Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie has hit out after it emerged that hospitals across the Lothians have been hit with a £5 million tax hike. The health board has been hit with a 38 per cent jump in its rates - the equivalent of around 180 full time nurses.

NHS Grampian is also looking at a £1 million increase in its business rates bill. The new valuations came into force at the start of April. Labour is calling on the Scottish Government to bring in an emergency scheme of transitional relief to protect those hardest hit by hikes in business rates.

Shadow Health Secretary Jackie Baillie said:

"The NHS is being badly failed by the SNP, who are simultaneously cutting jobs and demanding a massive tax hike. It is simply ludicrous that NHS Lothian is being hit with a 38 per cent jump in its rates when it is being forced to cut up to 2,000 jobs to balance its books.

"Labour in the Scottish Parliament has been calling for urgent action by the Scottish Government to protect businesses, and organisations like the NHS, since news of the SNP's plans for a massive tax hike first leaked out earlier this year.

"The last UK Government was introducing a transitional relief scheme in England with a cap on increases of no more than 12.5 per cent a year. We need to see Scottish ministers stepping in with similar action to protect businesses and public services here."