Roddy Dunlop KC

The top rate of English income tax was cut to 40 per cent last week. In Scotland, the top rate is 46 per cent. It applies to those who earn more than £150,000 a year.

After Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcement, Mr Dunlop tweeted: “I’ve lived in Scotland all my days. I love this place. I do not want to leave. But if there is this level of tax difference I’d have to consider it.”

He added: “Northumberland is nice, apparently. If you could live somewhere that taxed you at 60 per cent or somewhere else within ten miles that taxed you at 10 per cent, what would you choose? And in between these poles, there’s a point where you’d move.”

Back-pedalling, he said: “I appear to have upset some, including those whose views I respect.

“My tweet about considering moving was tin-eared given the current crisis. I remain of the view that moving, or not coming, is a problem with tax disparity. But I should have expressed it better.”

He added: “A tweet designed to provoke discussion of the consequences of tax disparity has been reacted to with disquiet by some. Fair enough: my point, made poorly perhaps, was that some would be likely to move.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the mini-budget a “catastrophic disaster”. She said: “We’ll take a sensible approach, which will be in stark contrast to the one we are seeing from the UK government.”