DEREK Mackay has asked the other parties at Holyrood to send him their latest income tax plans to help him draw up next year’s budget.

The Finance Secretary said he wanted to start a “cross-party discussion” about funding high quality public services across Scotland.

Their plans will feed into a Scottish Government discussion paper ahead of the 2018/19 draft budget, which is expected to appear in December, shortly after the UK budget.

It follows Nicola Sturgeon saying she wanted to examine a more “progressive” tax system, meaning higher bills for some, and all tax bands potentially liable to change.

Mr Mackay asked the parties specifically for their views on freezing Scottish income tax thresholds, raising them by inflation, or shadowing the UK’s thresholds next year.

He said: “The discussion paper will then set out how much additional revenue each proposal is expected to raise or cost in 2018/19 and how your proposal would impact on individual taxpayers compared to the income tax position agreed by parliament earlier this year.”

The paper will set out current tax liabilities, analyse policy options, explain interactions between tax policy and the fiscal framework, consider trade-offs involved in making changes, and any interactions with HMRC and the benefits system.