Ross welcomes chancellor's income tax U-turn

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has welcomed the chancellor's decision to scrap plans to abolish the top rate of income tax.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference he said Kwasi Kwarteng had made the "right decision".

Mr Ross had previously called for the mini-budget tax cuts announced on 23 September to be matched in Scotland.

The first minister said the U-turn was a sign of the "chaos and ineptitude" at the heart of the UK government.

It comes after Prime Minister Liz Truss urged Nicola Sturgeon on Friday to follow her lead with tax cuts that could "turbocharge" Scotland's economy.

• Kwasi Kwarteng U-turns on plans to scrap 45p tax rate

• How tax cut policy U-turn was decided

• Tax cuts could turbocharge Scotland's economy - Liz Truss

But on Monday Mr Kwarteng announced that the UK government would not go ahead with removing the 45% rate of income tax, describing it as a "distraction".

His initial announcement of the measure - paired with a cut in the basic rate of tax to 19p in the pound - saw markets plunge, with the pound falling to its lowest ever level against the dollar.

The announcement also prompted interventions from the Bank of England and a statement from the International Monetary Fund.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the U-turn on Monday ahead of his speech to the Conservative Party conference

Mr Ross, who was speaking at a fringe event in Birmingham, backed the move.

He said: "The best parts of the government's growth plans remain and the area that caused most concern has gone.

"Politicians have to listen and respond - and that's exactly what the chancellor has done."

Less than six hours after the mini-budget, Mr Ross had tweeted: "The UK government has delivered tax cuts to turbo-charge our economy.

"The SNP must match these bold plans - and pass on the UK tax cuts to 2.4 million Scottish people."

The chancellor's massive U-turn on scrapping the top rate of income tax for high earners has forced Douglas Ross to make one too.

Initially, the Scottish Tory leader urged the Scottish government to match UK tax cuts in Scotland.

Now, he says Kwasi Kwarteng has made the "right decision" to abandon plans to get rid of the 45p rate on earnings over £150,000.

That means John Swinney, as acting finance secretary, no longer has to worry about the potential consequences of having a top rate of tax 6p in the pound higher than England.

It also leaves some on the Tory benches at Holyrood privately questioning Mr Ross' judgement. Some of his own MSPs certainly thought it was a mistake for him to endorse tax cuts for the wealthy.

He has previously flip-flopped over calls for Boris Johnson to resign as prime minister and last month withdrew a job offer to someone who appears to have invented parts of their CV.

Douglas Ross must now add to his own resume a policy switch that raises fresh questions about his credibility.

On Monday, Mr Ross said the package of measures should be looked at in the round.

He said: "It's right that helping families through the cost-of-living crisis has been at the forefront of the political agenda.

"I welcome the capping of energy bills for both households and businesses announced by the prime minister.

"The energy cap and the other measures are the largest package of support delivered by the government to families in my lifetime."

'Immoral'

The first minister hit out at the UK government after the announcement.

Nicola Sturgeon told BBC Scotland: "It is really hard to overstate the chaos and ineptitude at the heart of this UK government.

"Getting rid of the top rate of tax was always an immoral thing to do, so U-turning on that, however belatedly, is the right decision.

"But of course that decision comes too late for the many people who, because of the financial chaos unleashed last week, had mortgage deals withdrawn or who will now be paying higher interest rates on their mortgages."

She described the fallout from the mini-budget as "an utter mess" and added that people would be worried about the prospect of deep spending cuts.

Ms Sturgeon also warned if benefits were not increased in line with inflation then more people would be pushed into extreme poverty.

She said: "This is a government that appears to be more interested in ideological posturing than it is in the health and the wellbeing and the financial security of people across the country."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said Scotland needed a change of government at Westminster.

The MSP added: "It is welcome news that flip-flop Douglas Ross has finally admitted that the Tories' economic plan is a disaster for people across the UK.

"It's just a shame he told so many people the opposite first.

"Surely he can see what Adam Tompkins and Nick Boles already have - it's not a single policy that's the problem, it's the entire party."

Meanwhile, speaking in Dunfermline as the King and Queen Consort visited to bestow city status, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack also praised the chancellor's decision.

He said: "We recognised for a number of quarters that it wasn't universally welcomed.

"And he's listened to that, he's taken the decision to drop the plans for the 45% tax rate, but he's stuck to all the other growth measures that he had in there, particularly helping businesses and people with their energy crisis, which is very important - so that's what he's done.

"And politicians are often criticised for not listening, so we should welcome the fact that he has listened and he has acted and he has acted swiftly."