Sturgeon vows to kill off 'discredited' Council Tax

First published by: The Guardian

Nicola Sturgeon yesterday pledged to abolish the 'discredited' Council Tax in Scotland if the SNP wins power at next year's Holyrood elections.

In a well-received speech at the party's conference in Perth, the deputy leader said a Nationalist government would introduce a local income tax based on ability to pay. 'Council Tax has increased by 60 per cent since 1997 - four times the rate of inflation. It is deeply unfair and hits hardest those who can least afford to pay it,' she said. The replacement would mean more than half a million pensioners would pay nothing and most others would pay less.

With the party confident following its success in recent polls, Sturgeon told activists that they had their best chance ever to realise their 'dream of independence'. Her closing speech contained a strong attack on First Minister Jack McConnell, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. She added: 'What people the length and breadth of Scotland are fed up with can be summed up in just one word - Labour.'

She also made a joke at the expense of party leader Alex Salmond, referring to a recent poll which found he was rated higher in several categories than McConnell. But she said the First Minister beat Salmond in one category. 'The Scottish people think Jack McConnell is more conceited than Alex Salmond,' she said. 'And let's be frank - that takes some doing.'

Sturgeon also criticised Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen for refusing to go into a coalition with the SNP unless it ditched its commitment to an independence referendum. She also revealed plans to increase provision of free nursery education for all three- and four-year-olds, and get rid of graduate debt by reinstating grants and abolishing tuition fees.

At the Scottish Liberal Democrats' autumn conference in Dunfermline, leader Sir Menzies Campbell said the SNP had 'no coherent vision for Scotland'

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

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