The Scottish Greens are calling for full tax and employment powers for Scotland

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The next UK government “must empower Scotland” with the devolution of all taxation and employment powers and significantly increased borrowing powers, the Scottish Greens argue.

The party’s manifesto calls for the full devolution of tax and employment powers in Scotland, including powers over corporation tax, inheritance tax, environmental taxes, the minimum wage and alcohol and tobacco taxes.

The Scottish Greens support independence and have called for the devolution of powers to call referendums so politicians sitting in Holyrood can decide whether another vote should be held on whether or not Scotland should be an independent country.

The party admits that some additional powers have been devolved to Scotland over the past decade, but insists that it still manages only around 40% of its own taxes and around 60% of public spending.

Co-CEO Patrick Harvie said: “Independence is at the heart of our vision for a fairer and greener Scotland in Europe. It would ensure we always get the governments we vote for and allow us to do much more to protect people and the planet.

“However, if there is one thing that unites the Labor Party and the Conservatives, it is a refusal to respect basic democracy and allow the people of Scotland to vote on our future.

“This growing urgency for independence does not mitigate the need to rapidly expand and increase the powers of our Scottish Parliament and our communities so we can tax polluters fairly and charge our transition to a greener economy .

“The last 14 years have seen a Tory government that Scotland rejected, throwing down on devolution and causing punitive austerity and cuts to our budgets.

“With very limited powers we have taken significant progressive steps, allowing us to deliver free bus travel for young people, a real living wage for public sector contractors and a Scottish Child Benefit which is lifting children and families out of poverty . With more power we can do more.

“Labour had told us they would ‘reinstate devolution’ but said very little about what that would mean in practice. Which powers think Scotland is incapable of managing and why?”

“The best people to make choices about Scotland’s future are the people who live here. Why shouldn’t our parliament raise the wages of the workers who live here? Why shouldn’t we be able to tax the wealth of large corporations doing business here? And why should our parliament be denied the borrowing powers that would allow us to invest in our communities and the services we all rely on?”

Mr Harvie added: “The last 14 years have exposed how constrained we are from devolution. With income-raising powers and, more importantly, much greater borrowing powers, we could have done much more to avoid the pain of Tory austerity and economic policies that Scotland voted against time and time again.

“There are MSPs and campaigners from all parties who believe in Scotland’s right to govern itself and understand how far we are in terms of the powers we need. I hope this is an area where we can genuinely work together to ensure that Scotland no longer pays the price for decisions made at Westminster.