Malcolm Offord pledges to review ‘nuts’ income tax system in Scotland

The Reform UK Scotland leader has said Scotland’s income tax banding system is “nuts” as he pledged to review it if the party wins the next Holyrood elections.

Lord Malcolm Offord said the party would review the six-band income tax system north of the border.

He was addressing members on the final day of the Reform UK conference in Birmingham.

He said: “We’ll deal with the income tax.

“So we are now in the most heavily taxed part of the UK. We have six bands – income tax bands – in Scotland, versus three in the UK.

“We’re dragging a lot of people who would normally be in medium wages, like nurses etc, into higher tax bands, which is nuts.

“By being dragged into these higher tax bands and sometimes losing other marginal benefits, you’re ending up paying a much higher marginal tax rate.”

Lord Offord led Reform UK to joint second place at Holyrood in the elections in May.

The party was tied with Labour with both parties returning 17 MSPs.

SNP MSP Alex Kerr said: “Lord Offord was part of a Liz Truss’ government which crashed the economy and now serves under the man who dragged us out of the European market – we will take no lectures from him.

“Reform isn’t interested in supporting working people, they are only focused on helping out their rich pals.

“Today Offord should have been calling on Farage to resign, but he has failed that test and will now be left to defend the indefensible.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The majority of taxpayers in Scotland can expect to pay less income tax than those in the rest of the UK thanks to our progressive income tax policies, which raised a record £18.8 billion for the Scottish Budget in 2024-25.

“The approach to progressive taxation also means that those who earn more pay a little more to support policies that are not enjoyed elsewhere in the UK, such as free university tuition, free prescriptions, and the game-changing Scottish Child Payment.

“The most up-to-date information available, to 2022-23, suggests that since the introduction of Scottish Income Tax in 2017-18, more people with taxable income have come to Scotland than have left, with net inflows averaging almost 4,600 per year.

“Our economy is one of the best performing parts of the UK, with Scotland the top UK destination for foreign direct investment outside of London for the past 11 years.”