South Lanarkshire's taxes are alleged to be the highest

In a question at Holyrood, the Scottish Conservatives learned that medium and large businesses in Scotland will have an additional tax liability of £190 million between 2016/17 and 2018/19 compared to the rest of the UK.

In 2018/19, it is estimated that businesses in South Lanarkshire will pay more than even cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Commenting Central Scotland list MSP Margaret Mitchell, said: “The figures released by the Scottish Government are a cause for grave concern.

“The evidence shows that businesses in South Lanarkshire have significantly higher tax liabilities than comparable businesses in other parts of the UK.

“It’s a sad indictment of the Scottish Government’s record that business will be thinking twice about investing here as direct consequence of these punitive rates.”