A NEW tax on workplace parking spaces faces falling apart before it has even begun, it has been claimed.

The Scottish Tories highlighted a series of unanswered questions around the proposals, which they warned would hit hard-pressed businesses and staff.

It follows a last-minute Budget deal between the SNP and the Greens which secured £34 billion-worth of financial plans for 2019/20, as well as opening the door to a wave of new local taxes.

The agreement is set to see council tax bills rise by almost five per cent in April, alongside handing local authorities the power to introduce a new workplace parking levy.

Similar proposals in England have seen workers forced to fork out hundreds of pounds a year to park their car.

But the Scottish Tories said there were a number of question marks around the plans, including whether teachers and blue-badge holders will be excluded. Ministers have already said NHS properties and hospitals will not be covered.

The Tories also pointed to previous SNP opposition to such a scheme.

In 2000, Bruce Crawford, convener of Holyrood’s Finance Committee, said: “We were never convinced that workplace charging was the way forward.

“It was only ever going to raise revenue and was never going to sort out the problems of congestion on Scotland's roads.”

Both SNP members of Holyrood’s Transport Committee – of which Mr Crawford was one – voted against workplace parking levies that same year.

Scottish Tory shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said: “It’s blatantly obvious this knee-jerk experiment has been dreamed up in a hurry, and there’s basically no detail at all.

“If the SNP government doesn’t start answering these questions, the whole tax could fall apart before it’s even begun.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that the SNP had to throw a bone to the Greens for budget support, and this ridiculous proposal was it.

“Senior figures in the party are even on record opposing it. This is an unpopular idea, and one which will hit the finances of businesses and their hardworking staff.

“Instead of lumping more levies on businesses, the SNP government should be finding ways to help them thrive.”

Scottish ministers insist they will work with the opposition to put forward workable plans.

However, any proposals would be introduced at a local authority’s discretion.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Plans to give powers to councils to introduce a workplace parking levy, as already allowed in England, will come forward via an agreed Green Party amendment to the Transport (Scotland) Bill.

“We have said that this is contingent on exemptions for health service workers and will be engaging with stakeholders in the run-up to Stage 2 of the Bill to help shape the specifics on the workplace parking levy for the amendment to the Bill.”