Tories challenge Scotland tax plans

Anti-devolutionist Lord Forsyth claims the measures in the Scotland bill are a ‘time bomb at the heart of the union’ Senior Tories are openly rebelling against David Cameron’s plans to give the Scottish parliament greater tax-raising powers, days before the party goes into the Scottish election campaign. Lord Forsyth, the party’s former Scotland secretary, claimed new measures to give Holyrood control over income tax rates could lead to the break-up of the UK, a view backed privately by senior party figures in Scotland. Forsyth, a noted anti-devolutionist, said the tax powers in the Scotland bill, which is going through the UK parliament with the support of the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems, were “a timebomb at the heart of the union”. At a packed fringe meeting at the Scottish Tory conference in Perth, he urged the party to hold a referendum on the new powers. He said the bill, which is set to become law later this year, “may yet be the midwife which delivers independence”. The rebellious mood poses a challenge to the Scottish party’s leader, Annabel Goldie, who is about to begin a Holyrood election campaign with the Tories faring very poorly in recent opinion polls. Scottish voters are stubbornly refusing to increase their support for the Tories, despite their recent surge in popularity elsewhere in the UK under Cameron’s leadership. The psephologist John Curtice said the party’s support was “flatlining” in Scotland. The latest ICM opinion poll, commissioned by the Scottish National party, puts the Conservatives at 13% only six weeks before the Scottish parliamentary election on 5 May, down from the 16.7% it received at the UK general election last year, when only one Tory MP was returned in Scotland. Scottish politics Conservatives David Cameron Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 18, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.