The Tory party at their conference this week is to announce plans to change tax laws. Parties always see it as an easy way of enticing the electorate: ‘We’ll cut your taxes, but first you’ll need to vote for us’.
It seems that the problem in the UK is not high taxes (take a look at what they pay in France with their seven income tax bands and a top rate of 48 per cent) but the way in which that money is managed. To our shame in England, it appears the Scottish are much better at this management, with money to pay for the sort of social support that is strangely unavailable in England. You could put it down to that vague quality ‘canni-ness’.
Another thing they do well in Scotland is promote their young businesses with Scottish Enterprise doing an outstanding job. (For the record, in the middle of all this praise, I have to say I’m not Scottish.) So why can’t we do better in England than our regional development agencies and the rather vague grant for research and development with no set funding for that grant. Just maybe some of that canni-ness is what we need, never mind harping on about tax cuts.