THE SNP has tabled an amendment to the Scotland Bill to secure full fiscal autonomy for Scotland, party sources have confirmed.

 

The Nationalists were goaded in the Commons over their alleged coolness on the policy, which the respected think-tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, predicted would cost the Scottish Government £8bn a year in lost revenue because it would mean pulling out of the Barnett Formula; an assertion dismissed by the Nationalists as an academic calculation.

During Scottish Questions in the Commons, David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, told MPs the Nationalists needed to be "upfront" about whether they still wanted complete control over tax and spending.

At one point, the Tory frontbencher said: "The SNP's policies are clearly now for higher taxation and we need to know what that tax will be."

At another, he added: "It is now not clear what the SNP is asking for. I welcome the fact that it will be able to table amendments in relation to full fiscal autonomy during the committee stage of the Scotland Bill. My suspicion, however, is that it is asking for something it does not really want and that it will complain when it does not get it."

Stewart Hosie, the SNP deputy leader, insisted the Scottish Secretary was "absolutely wrong about full fiscal autonomy".

He told Mr Mundell: "It does not lead to a reduction in tax yield. Surely he would agree that if we were to use the flexibility in the tax code to grow the economy and increase tax yield, that would be a good thing?"

Later at PMQs, Angus Robertson, the SNP leader, highlighted how the Scottish Government was the only government in the UK as a whole that was an accredited living wage employer.

"Could you tell us," he asked Mr Cameron, "when you will ensure that all UK Government departments, all agencies and all employees will receive the living wage?"

The PM replied: "Well, we do want to make progress. Obviously, the Scottish Government has the advantages of the additional funding it has been getting under this Government."

He then said: "I do notice that consensus in the SNP has rather broken down over full fiscal autonomy. Because of course, if they got full fiscal autonomy, they probably wouldn't be able to afford to be a living wage employer."

Later, when a senior SNP source was asked if the party would be tabling an amendment to the Scotland Bill to give the Holyrood Government full fiscal autonomy, he replied: "It has been tabled."