Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the impact of changes to inheritance tax on the Scottish economy.

Despite a massive £22 billion black hole in the nation’s finances that this Government inherited, the Scottish Government will receive a record £47.7 billion settlement in 2025/26 - the largest in real terms in the history of devolution.

This includes additional Barnett consequentials of £1.5 billion for 2024/25 and a further £3.4 billion for 2025/26.

On top of this, the UK Government committed to invest directly around £1.4 billion on important Scottish local growth projects. This includes Freeports, Investment Zones, long term plans for towns, Levelling Up Fund projects, Levelling Up Partnerships and a full commitment to remaining Deal projects. As well as a further £900 million of support for the expanded UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025/26.

Also, our new approach is making the UK inheritance tax system fairer, ensuring the wealthiest households contribute more while reflecting people’s strongly held desire to pass down their assets to children and grandchildren.