It is now almost 12 months since a political earthquake hit Scotland, and the first Scottish National Party Government in history was elected to run Scotland, albeit within the context of the devolution settlement. The SNP administration is also a minority government, since its numbers are well short of giving the party overall control in the Scottish Parliament. Yet, despite the restrictions, SNP leader Alex Salmond and his ministers have done surprisingly well in pushing their policies through. It is, therefore, no surprise that the first minister was in buoyant mood when he addressed the recent spring conference of his party in Edinburgh. His government has managed to achieve what some of his critics claimed would be impossible – the abolition of road bridge tolls, reduced prescription charges. the abolition of university fees, cuts in business rates, and a council tax freeze. The tax freeze policy was the result of the signing of a ‘historic' concordat with local government. So, it has been a successful year for the new Scottish Government. But, there is one flagship policy that is proving deeply troublesome for the SNP – plans to introduce a local income tax (LIT). Critics have claimed the change would penalise hundreds of thousands of students and low-paid workers. The Treasury insists it would be illegal to introduce a nationally-set LIT. And the UK Government has also warned that it would not be prepared to hand over £400m currently paid in council tax benefit as demanded by the SNP. It's one proposal that Mr Salmond cannot yet add to his list of achievements. If it founders, it will be a set-back for the SNP. But there is likely to be a sense of relief among many senior local authority officers, especially finance directors. They have avoided expressing their views publicly but are known to have serious doubts about LIT.
