AN SNP candidate has claimed money being raised from a windfall tax on oil and gas giants is being “wasted”.
Drew Hendry, the SNP’s economy spokesperson in the last parliament, took aim at the Tories’ current approach to the tax as well as Labour’s plans for it.
He blasted the Tories for using the money to fund their plans for tax cuts – and said Labour would “waste” it on new nuclear power plants in England.
Speaking in an interview with Richard Murphy filmed for The National, Hendry was grilled about what the SNP would do differently if the Scottish Government was given more tax powers.
He pointed to the windfall tax, saying it should be “used to benefit the people to help them with the cost of living”.
The SNP candidate for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, said: “There’s a lot of companies who are making a lot of money, banks for example at the moment, who seem to be getting away without having to contribute at the moment and there’s a lot of waste in terms of the windfall tax and the way it’s being applied in the UK Government that’s going for tax cuts for the Tories and from the Labour Party with investment in new nuclear.
“If that is going to be in place then it should be used to benefit the people to help them with the cost of living and to help grow our public services and move forward.”
It comes amid a bitter row between Labour and the SNP over the windfall tax on oil and gas giants.
The SNP have argued against extending the windfall tax, saying it was part of a package of energy policy put forward by Labour that would risk thousands of jobs.
But Labour have hit back, claiming the SNP would rather tax workers than energy firms.
