Ruth Davidson calls for Scotland to 'roll out the red carpet' for UK high earners

Scotland should use new financial powers coming to Holyrood to “roll out the red carpet” to high earners across the rest of the UK, according to the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
 
Ruth Davidson, who was speaking in London last night, said the Scottish Government should be setting a target to hugely increase the number of additional rate taxpayers who live north of the border in order to increase income tax revenues.
 
Holyrood will have the power to set a Scottish rate of income tax from next April, with the ability to set thresholds and rates of income tax poised to follow as part of the Scotland Bill.

Scotland had around 14,000 additional rate taxpayers in 2013-14, half a per cent of the tax population north of the border and around five per cent of the UK total.
 
Davidson has reiterated her call for government ministers to pledge that new tax rates in Scotland are set no higher than in the rest of the UK in order to attract a further 10,000 additional rate taxpayers.
 
In extracts released ahead of her speech to the Adam Smith Institute, she said: "The benefits would be huge, increasing tax revenues in Scotland by hundreds of millions of pounds a year, helping to pay for our schools, hospitals and public services.
 
"This is not unachievable, we can make this happen.
 
 "We do that first by guaranteeing that tax rates in Scotland will be no higher than the rest of the United Kingdom – something I urge the Scottish Government to do immediately.
 
“This sends out the right message to everyone from across the UK that Scotland is not about punishing earned wealth.
 
"And secondly, I want to see us in Scotland rolling out the red carpet to our neighbours across the United Kingdom."
 
Davidson told an audience at Westminster Central Hall that she wanted the rest of the UK to “get more out of London” as she urged Scotland to “put the constitutional battle behind us”.
 
“There is a problem, in that the SNP government keeps sending the wrong messages,” she added.
 
"Politics is all, and the SNP’s interest lies in continually trying to find a wedge to drive between us and the rest of the UK.
 
"Two weeks ago, the SNP made the entirely populist decision to ban GM crop development in Scotland. Will a well-paid scientist or bio-tech expert bring her family to Scotland now? I doubt it.
 
"Over the summer, the SNP – egged on by Labour – set out an equally populist ban on fracking technology. Will that encourage engineers to come and find opportunities in Scotland? I fear not.
 
"I know from speaking to business leaders at home that there are real worries that we are missing out of this Great British revival.”
 
Davidson also accused Scottish Labour of "naïve and self-defeating" plans to increase income tax in Scotland, which she claimed would receive the "warmest welcome from George Osborne" by encouraging top-rate taxpayers to move south.
 
Labour’s Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: "The Scottish Tories - and Ruth Davidson - cannot go on trying to fool people that they are the compassionate wing of Cameron's Conservatives. They are equally responsible.
 
“And with more welfare powers coming to the Scottish Parliament we expect Ruth Davidson to be advocating the same approach as her Westminster colleagues."