First Minister Alex Salmond was facing embarrassment after a leaked email appeared to reveal details of several hastily drawn up new policies.
Plans to raise an estimated £75 million from scrapping tax relief on empty properties was among a series of measures outlined by Mr Salmond’s private secretary Donald Cameron.
The email was sent to several senior government figures and civil servants at 6pm on Wednesday and subsequently leaked to Labour.
That was just hours after opposition MSPs moved to block controversial plans to raise £30 million in next year’s Budget by imposing a new tax on large retailers.
The email reads, “The First Minister has requested urgent advice on the number of jobs a range of existing and potential policies will create over the period of the next parliament.”
The information was required by 4pm the following day.
The email goes on to outline a range of other potential policies, including a phased reduction in business rates and a scheme to help firms build their staff base.
It also reveals plans to increase Scottish exports by 50% in the next six years.’Bizarre’Labour finance spokesman Andy Kerr said on Thursday that the First Minister would be “hugely embarrassed” the email had leaked.
He said, “But the real concern is the chaos that it reveals at the heart of the SNP’s economic policy.
“The SNP’s reputation with the business community is in ruins as a result of its failure to consult with them over its plans to raise £30 million with a tax hike for large retailers.
“They also botched the revaluation of Scottish business properties and, to add insult to injury, they refused to deliver a transitional relief scheme as Labour did in the rest of the UK.
“Now they are desperately searching for a way to win back support.”
He added, “This email reveals that their solution is to offer a cut in business rates that would take £200 million out of council budgets, decimate services and cost thousands of jobs.
“Much more worrying is the SNP’s secret plan to end relief on empty properties.
“Having failed to learn the lesson from their failure to consult with retailers over the supermarket tax, they now want to recover the cash from other struggling businesses.”
However, a spokesman for the First Minister branded Mr Kerr’s comments “bizarre” and accused Labour of playing “silly games.”
He added, “This relates to the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting focusing on the economy in London next Wednesday, where the First Minister will be making a presentation about the failing approach of the UK Government, as well as focusing on the job-creating measures of the Scottish Government.
“Under an SNP government, Scotland is the only nation in the UK experiencing rising employment and falling unemployment, and of course we consider job-creating suggestions from the business community all the time-that is the job of government.”