POLITICS MATTERS: Council tax levels should be left to Highland Council
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All party leaders, irrespective of the colour of their rosettes, love flashy, new announcements at annual conference before the party faithful.
Tony Blair did it with plans to reform Clause IV of the Labour constitution, which altered the commitment to “large scale nationalisation.” David Steel as Liberal leader said to go back “to your constituencies and prepare for government.”
Last weekend in Aberdeen, Humza Yousaf was at it as well when he promised a council tax freeze. However, The Times reported that civil servants were not told in advance of this new policy change and were worried that cuts would have to be made elsewhere to fund the move.
The Fraser of Allander economic think tank estimated that fully funding the freeze would cost the Scottish Government over £417 million per year, when they are already facing a £600 million black hole in their budget.
Some commentators such as Catriona Stewart of The Herald argue that the First Minister has overcompensated for the by-election defeat in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, by bringing in the council tax freeze as a response.
Council tax brought in around £2.6 billion in revenue, around a fifth of councils’ general funding. So a freeze on council tax bills, unless it is fully funded by the Scottish Government, will sound alarm bells in the hallowed chambers of Highland Council’s HQ in Glenurquhart Road, Inverness.
Opposition to the freeze has not just been from the “usual suspects” on the Labour, Tory and Lib Dem benches, but inside the SNP as well. Shona Morrison, an SNP councillor and president of COSLA, said that “it is for individual councils alone to set the level of council tax locally without interference or penalties from Scottish Government.”
Former MSP and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport Jeanne Freeman said the First Minister did not handle the freeze pledge well and that the lower paid should have been the sole beneficiaries.
The stooshie with local authorities is all the more embarrassing for Humza Yousaf as he recently signed the Verity House Agreement which promised a commitment to be open and transparent about major decisions which affect local authorities.
Let’s be honest, the council tax is not perfect and is not based on the ability to pay like a local income tax (which was the SNP’s original plans for local government, many moons ago). Surely locally elected Highland councillors have the democratic imperative to raise their own source of income to fund services at local level?
They will face elections of their own in due course, and local residents will not be slow in raising their concerns if the councillors get it wrong.
In other news, flooding is a clear and present danger in the north and an obvious manifestation of climate change. I was an active member of the Scottish Parliament’s environment committee for many years and we carried out a major inquiry into flooding. One of my great concerns was the building of housing on flood plains across Scotland.Without major adaptation in housing design and layout, this will lead to the inevitable trauma and misery that flooding has shown this month. Surely it is time for planners and developers to think more strategically about future housing growth on flood plains?
David Stewart is a former Labout Highland MP and MSP.
