Reform says it would scrap Scottish tax bands and cut rates

Reform UK's new Scottish leader has said the party will bring income tax bands into line with those in England if it wins power at Holyrood.

Malcolm Offord said the party would reduce the number of tax bands in Scotland from six to three and then cut rates by 1p immediately.

Offord, who was appointed as the party's Scottish leader after defecting from the Conservatives in January, said Reform would then seek to reduce rates by 3p over the course of a Scottish Parliament term.

He said the initial changes would be funded by £2bn in savings from spending on public bodies, economic development and environmental protection.

Offord said Reform had identified 132 quangos which would have their funding cut if the party was to win power.

He would not name the bodies which were at risk when asked by BBC Scotland News, but described them as "unrepresentative to the public".

"We've got £9bn of money being spent, we think, where we're not getting value for money," he said.

"We think we can get £2bn out of that in order to invest in our economy, invest in the most productive people in our economy, to grow the economy for the first time."

The party says the tax band re-alignment would cost £1.2bn, and that each 1p reduction to the rate would cost £850m.

Scotland has six income tax bands, compared to three in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Scottish government announced changes to income tax thresholds as part of its draft Budget earlier this month.

The thresholds for the basic and intermediate rates are both increasing, but there are no changes to the higher, advanced and top rates.

Offord said some people were "feeling fed up" with paying more in Scotland, and that those in higher bands, including some nurses and teachers, were "put upon" by shouldering the increase.

A spokesperson for the Fraser of Allander Institute said while it did not have "full details of the costings" proposed by Reform, the sums quoted seemed "around what they would expect".

It said an additional £1.8bn would be required to reach the 3p target and that it was "implausible" that the cuts would not have a severe impact on public services.

"No detail has been made available regarding the cuts that would be necessary as a result of this policy to comply with borrowing limits, or in which areas they might fall," the Fraser of Allander Institute said.

"This is a significant sum of money and given the constraints on the Scottish government's day-to-day budget, would mean cuts to spending of a similar magnitude.

"We would hope that detailed proposals for these cuts would be made available before the election."

Offord said Scotland would not be allowed to host another vote on independence for at least 10 years if he became first minister.

He said his first act in power would be to extend an invite for US President Donald Trump to visit Scotland to discuss lowering tariffs on Scottish whisky exports.

He described Trump, whose mother Mary was born on the Isle of Lewis, as a "first generation Scot" and said he would "roll out the red carpet" for his arrival.

However, Offord said he did "not agree with everything" President Trump said following comments about troops from Nato allies in Afghanistan.

Offord also said the UK had a need to "prioritise our own people over strangers".

He said a "wave" of immigration during Boris Johnson's time as prime minister had led to about four million people arriving in the UK "unchecked".

Offord did not define what he meant by strangers.

Being questioned by BBC Scotland political editor Glenn Campbell, Offord said Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was "absolutely one of our own people".

Reform was criticised last year over an advert posted online during a by-election which featured Sarwar, who was born in Glasgow to Pakistani Muslim parents.

His father, Mohammad Sarwar, became the UK's first Muslim MP when he was elected to represent Glasgow Govan in 1997.

Labour accused Reform of questioning Anas Sarwar's "identity, loyalty and belonging" and described the advert as racist.

Offord said Sarwar's family were "a perfect example of how we've done well in this country by always being welcoming to immigrants who come in, who make a contribution".

He added: "We always want that. We want more of that.

"What we don't want is unskilled immigration coming in which is not adding value to our economy and which is taking away jobs from our own people."

Not so long ago Reform UK had no elected politicians in Scotland, no leader and not much in the way of a Holyrood policy platform.

All of that has started to change over the last two months.

The party won its first council by-election in West Lothian just before Christmas, the former Conservative minister Malcolm Offord has become the face of the party's Scottish campaign and has now announced that cutting income tax will be at the heart of Reform UK's offer.

The Scottish Conservatives have already called for some income tax cuts and Scottish Labour aspires to reducing the tax burden with details yet to come.

The SNP, in government, argues that it's reasonable to charge higher earners more to help fund extra benefits in Scotland.

It seems the spectrum of tax policies could be a key dividing line in the Holyrood campaign and all sides will be pressing Reform UK to spell out which public bodies they would cut and what environmental policies they would ditch to fund their plans.

These are not the only questions for this emerging party which has yet to fill out much of its agenda including how it would - as Malcolm Offord put it - "prioritise our own people over strangers" without opening itself to accusations of racism.

In his speech at Ingliston Country Club in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, he also announced the defection of another Scottish Conservative councillor, Argyll and Bute's Daniel Hampsey, to the party.

The announcement came just hours before former home secretary Suella Braverman defected from the Conservatives to Reform.

Offord claimed the party now had 12,500 members in Scotland and 270,000 across the UK.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said Reform was a "gift" to the SNP heading into May's vote.

He said: "Reform fielded pro-independence candidates at the last election and are set to do so again in May.

"The Scottish Conservatives will always stand up to the SNP's relentless push to break up the UK."