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. Officer, I begin on a positive by welcoming something the SMP finance

secretary did yesterday. Not the disastrous SMP budget, of course. I want to thank her for holding up my letter to John Swinney for all of Scotland to see.

A letter setting out how my party is proudly in the side of Scotland's hard-working taxpayers

and businesses.

I brought my own copy today. But instead of reducing tax, of course,

the SMP have dragged more Scots into paying higher income tax. Every worker earning over £30,000

will be forced to pay more than those in the rest of the UK.

So how can the SMP boast about always taking more for public services that only ever get worse?

First Minister.

Let me reassure you that I will not be using props in the course of this answer, unlike

Mr Finley.

But Mr Finley helpfully reminds the public of the problem with his letter to me of the other week.

Mr Finley's letter discloses a £950 million gaping

hole at the very heart of the Conservative taxation proposals to this Parliament. That reeks

of economic incompetence.

And that economic incompetence is a consistent approach for the Scottish Conservatives.

So, Finley.

Because I know how much John Swinney appreciated my first letter, I've sent him a second one this morning.

It sets out the savings we'd make.

Our plans are reasonable, affordable, fully costed and fully funded.

...