Craig Hoy

Scots will be concerned that dozens of taxpayer-funded devices have been lost or stolen in such a short space of time.

Every single Scot is over £2,700 better off because we are part of a strong United Kingdom.

The damning results in this survey show that SNP ministers have lost control of their ever-growing army of civil servants.

John Swinney was clearly ignoring the warnings from business leaders and economists that continually hiking taxes kills growth.

Instead of reining in Scotland's out-of-control benefits bill, Swinney and his new finance secretary Jenny Gilruth are clearly intent on raising tax even further on people and business to fund their endless profligacy.

These bombshell figures expose the recklessness of the SNP making Scotland the highest taxed part of the United Kingdom.

Their economic approach has the country stuck in a dangerous doom loop of ever-increasing taxes and low growth, which is resulting in far less tax revenue being collected than expected.

John Swinney and his ministerial colleagues need to accept their approach is going to mean more pain for Scots in the coming years, through more tax rises or spending cuts or both.

If they don't stop increasing taxes and squandering money on their pet projects, then Scotland's economy will only continue to lag behind the rest of the UK.

It’s indefensible that, while John Swinney imposes soaring taxes and cuts essential services to the bone, he and his Nationalist ministers refuse to cut their own cloth accordingly.

Scots will rightly be furious that the SNP are shelling out record sums of taxpayers’ money on an army of spin doctors to try to defend their appalling record in government.

This is a deeply worrying sign for hard-pressed Scots, who are already being clobbered by sky-high SNP taxes.

This is a shocking development.