Alex Salmond in The Scotsman, 5th June 1996.
| 'George Robertson is between a rock and a soft place - you can't call the Liberals a hard place.' Alex Salmond in The Scotsman, 5th June 1996. | |
Labour will legislate for a devolved Scottish parliament with tax-levying powers in its first year in office, the shadow Scottish secretary, George Robertson, stated categorically yesterday. Mr Robertson was forced into repeating his party's position after the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Jim Wallace, raised doubts over Labour's commitment to the tax-raising element in the devolution scheme hammered out by the two parties in the Scottish Constitutional Convention.
Last night both the Scottish National Party and the Conservatives claimed that the exchanges between Mr Robertson and Mr Wallace showed that there was a significant split between the convention partners.
That charge was rejected by the convention executive's chairman, Canon Kenyon Wright, who called for a campaign to counter the "tartan tax" propaganda of Michael Forsyth, the Scottish Secretary, and to sell devolution to the Scottish people.
Mr Robertson was spurred into action by biting criticism from Mr Wallace of what he claimed was Labour's apologetic tone over devolution and reports that the party leadership, including Tony Blair, had doubts about the tax-levying powers.
Mr Wallace said: 'I have never had any cause to question George Robertson's commitment on the scheme agreed by the convention. I do not believe they are going to back off over legislating for it, but there are an increasing number of reports emanating from London which are very defensive about the tax powers. 'We should not be apologetic about the convention scheme. It is a very workable scheme. We should not be hearing uncertain notes being sounded when the real opposition is Michael Forsyth and his myths. We should be bold in putting across the case for the full scheme, including the tax powers.'
Asked if he believed Mr Blair was responsible for the back-tracking, Mr Wallace said: 'I have no proof of that. But the reports seem to be coming out of Westminster. The problem for Labour is tax.' The Labour Party was "petrified" by the mere mention of the word tax, he said.
Mr Robertson said: 'I am happy to reassure the Liberal Democrats that the devolved Scottish parliament will have revenue-raising and tax-cutting powers in accordance with the convention scheme.
'The decision as to whether or how they will be used will be for the Scottish people to decide. Labour has no plans to use these powers.'
But last night it was still not clear whether Labour would give a pledge before the general election that it would not use the powers to raise taxes in the first term of a Scottish parliament, a solution being urged privately by some Scottish Labour MPs.
Sources close to Mr Robertson maintained that, although it was unlikely that the party would promise to raise taxes, the decision would be a matter for the Scottish party at the time of the elections to the parliament.
Other well placed leadership sources in London were, however, more circumspect, refusing to rule out the possibility of a statement being made on tax before the general election.
Yesterday the Lib Dems reinforced their differences with Labour by saying that they would, if necessary, go into a Scottish election promising to put up taxes for a specific purpose, such as education.
The differences between the convention partners delighted the SNP and the Tories. The Nationalist leader, Alex Salmond, said: 'George Robertson is between a rock and a soft place - you can't call the Liberals a hard place. The convention is starting to crack up and we are not even into the general election campaign yet.
'Tony Blair's concern is pretty obvious: he thinks that the taxation proposals will spill over in England. What we have is the convention under pressure because of Blair's fear of middle England. What all this goes to show is that you cannot trust Labour on the constitution.'
Mr Wright called on Mr Blair to clarify Labour's position and warned the party that it did not have the power to change the agreed plans for the parliament. He said: 'George Robertson has repeatedly denied the rumours that Labour was about to change its policy. It might be useful if Tony Blair was to say that as clearly as George Robertson.'
The Scottish Tory chairman, Sir Michael Hirst, said: 'There is no doubt that more and more cracks are appearing over the fatally flawed plans to create a tax-raising Scottish parliament.
'Although the tartan tax would devastate our economy, Jim Wallace is at least honest when he says that his party will unashamedly campaign for higher taxes in Scotland'
Later Sir Michael said that, if Labour wanted a Scottish parliament with tax-raising powers, it should put that to the people in a referendum.
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