The Scottish Conservative Party firmly sets out its stall for the 2007 elections by entitling their manifesto "Manifesto for a Buzzing Economy". Among their pledges are:-

Business rates

  • Firms with a rateable value of £7,000 or less will be completely exempt from business tax.
  • Firms with a rateable value of between £7,000 and £8,000 will only pay a quarter of their business rates.
  • Those with rateable values of £8,000 to £11,500 will gain a 50 per cent discount.
  • Firms with a rateable value of £11,500 will gain a 10 per cent discount.
  • Oppose local income tax.

Infrastructure

  • Invest £30 million annually on infrastructure, with a particular focus on improving and upgrading the A9, A75, M74, A96 and A82.
  • Set up a review body to report to both Holyrood and Westminster on a high speed rail link between Scotland and London and a high speed link rail link between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
  • Merge the budget of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
  • Establish a new Scottish Skills Agency, incorporating Careers Scotland.
  • Abolish Local Enterprise Companies.

Cutting red tape

  • Introduce a 5 year review of all Holyrood's primary legislation.
  • Establish a Red Tape Review for subordinate legislative regulation
  • Ensure a presumption against the gold-plating of EU regulations
  • Require all legislation and regulations to pass an economic growth test.
  • Require all quangos and public sector bodies to have an over-riding obligation to promote economic growth.