The Scottish Government said legislation which will give the Scottish Parliament further powers over income tax will be laid on Wednesday.

The regulations means that from 2017/18 the Scottish Parliament will be able to set the rates and bands thresholds for income tax, excluding personal allowance.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: “We welcome these legislative steps which will increase the Scottish Parliament’s powers over income tax from next year.

“The new powers will allow us to design an approach to taxation which will suit Scotland’s needs, balancing the need to invest with the recognition that many households are facing difficult economic challenges.

“As we set out earlier this year, our income tax proposals for 2017/18 will aim to protect lower income taxpayers and generate extra revenue for us to invest in public services.

“We will set out further details of our proposals for income tax in next month’s draft budget.”