NICOLA Sturgeon has accused the Scottish Tories of “hypocrisy on stilts” as she furiously attacked the party’s opposition to a new tax on workplace parking spaces.

The First Minister insisted the proposals represented “exactly the localism the Tories have been demanding” – with the party’s own councillors in Edinburgh backing such powers just a few months ago.

It came as the Tories launched an advertising campaign warning workers they face a £500 bill to park at work under the new levy.

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Stand-in leader Jackson Carlaw said the proposals risked sinking businesses or making it “impossible” for many low-paid workers to keep their jobs.

But speaking at First Minister’s Question, Ms Sturgeon said: “The Tories do not oppose giving power to councils in principle. They only actually oppose it when it’s the SNP proposing it.

"To coin a phrase, that is hypocrisy on stilts. I hope Jackson Carlaw had more success when he sold second-hand cars than he is having in peddling his current line."

She said Edinburgh Tory councillors had backed the power for a parking levy just a few months ago, adding: “Would Jackson Carlaw care to explain the, how can I put this delicately, inconsistency?”

Mr Carlaw said Tory councillors had noted the need for an economic assessment, which the Government had not carried out – and branded the proposals a “back of the fag packet policy”.

The Tories have fiercely opposed handing councils the power to introduce a workplace parking levy, insisting it amounts to a “tax on jobs” that would penalise workers without access to public transport.

They have now hired an advertising van to drive to workplaces around the central belt with the slogan: “The SNP want you to pay £500 for parking here.”

Speaking outside Letham Park Care Home in Edinburgh, where the advertising drive was launched, Mr Carlaw called the proposed levy “an inherently regressive tax”.

READ MORE: Readers react to Glasgow Council plans to charge workers for use of office car park 

He said: “The levy would be paid at the same rate irrespective of an individual’s ability to earn.

“And we know that many of the people who are on the real living wage are people who work in the care home sector – they would be affected by a thumping increase in their taxation, which would affect their ability to continue to work.”

He said care home staff work unsocial hours and often rely on a car to get to work, adding: “To hit them with this penalty would be very, very unfair.”

Mr Carlaw said many businesses had estimated the introduction of a parking levy would land them with a bill “in the tens of thousands”.

He said: “They can’t absorb that. They would be left with no option but to pass it on to their employees.

“And passing it on to their employees, who are many of the lower paid workers in employment, would actually make it either impossible for the business to continue, or would make it impossible for many of those people to continue to work.”

Robert Kilgour, executive chairman of Renaissance Care, which owns Letham Park Care Home, said the levy was "another tax on businesses".

He said: "The lack of detail sounds to me like a back of fag packet kind of idea to get Green support for the Budget, without it being properly thought through.”

Four environmental campaigners crashed the Tories' campaign launch in Edinburgh to condemn the party's stance, with a sign reading: “Edinburgh needs clean air.”

It comes after the Tories were accused of ripping up their commitment to local democracy by asking all their council leaders to sign a pledge against the parking tax.

The SNP and Greens said it made a mockery of the 2017 manifesto the Tory councillors were elected on, which called for more local powers.

The new levy is part of a deal between the SNP and Greens on the 2019/20 Budget, which goes to a final vote of MSPs at Holyrood this afternoon.

A similar scheme in Nottingham sees the council charge employers with more than 10 staff parking bays £415 a year to licence each one.

If employers pass this cost to staff, VAT is added and the bill becomes £498 a year.

The Scottish Government has said NHS properties will be exempt from the new levy.

But the proposals have already been opposed by Labour, the Tories, LibDems, business leaders and unions.

Ms Sturgeon said the tax would be a “discretionary” power, leaving it up to councils whether to introduce it.