Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 06 March 2018
06 Mar 2018 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2018 [Draft]
The cabinet secretary makes the point that this is a technical order in a technical debate, but we will not sign up to what is, in effect, an allocation of cuts to local councils. We hear time and again speeches from SNP members about opposing austerity and standing up for progressive policies. However, if we look at what is happening in local government, the figures are stark. Even before this year’s budget, there was a cumulative £1.5 billion of cuts and COSLA reckoned that £545 million was needed in order to fill the black hole in the SNP’s budget. I acknowledge that there was movement between stage 1 and stage 3, but that still left a stark hole of £368 million. That reflects points that were made in the Audit Commission’s report of November last year, which gave some stark examples of how councils are struggling to fill the gaps after year-on-year cuts.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Christine Grahame)
SNP
I ask members to get into their seats quickly. We are quite short of time, so I want to get a move on. The next item of business is a debate on motion S5M-1...
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution (Derek Mackay)
SNP
The purpose of today’s debate on the local government finance order is to seek Parliament’s approval of the guaranteed allocations of revenue funding to indi...
James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
The cabinet secretary talks about a package that is intended to protect council funding and services. Will he explain why his own council area of Renfrewshir...
Derek Mackay
SNP
Renfrewshire Council, like many councils—all of them, in fact—is setting priorities and making decisions. At the same time, it is investing more in roads and...
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
We, in the Scottish Conservatives, have been clear that we do not believe that the Scottish Government’s funding settlement for our local councils is fair. I...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member give way?
Alexander Stewart
Con
I would like to make some progress. Although we acknowledge that it is an extremely disappointing and difficult settlement, we shall vote for the Scottish G...
Derek Mackay
SNP
I want to ensure that the record is accurate: there was absolutely no double counting. The consultation phase that comes after the circular enables local au...
Alexander Stewart
Con
The words “a different way in which to allocate the resource” say it all. It is not just incompetence that we have seen from the Scottish Government in rece...
The Minister for Local Government and Housing (Kevin Stewart)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Alexander Stewart
Con
I want to make progress. We have heard that, if every local authority in Scotland raised its council tax by the maximum allowed, that would raise £77 millio...
James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this afternoon’s debate and to oppose the local government finance order—
Derek Mackay
SNP
Will the member take an intervention on that very point?
James Kelly
Lab
Just let me finish the sentence, please, Mr Mackay. I will oppose the local government finance order that has been laid by cabinet secretary Derek Mackay.
Derek Mackay
SNP
I appreciate Mr Kelly letting me intervene after he has been speaking for only 14 seconds. I simply want to make the point that—as I am sure James Kelly kno...
James Kelly
Lab
The cabinet secretary makes the point that this is a technical order in a technical debate, but we will not sign up to what is, in effect, an allocation of c...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Mr Kelly is painting what he describes as a “stark” picture. If things are so stark, why did Labour councils refuse to raise the council tax last year when t...
James Kelly
Lab
It is SNP members who—year after year, and for seven years in a row—have pressed their buttons in this Parliament to allocate cuts to local council budgets. ...
James Dornan (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
James Kelly
Lab
I am sorry—I am nearly at the end of my speech. I have taken two interventions. If we drain resources from education, that does not join up with the aim of ...
Andy Wightman (Lothian) (Green)
Green
This is an important debate, and it is not just a technical one. In many ways, though, it is a debate that we should not be having. I will explain why in a m...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
I commend Andy Wightman for his remarks about local government finance. I believe that, just as this Parliament should be able to raise the majority of the m...
Derek Mackay
SNP
I am experiencing a wee bit of déjà vu. If I really did put £10 billion in the budget for the ferries, would even Willie Rennie vote for it?
Willie Rennie
LD
The cabinet secretary has taken the words right out of my mouth. It would still not be good enough, I am afraid, because the SNP always falls short of what i...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Will Mr Rennie take an intervention?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Mr Rennie is in his final minute.
Willie Rennie
LD
There are shortfalls again this year: a £28 million shortfall for Edinburgh and a £7.3 million shortfall for Aberdeen, based on the promise that was made in ...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
I am always happy to speak on the budget and, once again, I am happy to tell the Tories why they are wrong. Although the focus today is on local government ...
Andy Wightman
Green
Surely it is not so much about whether we should raise more tax to give to local government, but a question of whether local government should have the fisca...
John Mason
SNP
I basically agree with Andy Wightman’s argument and what he said in his speech today, and I look forward to the introduction of his bill. However, we are whe...