In the run up to next year’s devolved Holyrood elections, Scottish Conservatives have been setting out some of our policy positions to take the nation forward.
Our ideas and policies for the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2026 will be centred on what is important to hard working people and families across the country.
The SNP have made Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK and Scottish Conservatives strongly believe that this situation must be reversed.
A reduction in the current high rates of taxation would benefit household finances by allowing people to keep more of their hard-earned wages and also help with improving economic growth.
We would deliver a much-needed tax cut for hard pressed Scots by abolishing the existing 20 and 21 percent income tax thresholds and applying the 19 percent starter rate up to the point where the higher rate takes effect.
To implement the tax cut, we would reduce the costs of running the devolved government in Edinburgh by implementing a range of measures including returning the civil service to it’s 2016 size and transferring staff to roles that support the delivery of frontline services.
The Scottish Conservative plan to give taxpayers a fair deal would deliver a tax cut worth up to £444 per year for every person in Scotland who earns more than £15,397.
Lower taxes incentivise aspiration and create more jobs with higher revenues generated in turn to spend on public services.
Lower and fairer taxes benefit us all.
At next year’s elections, Scottish Conservatives are clear that we will be standing on a manifesto of funded tax cuts.
In the last month, we also announced plans for a Taxpayer Savings Act.
This would deliver savings of £650 million through actions such as cutting the existing volume of statutory reporting requirements placed on public bodies so staff spend more time on the frontline and reducing the number of costly Scottish Government quangos.
The aim of the Savings Act would be to deliver best value for taxpayers and remove SNP waste from the public sector.
On health, there needs to be more opportunities for a higher number of Scottish students to be trained at our universities to pursue a career as doctors in the NHS.
A previous study found that not much more than 50 percent of medical students at Scottish universities are from Scotland.
The study was published in 2019 and by the Scottish Government but in the intervening years, the SNP have failed to tackle this issue.
We believe that it does need to be addressed as more places for Scottish students will mean more doctors graduating to join NHS Scotland and with the aim of delivering the best possible healthcare system for patients.
Cutting income tax, introducing a Taxpayer Savings Act and training more Scots to become NHS doctors will form part of the comprehensive policy offering that we will put to the electorate next May.
Scottish Conservatives have the vision, ideas and determination to improve the lives of people in Scotland and the running of devolved government.
Between now and the election, we will be giving it our all to persuade people up and down the country in the merits of our policies.
