WILLIE Rennie has come under attack after trying to taking credit for Scotland’s new income tax system – despite most of his MSPs voting against it.
The LibDem leader was accused of “living in a parallel universe” following comments he made during his address at his party’s Spring conference yesterday.
He told delegates at Aviemore his party had been influential and listed a host of policy areas.
“We have set the agenda in Scotland in so many areas” he said. “Just listen to the list. Free school meals for young children. Funding for superfast broadband. The first renewable energy targets. Fuel duty cuts for rural areas and support for island ferries. We persuaded the government to reverse some of the most damaging cuts to colleges ... On tax we were the first party to propose a progressive use of new tax powers. First opposed and now accepted by the SNP.”
The Scottish Greens – who first suggested a new system of income tax rates and bands – and who supported the Scottish Government’s budget plans, were furious.
“The parallel universe of the Lib Dems never ceases to amaze. They are deluded if they think the fairer income tax system Scotland now has had anything to do with them,” a spokesman said. “They spent years demanding tax rises on low earners, and personal allowance rises which benefit the wealthy. They never showed a hint of support for the fairer multi-band system we proposed, and they voted against it when we won the argument with the SNP.”
He added: “While Greens are getting on with making Scotland fairer, Lib Dems are rolling out the red carpet for Tory austerity cheerleader Sir Vince Cable.”
Rennie continued to underline his party’s opposition to independence, rejecting it both in his conference address and in an interview with Holyrood magazine. “If you are looking for the timing of another independence referendum, how about, saying, ‘once in a generation’? Or even ‘once in a lifetime’? Or better still just say ‘no, it’s time for our country to move on from the division of independence’,” he told delegates as he attacked the focus in the SNP depute leadership race on the timing for a second independence referendum.
He told Holyrood: “We’re a party that won’t support independence, we think it’s divided the country in a way that has been deeply damaging ... so we’ll use every opportunity to ensure we can stop that.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel