Scottish election 2021: Final leaders' debate - BBC News
The five leaders of Scotland's larger parties went head-to-head in the final TV debate of the Holyrood election.
In a change of pace, the party leaders are asked to put their hands up if they have no fixed plans to increase income tax.

Douglas Ross, Anas Sarwar, Nicola Sturgeon and Willie Rennie raise their hands, while Patrick Harvie says his party takes the view that this is not the time to do it.

Nicola Sturgeon says the issue is "more complicated" than hands up or hands down, and asks "can we not have a proper debate?" She says that given the economy will be recovering from the Covid pandemic, tax stability really matters and states: “We have no plans to raise tax in the next parliament”. The SNP leader says that based on assumptions made about growth and tax revenues, the SNP’s manifesto commitments can be funded - and that it is important to invest for the future and the transition to net-zero carbon emissions.

Douglas Ross attacks the SNP, claiming its manifesto is “uncosted” and that it isn’t being “honest” with the public. He says the priority is Covid recovery, but by the end of the parliament he would like to see parity in the tax system. The Scottish Conservative leader says 1.1 million people in Scotland are paying more tax than they would if they lived south of the border.

Anas Sarwar says Douglas Ross would rather give himself a tax-cut, rather than people across the country, and says Labour do want to raise tax by taxing online giants like Amazon. The Scottish Labour leader says he still supports the principle of a more progressive tax system. However, the presumption would be to not increase income taxes through the course of the recovery and thereafter raise income tax on those earning more than £150,000.

Willie Rennie says his party have an “aspiration” towards a universal basic income but the priority for the next parliament will be to put the recovery from Covid first and invest in more mental health services and 3,500 more teachers, as well as a youth jobs guarantee. The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader insists this could all be done within the medium term financial strategy already set out by the Scottish government.

Patrick Harvie says most people recognise that the recovery phase from Covid is a chance to create a fairer and greener Scotland. The Greens' co-leader says the focus shouldn’t just be on income tax – he wants a reform of council tax to create a “fairer wealth tax”. He says all the main political parties have agreed there needs to be a deep look at all aspects to taxation not just to create investment, but also a fairer distribution of wealth.