Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott has made a fresh appeal to First Minister Alex Salmond to use the UK’s banking sector rescue package to ensure Halifax Bank of Scotland remains an independent Scottish bank.
The scheme will see taxpayers' money used to buy stakes in major banks in a bid to halt meltdown in the financial sector. Mr Scott wants some of the cash used to halt the planned Bank of Scotland merger with Lloyds TSB to safeguard jobs and stop some of the best financial minds from leaving the country.
Addressing his party’s autumn conference in Edinburgh on Saturday for the first time since becoming leader, Mr Scott said he could not understand why Mr Salmond appeared not to be interested in the concept.
The Shetland MSP said: “I offered him the chance to use the UK’s £50billion bailout to make a new case for HBOS to stay in Scotland and to stay independent but he was not even interested. He should think again and step up for Scotland.”
Mr Scott said the SNP must listen to Liberal Democrat calls to alter its budget to help hard-pressed families and those struggling to makes ends meet due to soaring energy and food bills.
He said more people were finding it difficult to heat their homes, reflected by the fact that bill reminders sent out by Scottish and Southern Energy were up by 30%.
Mr Scott said the party had “radical” ideas to help the public during difficult times that the SNP must embrace.
“We should use the Scottish Parliament’s power to cut income tax by 2p in the pound, saving the average Scot more than £300 a year,” he said.
Mr Scott said the Lib Dems were willing to work with the SNP, but claimed the SNP were “losing economic credibility fast” for suggesting that Scotland look to Iceland as a good example of how successful a small, independent country can be.
He said recent events had shown that such status would be as much use as a “chocolate fireguard when the economic heat comes on”.
He said: “Iceland was part of what the SNP called the ‘arc of prosperity’ – the people they would like to be. Now it is an ‘arc of insolvency’.”
Mr Scott dealt a hammer blow to the SNP’s plans to replace the council tax with a centrally set 3p in the pound local income tax. He said Lib Dems could not support a policy that was not local, and councils must be allowed individual rates to generate funds to reflect local priorities. He also attacked Prime Minister Gordon Brown but spared Tory leader David Cameron any criticism – claiming the Conservatives are irrelevant in Scotland.
He said Mr Brown must resign after the economic storm has passed. “We accept the ship’s captain has to help row lifeboats to the shore but when we get there, he should be stripped of his promotion, not given another go at the tiller,” added Mr Scott.