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Ruth Davidson orders review of Tory stance on Holyrood powers Ruth Davidson supports more Holyrood financial powers
(about 13 hours later)
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is to order a review of her party's position on Holyrood's powers. Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has supported more financial powers for the Scottish Parliament.
In a speech in Edinburgh, she is expected to argue that in future the Scottish Parliament should take responsibility for raising a far greater share of what it spends. Announcing a review of her party's position on the issue, she called for Holyrood to raise more of the money it spends in future.
She is setting up a new working group to advise on the issue. Her comments have signalled a significant shift in Tory thinking over increased devolved powers.
The speech, the latest in a series made by Ms Davidson, signals a significant shift in Tory thinking. Ms Davidson said she would outline detailed plans before the 2014 independence referendum.
Ms Davidson is expected to say Westminster should pass more control over taxation to Holyrood to make the latter more accountable. During a speech in Edinburgh, the Tory leader said Conservative peer Lord Strathclyde, former leader of the House of Lords, would lead the review.
She will say: "We will continue to explore how best the existing powers of the Scottish Parliament can be used and with 70% of all public spending controlled by Holyrood, those powers are considerable. It will examine whether domestic powers currently reserved to Westminster are better off with the Scottish Parliament.
"But the challenge is to make sure that level of spending is balanced by a proper level of responsibility and transparency. The SNP said Ms Davidson was lacking in credibility, adding that only independence would give Scotland the powers it needed to grow properly.
"My experience of the Scottish Parliament is there are too many members whose sole concern is how money should be spent; politicians who take no real responsibility for difficult decisions and palm blame off on those who do; a parliament with little responsibility for raising the money it spends will never be properly accountable to the people of Scotland. When Ms Davidson launched her successful campaign for the Scottish Conservative leadership in 2011, the Glasgow MSP described proposals on new Holyrood financial powers - which have since been agreed - as "a line in the sand", and strongly opposed calls for full fiscal autonomy.
"It can never have the proper incentive to cut the size and cost of government, or to reduce tax bills. So that means in future a far greater share of the money spent by the Scottish Parliament should be raised by it." Ms Davidson said it was now time for her party to turn over a new page, adding that with hindsight, Conservatives were wrong to oppose the idea of a Scottish Parliament during the campaign for devolution, which was delivered in 1999.
The Conservative's did take part in the Calman Commission which is delivering some new powers. She said her party had been listening to the people of Scotland, adding: "We have heard their ambition for a devolved parliament - within the United Kingdom - with greater powers than it currently holds.
'New powers' "We have listened, we have heard and we will act. We will respond positively to that ambition.
"In doing so, we reaffirm our unshakable conviction that continued membership of the United Kingdom is the cornerstone of a safer, fairer and more prosperous Scotland."
Scotland's budget is currently funded by a Treasury grant and, although Holyrood already has some tax-varying powers, they have never been used.
The new Scotland Act, passed last year, transferred tax and borrowing powers from Westminster to Holyrood, including the ability to set a Scottish rate of income tax from 2016.The new Scotland Act, passed last year, transferred tax and borrowing powers from Westminster to Holyrood, including the ability to set a Scottish rate of income tax from 2016.
Ms Davidson has previously described this revision as a "line in the sand", but will now say she wants the Scottish Parliament to have even more control of taxation. Ms Davidson said those spending the public's money must be accountable to the public both for how it is spent and raised.
"We will examine the mix of taxes best suited to achieving that goal, but the principle is clear. If you spend the public's money, then you must be accountable to the public both for how it is spent and how it is raised," she is expected to tell her Edinburgh audience. She said: "So, the Scottish Conservatives are committed to a new path - more responsibility for the Scottish Parliament and a strengthening of devolution."
"The devolution of new powers over taxation to the Scottish Parliament means it would be the responsibility of the Parliament to use those powers in the best interests of the Scottish people. New powers over tax should mean one thing: tax rates being reduced and the burden of tax being lifted for every Scottish family. Ahead of the Scottish government's independence referendum on 18 September 2014, Ms Davidson said: "A vote next year for Scotland to stay within the United Kingdom will be a vote to strengthen devolution.
"We've already set out our proposal for a 1p cut in income tax for Scottish families and new powers over tax in Scotland could let us go further." A vote for the Scottish Conservatives at the next general election will be a vote to increase the power and responsibility of the Scottish Parliament and to take Scotland forward.
Membership of Ms Davidson's working group on the issue of Holyrood's powers will include former presiding officer, Alex Fergusson, who has called for further devolution. "The responsibility of each of us, of all political parties who share a belief in Scotland and in the United Kingdom, is to empower the Scottish Parliament in a way which meets the ambitions and aspirations of the Scottish people while strengthening the partnership of the four nations of our United Kingdom.
"It is a responsibility the Scottish Conservatives are committed to honouring in full, on behalf of the people of Scotland.
Former Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie and Conservative MSP Alex Fergusson, the previous presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament, are also playing a role in the Strathclyde review.
It will also seek independent advice from Alan Trench, from Edinburgh University's school of political science and Adam Tomkins, from the University of Glasgow law school.
SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing said the The Tories were "split from top to bottom" on the issue of more powers for Scotland.
"With this announcement, it is not the infamous 'line in the sand' that has disappeared - it is the last vestiges of Ruth Davidson's credibility," she said.
"The only reason Ruth Davidson and others in the anti-independence parties are grudgingly talking about more powers for the Scottish Parliament is because we are going to have an independence referendum next year to achieve these very powers - and more."