MSPs have approved a Scottish Government order to increase the council tax for Scotland’s wealthiest households, but only after delivering a rebuke to ministers for failing to replace the tax with a...
Poor record-keeping means that some Scottish councils pay for the upkeep of property they don’t own, according to the official in charge of the Scottish Land Register.
Prime minister Theresa May risks provoking a constitutional crisis if she fails to reach agreement with the three devolved administrations on the course of the UK’s exit from the European Union, the...
The legislative blueprint for a second Scottish independence referendum, procedurally similar to the vote that rejected independence 55-45 two years ago, is published today by the Scottish Government.
An enabling Bill to pave the way for a second referendum on Scottish independence is to be published at Holyrood next week, first minister Nicola Sturgeon told today’s opening session of the...
CIPFA has called on the Scottish Government to create a framework for managing devolved taxes that would provide transparency in its plans for revenue raising.
Councils have urged Scottish Government ministers not to marginalise local government in running Scotland’s schools, warning that any centralisation of provision would lead to increased costs and...
A Scottish Government report has accused the country’s councils of diverting millions of pounds of central government money away from supporting delivery of ministers’ free childcare pledge.
Social work funding in Scotland’s councils has reached a tipping point and services can no longer be sustained under existing approaches, according to a hard-hitting report today from the local...
Scottish public spending could face a severe squeeze over the next few years as the transfer of fiscal powers leaves the public finances markedly more dependent on the uncertain performance of the...
A root-and-branch review of the Scottish Parliament’s budgetary process is to be undertaken in order to reflect Holyrood’s increasing fiscal powers and its changing relationship with Westminster.
A £500m investment boost for the Scottish economy, more cash for education and health alongside plans for public services reform have been set out by Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon today.
Value added tax should be fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament in order to make Holyrood responsible for more of the money it spends, according to a free market think-tank.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has brought the prospect of a second referendum on Scottish independence markedly closer, with the launch of “the biggest listening exercise” in her party...
A former Labour first minister has told PF that the divergence of political values between Scotland and England has left him ready to back independence.
Scotland’s public finances ended 2015-16 almost £15bn in deficit thanks to a massive slump in the North Sea revenues, according to the latest figures produced by the Scottish Government.
A leading Brexit campaigner has said negotiations to leave the EU represent an opportunity to “rebalance the whole of the United Kingdom constitution”.
Four councils that broke away last year from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities are threatening the Scottish Government with legal action over its insistence that it will negotiate only...
A prominent free market think tank has backed Scottish Government plans to cut and then scrap Air Passenger Duty and urged other parties to unite behind the plan, which is strongly opposed by both...
Scotland’s notoriously lethal love affair with unhealthy food could be targeted with a special junk food tax under plans published today by a new Scottish Government agency, Food Standards Scotland.
Scottish Government plans to fund a national scheme to improve educational attainment through the council tax will “destroy” the link between local taxation and services, local authorities have...
Scotland’s first minister has today unveiled what is billed as a post-Brexit economic stimulus package, bringing forward £100m of planned infrastructure spend into the current year and...
A conflict is brewing between the Scottish Government and local authorities over ministers’ plan to fund a key plank of its national education policy from increases in local taxation.
