Ruth Davidson MSP's speech for the ASI features in major dailies, the BBC
Ruth Davidson MSP delivered a speech, hosted by the Adam Smith Institute, about the lesson from Adam Smith and the need for a Scottish alternative in politics. The speech was covered by the BBC:
In a speech at the Adam Smith Institute at Westminster, the MSP said Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale's plan to levy a 50p top rate of tax on people with salaries of more than £150,000 is "utterly naive and self-defeating".
Scotland has about 14,000 top-rate taxpayers, roughly 5% of the UK total and below its population share.
Ms Davidson wants to attract another 10,000 high earners to live in Scotland.
Scotland should vow to keep tax rates as low as the rest of the UK to keep more high earners in the country, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said last night.
“This sends out the right message to everyone from across the UK that Scotland is not about punishing earned wealth,” she said, in a speech to the Adam Smith Institute last night.
Your columnist saw the Glasgow MSP address a meeting organised by the libertarian think tank the Adam Smith Institute, in which she set out the case for “a Scottish alternative” to the statist consensus that dominates Scotland under Labour and the SNP.
She was particularly keen to stress that, despite a slick PR operation, the Nationalists should not be viewed as an effective party in government: on key indicators such as education Scotland has slipped back both in terms of outcomes and equality of access, despite much-vaunted shibboleths like free tuition.
In a keynote speech to the Adam Smith Institute at Westminster, Ms Davidson said: “We do that first by guaranteeing that tax rates in Scotland will be no higher than the rest of the UK, something I urge the Scottish Government to do immediately.
Scotland must use its new financial powers to “roll out the red carpet” to wealthy English taxpayers and encourage 10,000 more of them to move north of the Border, Ruth Davidson has said.
The Scottish Tory leader urged SNP ministers to set a target to hugely increase the number of additional rate taxpayers who live in Scotland in order to increase revenues from income tax, which is being devolved to Holyrood.
In a speech to the Adam Smith Institute at Westminster, she claimed a “great British revival” was under way and Scotland had to adopt an attractive tax and business regime in order to reap the benefits.
The Herald:
Ms Davidson said her clear sense from conflicting messages from the SNP over the timing of another referendum was that it was "swithering over this themselves because they know they can't afford to fail; the next time they have to win it or they are bust".
She also, in her speech to the Adam Smith Institute in London, said she wanted to attract another 10,000 high earners to Scotland. At present there are just 14,000 Scots who pay the higher rate of tax, representing just 5.1 per cent - well below Scotland's 9 per cent share of the UK population.
Scotland should become such a low-tax, business-friendly society that entrepreneurs and the wealthy are enticed north of the border from England, Ruth Davidson said last night.
The Scottish Conservative leader berated the SNP and Labour for curbing investment, discouraging enterprise and chasing the rich out of Scotland.
Giving a speech to the Adam Smith Institute in London, Ms Davidson championed a policy platform that, she claimed, would allow Scotland to thrive. It would involve keeping taxes as low as — or preferably lower — than the rest of the UK, encouraging scientific developments such as GM crops and leading a fracking revolution. This summer the Scottish government announced a controversial ban on growing GM crops. It previously imposed a moratorium on fracking.
To access a full copy of Davidson's speech, click here.