My hon. Friend raises a good point. The Scottish Government are advocating a cut in taxes for banks but not for small businesses that do not pay corporation tax. Many employers in the private sector who employ many people do not pay corporation tax, but income tax. Substantially reducing corporation tax would lead to a large cut in public expenditure or increase the burden on income tax payers.
The Scottish Government already have a considerable number of economic levers. They have decided to cut funding to many Scottish colleges—for example, James Watt college in Greenock faces a cut of £5 million. They have cut regeneration funds in many of the most deprived areas, including a 71% cut in the Inverclyde regeneration fund. The test that the Scots will apply is not how many powers anybody has vis-à-vis someone else but how they use them for Scotland's benefit. [Interruption.] SNP Members chunter on, but they do not have any intervention to make because these are decisions that they have made and they do not wish to take responsibility for them.
Scotland Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Ann McKechin
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 21 June 2011.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Scotland Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
530 c255-6 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2023-12-15 16:51:31 +0000
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