
The SNP are a centre left (occasionally) progressive party with unfortunate authoritarian and exclusivity tendencies. Mind…..Rsf7 points a pretty accurate picture about the modern Lib Dems as well. I like Willie very much and he’s doing a good job – but, oh for the days of the radical Jo Grimond party I first knew.
Rsf7. Which party can you trust ? The Conservatives have broken several promises since May 2015 but they have not suffered any loss of support. The Labour party broke their promise on university tuition fees but were re-elected twice. People do not support the Liberal Democrats because they do not like their policies and do not think they will be able to form a Government, although that was the attraction for many before the coalition and now those people have gone off to UKIP, the Greens, the SNP or don’t know.
To gain support the party has to break away from the consensus and put forward something fresh and original which reflects the needs of people now.
Well nvelope I suppose at this election in May I’ll vote green on the list ballot and if there are no other candidates on the FPTP ballot other than those from the main four parties I’ll leave that paper blank I think.
There are degrees of promise breaking and degrees of trust. I used to vote lib dem as it happens. But now I just can’t get passed the fact that they weren’t the party I thought they were.
I never thought the party I used to vote for was anything but anti Tory but yet they went into government with the conservatives and gave us the discriminatory bedroom tax and and the majority of their MPs lied about fees so openly so brazenly. Prior to 2010 they had me fooled too so I know how the teacher feels, no matter what they promise I just can’t get passed what they did.
I read on this site that some are proud of their record in government and I can understand that, but if I’m to judge the lib dems by their record in government that means holding the responsible for everything in the coalition years and that is simply not a party I can ever support again regardless of what they say now.
@Rsf7
There were some gigantic broken promises during the coalition years. That’s absolutely true. I believe that the party put the country before itself and is now paying the price. The cost of entering government was compromise and arguably too much of it with the Conservatives.
I do take some positives from the fact that the Lib Dems stopped the Tories in government from going further in many areas than they did. For example a snooper’s charter and further cuts.
The only area I would disagree with you a little is in holding the Liberal Democrats as responsible for all of the failures in the coalition government. There were failures but there were also some successes.
I’d argue that other than the Greens the only party in Scotland that offers a different policy platform and embraces localism are the Lib Dems. I can’t argue with your mistrust and disappointment with the party though ultimately.
There are big debates to be had though and on the current issues the Liberal Democrats in Scotland are consistently standing up for civil liberties and against centralisation at a time when the other parties are not.
The SNP will wait to see what the opposition will do before committing to a tax rise in case it goes all wrong when they will claim , AH but you done it first.
Rsf7: And when the Greens support another party so that the country can have a Government and do something you do not like who will you vote for then ? Politics is the art of the possible and compromise is part of that as we all discover when we get older. Sorry about that.