Reform UK has said it would slash what it calls “highly dubious” environmental protection measures to help fund a £2bn cut to income tax in Scotland if it wins May’s Holyrood elections. The pledge was made by Malcolm Offord, the multimillionaire financier announced as the party’s Scottish leader 10 days ago, in his first major speech.
Offord outlined plans to realign Scotland’s tax system with the rest of the UK, where higher earners currently pay significantly more, and to institute a 1p-in-the-pound cut across the board. He said the immediate cost on day one would be £2bn, paid for by reallocating money from the “currently £9bn that we spend on highly dubious environmental protections, economic development and 132 unaccountable quangos”.
Despite polling showing Reform UK neck and neck with Scottish Labour for second place behind the SNP, Offord claimed the election was a “two-horse race” between his party and the nationalists. He urged “moderate unionists no longer represented by the Tories” and “rational nationalists no longer represented by the SNP” to find common ground, but dismissed any prospect of a second independence referendum for at least 10 years.
Stephen Boyd, director of the Institute for Public Policy Research Scotland, dismissed the proposals as “profoundly unserious, almost comically so”. He said he could not identify how Reform UK could come close to the savings claimed and underlined the “significant impact on public sector jobs and pay going forward” should the plans be implemented.
Offord also discussed immigration, saying he viewed the issue “through the lens of the Christian faith” and referenced the parable of the Good Samaritan. However, he added: “Right now, especially in this cost of living scenario, we need to prioritise our own people over strangers. Instead, from Inverness to Falkirk, local people are witnessing priority of services, opportunity and safety being given to strangers, and that is not fair.”
