Local authorities will be allowed to double council tax on second homes under plans that have been laid out before the Scottish parliament.
The Scottish government’s draft regulations – which are subject to approval by MSPs – are part of a joint plan with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) to “prioritise housing for living in”.
The change – a programme for government commitment – will bring the tax rules on second homes into line with long-term empty homes from April 2024.
Public finance minister Tom Arthur said if the changes are approved by Holyrood, councils will be able to receive a “fair contribution towards local services from second home owners”.
He said: “We want everyone in Scotland to have a home that meets their needs.
“We know second homes can sometimes benefit local communities, but they can also restrict the availability of housing and increase costs for people who want to rent or buy.
“Subject to approval by parliament, this legislation aims to prioritise housing for living in by allowing local authorities to charge a council tax premium on second homes.
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“Backed by a majority of respondents to our joint consultation with COSLA, it will enable councils to seek a fair contribution towards local services from second homeowners.”
A second home is classed as any home that is not used as someone’s primary residence but is occupied for at least 25 days in a year.
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Latest figures show that at the end of September 2022, there were 24,287 second homes in Scotland.
Second homes are currently subject to a default 50% discount on council tax.
However, local authorities have the power to vary the premium and the majority charge second homeowners the full rate of council tax.
A consultation was held earlier this year in which 55% of respondents agreed that local authorities should be able to charge a council tax premium on top of regular rates for second homes.
In the 2024-25 financial year, the premium will be based on rates from 2023-24.
Last month, First Minister Humza Yousaf announced a council tax freeze that would keep rates at current levels when local authorities set their budgets for 2024-25.
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First Minister Humza Yousaf announcing Scottish council tax freeze
Councillor Katie Hagmann, COSLA resources spokesperson, welcomed the draft regulations.
She added: “Allowing the politicians who are closest to their communities to take decisions about what best suits local needs and circumstances is well aligned to the Verity House Agreement.”
The Verity House Agreement, between COSLA and the Scottish government, sets out their vision for a “more collaborative approach to delivering our shared priorities for the people of Scotland”.
The Scottish Greens are also backing the plans, saying the move will tackle the “inequality of house housing shortages” and will raise “tens of millions of pounds for local services like schools and social care”.
MSP Ross Greer, the party’s finance spokesperson, added: “Housing is a human right. We should all be able to access good quality and affordable homes.
“Yet, all across Scotland there are people being priced out of the areas they grew up in while thousands more are stuck on waiting lists.
“With bold steps like this, we will shift the balance away from second home ownership and free up more homes for those who really need them.”
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was stabbed in the back and the arm after going to the class with her younger sister.
She is now campaigning for children to have mandatory first aid training at school in response to the growth of knife crime.
She said she clearly remembers what happened that day.
Image: Flowers and tributes near the scene of the attack a year ago. Pic: PA
“Some of the girls were sat down in a circle making bracelets with the teachers, and a couple of them were getting up to get beads. I was standing between two tables and he came through the doors.
“He stabbed a little girl in front of me and then came for me and stabbed my arm. I turned and then he stabbed my back, even though I didn’t feel it at the time.
“There was a bunch of girls huddled around so I just started pushing them down the stairs, telling them to get out and run.
“I was thinking ‘Where’s my sister?’ and ‘We need to get out’.”
She and many of the other victims ran to the house of a neighbour for shelter. “I just thought that I was going to die,” she said.
Killer ‘looked possessed’
The girl said she can clearly picture Rudakubana that day.
“What I remember most about him is his eyes. They just didn’t look human, they looked possessed. It was kind of like a dream and you’re on a movie set and watching yourself go through it and make these decisions.
“It’s just kind of like adrenaline. People like to think they know what they’d do in that situation but, in reality, you don’t until you’re in it.”
Image: Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King were murdered in the attack
Six-year-old Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, who was seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died in the attack. It is something she finds difficult to talk about.
“I don’t think I can express how I feel about it,” the girl said. “A lot of anger and sadness.”
In January, Rudakubana was jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 52 years before he can be considered for release.
The chairman of the public inquiry into the atrocity called the attack “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history”.
Carrying knives ‘disgusting’
The girl who survived has now launched a campaign, supported by a clothing range called “Go Anywhere, Be Anything” to raise funds, to improve the ability of schoolchildren to help in the event of knife attacks.
“Everyone that’s going out and carrying knives is getting younger and younger,” she said. “And to think that it’s people my age is like disgusting.
“I just want to try and do the best I can to let people know that it’s not okay to do that and that they need to think about what they’re doing and the risks and how they’re harming themselves and other people.”
Her sister, who was also there that day, helped design “Go Anywhere, Be Anything”.
A three-minute silence will be held in Southport at 3pm to mark one year on from the attack. In an open letter to the community, Sefton Council wrote: “This period is incredibly hard for the families of Alice, Bebe and Elsie and all of those children and adults injured or who suffered lifelong psychological impact of witnessing the attack, and we acknowledge the huge impact on their lives, too.
“We must not forget the local people who rushed to support and to our emergency responders. They all remain always in our thoughts.”
It is a sentiment shared by the survivor.
“You live in fear every day that it could happen again,” she said.
“Physically I’m getting better every day and healing. Obviously, my scars stay as a reminder but everyone from that day is going to have mental scars forever.”
The scale of cheap Chinese e-commerce imports flown into Britain without paying any tariffs has become clearer following a Sky News investigation into this new multi-billion pound phenomenon.
We have uncovered the first official estimate of the value of so-called “de minimis” imports into Britain, ahead of an official inquiry into whether this legal clause – which excludes packages worth less than £135 from paying customs duties – should be allowed to continue.
Companies like Shein and Temu have become big players in British retail, not to mention elsewhere around the world, by manufacturing cheap products in China and then posting them directly to consumers, benefiting from the de minimis rules.
Clothing manufacturers in the UK claim that de minimis makes it nearly impossible to compete with these Chinese competitors, raising questions about the viability of domestic textile and apparel production.
However, economists argue that the main beneficiaries of the policy to exclude cheap imports from customs are lower-income households, since it allows them to spend less on their shopping. Removing it, they say, would disproportionately affect poorer families.
The government has committed to an inquiry into the rules, which are also being changed in the EU and the US, but up until now there has been no official estimate of its scale.
According to HM Revenue and Customs data released to Sky News following a Freedom of Information request, the total declared trade value of de minimis imports into the UK in the last fiscal year (2024-25) was £5.9bn.
That was a 53% increase on the previous year (£3.9bn), underlining the scale of growth of e-commerce imports into the UK.
While it is hard to gauge how much revenue this means the Treasury has forgone, an illustrative 20% tariff on flows of that order could raise more than £1bn.
While that sum alone would not fill the fiscal black hole faced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the coming budget, it would nonetheless be nearly enough to pay for the government’s recent U-turn on winter fuel allowances.
Sky has also obtained the first television access deep into the supply chain, helping bring those goods into the UK, as it boarded a flight that had just travelled from Chongqing to Bournemouth Airport.
We filmed inside the belly of a plane belonging to European Cargo, one of a number of air cargo firms booming as a result of these trade flows.
The untold story about de minimis is that it hasn’t just had an impact on shopping habits in the UK, or for that matter, the textiles manufacturing sector – it has also changed patterns of distribution.
Struggling regional airports that never saw their passenger numbers recover after the pandemic are now re-establishing themselves as hubs for cargo.
European Cargo is now the single biggest airline at Bournemouth Airport, despite not carrying a single passenger.
Other regional airports like East Midlands Airport and Prestwick in Scotland are seeing rapid growth in flows of trade.
All of which raises the stakes for the government’s inquiry into the de minimis system.
At present, there is no timeline for its decision, but removing the clause would have far-reaching effects across the economy.
The team’s open-top bus will travel along The Mall from 12.10pm.
It will end with a staged ceremony at the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, which is expected to start at roughly 12.30pm and end at 1pm, the Football Association (FA) announced.
The Royal Marines Portsmouth band and the Central Band of the Royal Air Force will perform on the stage and highlights from the tournament will be shown on big screens.
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Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey was one of those who asked the prime minister if it was “time for that bank holiday”.
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He was referring to comments made by Sir Keir in 2023. When, as leader of the opposition, he wrote on X that there “should be a celebratory bank holiday if the Lionesses bring it home”.
But with estimates suggesting an extra bank holiday would cost the economy £2.4bn, it’s understood such a move isn’t being planned by Downing Street.
‘There is no stopping them now’
The impact of the Lionesses second consecutive Euros title is already being felt across the UK.
At Bearsted Football Club in Maidstone, Kent, a mural of Alessia Russo, who levelled Sunday’s final with a goal in the 56th minute, has been unveiled.
Image: Alessia Russo scoring the levelling goal. Pic: Reuters
The club is where Russo first started playing, and chairman Jamie Houston told Sky News the Lionesses have helped transform the women’s game.
“Five years ago we never had a girl’s football team,” he told Sky correspondent Mollie Malone. “Now we have five separate teams for girls, and boys are accepting of more girls in the game.
“There is no stopping them now.”
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Lynda Hale, who played in the England squad in the first ever international women’s match against Scotland in 1972, reiterated that women’s football has changed drastically since she played.
“When I first started playing there was hardly anyone that would watch,” she told Sky News Breakfast.
“To put on the England shirt and think what we started has grown to this magnitude, and it is still going to grow, is absolutely fantastic. I think the sky’s the limit in women’s football.”
Asked what advice she would have for the current England squad after their win, Ms Hale said: “The girls need to make as many memories as they can and take everything in their stride.”