David Maddox: Keeping the troops' spirits up
The e-mail below was sent out to SNP members just after John Swinney announced that the Local Income Tax was to be dropped until the next Holyrood election in 2011.
It seems to confirm that the real reason for dropping the controversial policy was because it would have been defeated in parliament and an attempt to keep party spirits up.
I am told by a source in the Greens that "the penny dropped" during the budget negotiations, when LIT was dropped into the conversation in a fishing exercise in a thinly veiled attempt to see if greater financial support for the Green's free for all insulation scheme would see them backing the policy. The Greens said "No!" And there subsequent decision to vote down the budget confirmed that it did not stand a chance.
Here is the e-mail:
Subject: Member Alert: SCRAPPING COUNCIL TAX DELAYED AS OPPOSITION MSPs BLOCK FAIRER SYSTEM Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:08:36 -0500
The experience of the budget process over the past fourteen days has provided us all with a reminder of the limitations within which our minority government is operating. In the last few minutes, John Swinney has announced he will postpone the introduction of legislation to abolish the unfair Council Tax until after the election in 2011.
The plan now will be to fight the 2011 election to win the necessary parliamentary majority that backs the abolition of the unfair Council Tax. The Cabinet, of course, remains totally committed to abolishing Council Tax and replacing it with a Local Income Tax based on the ability to pay.
But as John Swinney has just outlined, both the political and financial climate make that impossible at present. In the meantime, the Scottish Government will continue with its policy of freezing the Council Tax through to the next election.
This, as John Swinney says, will “serve as a down payment on our commitment to abolish the Council Tax.” Two weeks ago, I emailed to say Alex Salmond had put the Party on election alert.
Now we have our first campaigning issue of that election. Let’s set about working to win in 2011 with a determination to secure the necessary parliamentary majority for our fairer system of local taxation. For John Swinney's full speech, click: http://www.snp.org/node/14844. For more background on the decision, facts and figures, click: http://www.snp.org/node/14843
Regards Peter PETER MURRELL Chief Executive, Scottish National Party
It seems to confirm that the real reason for dropping the controversial policy was because it would have been defeated in parliament and an attempt to keep party spirits up.
I am told by a source in the Greens that "the penny dropped" during the budget negotiations, when LIT was dropped into the conversation in a fishing exercise in a thinly veiled attempt to see if greater financial support for the Green's free for all insulation scheme would see them backing the policy. The Greens said "No!" And there subsequent decision to vote down the budget confirmed that it did not stand a chance.
Here is the e-mail:
Subject: Member Alert: SCRAPPING COUNCIL TAX DELAYED AS OPPOSITION MSPs BLOCK FAIRER SYSTEM Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:08:36 -0500
The experience of the budget process over the past fourteen days has provided us all with a reminder of the limitations within which our minority government is operating. In the last few minutes, John Swinney has announced he will postpone the introduction of legislation to abolish the unfair Council Tax until after the election in 2011.
The plan now will be to fight the 2011 election to win the necessary parliamentary majority that backs the abolition of the unfair Council Tax. The Cabinet, of course, remains totally committed to abolishing Council Tax and replacing it with a Local Income Tax based on the ability to pay.
But as John Swinney has just outlined, both the political and financial climate make that impossible at present. In the meantime, the Scottish Government will continue with its policy of freezing the Council Tax through to the next election.
This, as John Swinney says, will “serve as a down payment on our commitment to abolish the Council Tax.” Two weeks ago, I emailed to say Alex Salmond had put the Party on election alert.
Now we have our first campaigning issue of that election. Let’s set about working to win in 2011 with a determination to secure the necessary parliamentary majority for our fairer system of local taxation. For John Swinney's full speech, click: http://www.snp.org/node/14844. For more background on the decision, facts and figures, click: http://www.snp.org/node/14843
Regards Peter PETER MURRELL Chief Executive, Scottish National Party
Labels: David Maddox, LIT, SNP
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