By David Scott
2 March 2010
The UK government is to press ahead with the introduction of new tax-raising powers for Scotland.
Revenue & Customs is to set up an expert group of advisers to work out implementation details of the new powers for Scotland, which were proposed in last year’s report by Sir Kenneth Calman’s Commission on Scottish devolution.
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, together with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne, said in Edinburgh on March 1 that the R&C group would advise on ‘technical and practical implementations’.
Byrne said: ‘These are radical changes and we’ll introduce legislation in the next Parliament as a matter of priority.’
Murphy added: ‘[The group] will include professional and tax advisers and business representatives and will help take forward the [Calman] recommendations as well as ensuring a stronger Scotland plays its full role in a stronger Union.’
The decision to establish the group came in the week that a leading think-tank reported evidence of a mounting English backlash over the share of public spending allocated to Scotland.
According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, 40% of people in England now believe that Scotland receives more than its fair share of UK resources. In 2003, just 22% of English people felt that Scotland was getting too much money.
The March 2 study also disclosed that the number of people backing the establishment of an English Parliament had reached an all-time high of 29%.
Report author Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said: ‘There has been a marked growth in resentment about the level of funding that Scotland enjoys.’
UK ministers believe that giving Scotland more control over its own finances will help stave off an English backlash.
2 March 2010
The UK government is to press ahead with the introduction of new tax-raising powers for Scotland.
Revenue & Customs is to set up an expert group of advisers to work out implementation details of the new powers for Scotland, which were proposed in last year’s report by Sir Kenneth Calman’s Commission on Scottish devolution.
Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, together with Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne, said in Edinburgh on March 1 that the R&C group would advise on ‘technical and practical implementations’.
Byrne said: ‘These are radical changes and we’ll introduce legislation in the next Parliament as a matter of priority.’
Murphy added: ‘[The group] will include professional and tax advisers and business representatives and will help take forward the [Calman] recommendations as well as ensuring a stronger Scotland plays its full role in a stronger Union.’
The decision to establish the group came in the week that a leading think-tank reported evidence of a mounting English backlash over the share of public spending allocated to Scotland.
According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, 40% of people in England now believe that Scotland receives more than its fair share of UK resources. In 2003, just 22% of English people felt that Scotland was getting too much money.
The March 2 study also disclosed that the number of people backing the establishment of an English Parliament had reached an all-time high of 29%.
Report author Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said: ‘There has been a marked growth in resentment about the level of funding that Scotland enjoys.’
UK ministers believe that giving Scotland more control over its own finances will help stave off an English backlash.
