As the Scottish Government's budget announcement of last December approached, Scotland’s business community pressed the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and her Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay, not to increase income tax.

There were sound economic reasons for these warnings, but they were disregarded by Mr Mackay and, with the support of the First Minister, he pressed ahead and proposed what will be damaging rises in income tax.

This week, the Scottish Government entered into an agreement with Scotland's other independence supporting party, the Scottish Greens, to increase income tax to an even greater extent than they proposed in December.

This decision to further widen the tax gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK on incomes above £26,000 is likely to cause great damage to the Scottish economy and prove a disincentive to investment.

And the introduction of a new band of tax at 21 per cent on incomes between £24,000 and £43,430 and the increase in the higher and additional rates was unwelcome. This risks Scotland being widely seen as a higher tax country than the rest of the United Kingdom.

45 per cent of people resident in Scotland will now pay more tax than those in the rest of the UK and this is very likely to have an adverse effect on Scotland’s international competitiveness.