First Minister’s Questions – Sturgeon deliberately misled parliament and Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon ended First Minister’s Questions this week (report, 05/02/16)  by claiming Scottish Labour was an “utter disgrace”. Those who choose to judge others must think carefully about the example they set.

Several times during First Minister’s Questions Ms Sturgeon deliberately misled parliament and Scotland. She repeatedly claimed that everyone in Scotland who earns more than £11,000 would pay more tax as a result of Labour’s plan to raise income tax by 1p to protect vital public services.  Whilst this is technically correct, she omitted to mention that those earning  £11,000 – £20,000 would actually be better off as a result of the rebate Kezia Dugdale proposed. The First Minister also failed to mention that the estimated 15,000 people who will lose their jobs as a result of her cuts won’t be paying much tax at all.

Ms Sturgeon also used wonky maths to suggest that those on lower incomes would pay a higher amount of tax than somebody like her. Again, this was misleading. The Resolution Foundation, who have said the Labour proposals are progressive and would lessen the impact of austerity, are clear that the “richest will pay significantly more, not only in cash terms but as a percentage of their incomes too”.

On both these points, Nicola Sturgeon is not lying. She is, however, coolly misleading the people of Scotland.    As Alex Salmond once said when modestly praising his own talents: “The art of politics is not to lie”.

5 thoughts on “First Minister’s Questions – Sturgeon deliberately misled parliament and Scotland.”

  1. Stewart Dredge says:
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    Sturgeon misled nobody. This is crazy paranoia. Can Scott please tell us how Labour’s tax plans could possibly help Scotland oppose Westminster austerity (which, of course, Labour campaigned for!)? Some detail on the tax hike please! Labour has had nearly a week to give details but the silence has been deafening. Are we going to hike taxes to pay for ALL the Westminster austerity cuts? Health? Social care? Transport? Housing? All paid for by Labour income tax hikes?
    Of course, we still have to hear from Scott how Labour’s support for Trident renewal will impact on Scotland’s services. If we put Scotland’s share of the Trident money into Scottish education we wouldn’t have to increase taxes on low-paid Scots.
    The SNP is trying to protect Scottish services without targeting Scottish workers. Labour wants to win back Tory votes in the south of England and their policies are designed around that imperative. That is why they are hopelessly divided and why Scottish supporters have abandoned them in their droves. It now looks like the Tories will out-poll them in May but you won’t hear Scott Arthur attacking the Tories this side of the Scottish elections as he punts his fantasy that the SNP is responsible for all Scotland’s problems.

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  2. Stewart Dredge says:
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    Scott Arthur even concedes in this “article” that Sturgeon is “technically correct”. Of course she is! So it’s difficult to understand how that correctness is the result of “wonky maths” and so it’s not surprising that he doesn’t try to correct the SNP’s figures.
    The STUC recently conceded that raising Scottish taxes would not help in fighting austerity and the UK Labour Party is certainly not advocating it as a means to combating Westminster austerity generally in the UK. This is a back-of-a-fag-packet policy but it’s already clear that you’re going to need a bigger fag packet, Scott!

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