against it.

Thank you. That concludes general questions. The next item of business is

First Minister's questions. At question number one, I call Russell Finley.

Thank you, President. The Scottish Fiscal Commission conducts rigorous and independent

analysis of tax and the economy in Scotland. Its most recent report outlines that

SNP tax rises are costing Scottish workers

£1.7 billion each year. So we should have an extra £1.7 billion to spend, but we don't,

because the SFC identifies what it calls an economic performance gap with

the rest of the UK.

This actually reduces the amount available to spend.

Does John Swinney know the size of the economic performance gap between SMP-run Scotland and the

rest of the UK. First Minister

I think the important point to consider here is that the extra revenue that is

a consequence of the tax decisions that we have taken in Scotland

enable us to invest in public services and in other interventions that support the Government's policy agenda.

And those changes and differences are of course well acknowledged and well understood within Scotland.

As one example, we have a much more significant provision of early learning and childcare here in Scotland,

which meets the needs of families.

And in addition to that, the Scottish child payment helps to keep children out of poverty.

And, of course, in Scotland we have a falling child poverty rate rather than in the rest of the United Kingdom, where child poverty rates are rising.

So there are differences in policy outcomes that come from the decisions the Government has made to ask people in higher incomes to pay slightly more in taxation.

Russell Finley.

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