Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 March 2021
I congratulate Andy Wightman on his member’s bill reaching stage 3. It is a good bill to end the parliamentary session with. Andy Wightman has made a dry subject energetic and meaningful.
I, too, thank Aileen Campbell for all her service. I have seen her make several final speeches—perhaps today will be the final one. I wish her all the best.
The European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill will incorporate the European Charter of Local Self-Government into Scots law. The charter sets out 10 principles to protect the power of local authorities to be politically, administratively and financially independent, and it was ratified by the United Kingdom Government in November 1997.
The bill provides that the executive actions of the Scottish ministers acting within devolved competence and legislation that is within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament must be compatible with the charter. The bill creates the basis on which action can be taken in the courts to challenge any such action by the Scottish ministers or any such legislation that may not be compatible with the charter. It requires the courts to interpret legislation as compatible with the charter if it is possible to do so, and it provides the courts with remedies in cases of incompatibility. Therefore, there are some really key elements to the bill.
The bill is important because it places a duty on the Scottish Government to act compatibly with the charter and to promote local self-government.
If enacted, the bill should—and, I hope, will—protect councils from centralisation and unfair cuts, and from central control over their finances. The bill is long overdue, as can be seen from the damage that has been done to local government finance over the past decade or so.
It is essential that the role of local authorities as a layer of government is respected, and the Scottish Parliament must invest in that approach. We cannot have strong, sustainable and fair economic recovery without well-resourced local government. Local government has a central role in supporting and growing local economies through direct and indirect job creation, with local investment regenerating areas and reducing inequality.
We must trust local authorities with more powers, we must trust them to spread prosperity to their communities, and we must trust them to reach local decisions. If we continue to centralise funding decisions at every turn, with continually increasing ring fencing of funding, we will make local authorities nothing more than central Government administrators. I do not think that that is where any of us want to be.
Local people will have decision-making closer to them and, whether there is agreement or disagreement, local people will feel that they have a stronger effect on change when local authorities make those decisions. Local authorities need consistent and adequate funding so that they can pay for the vital community services that they provide. The chipping away at local government funding and at councils’ ability to make strong decisions for their communities in recent times is having a huge impact on the ground. It is an attack on local democracy. As Andy Wightman says, that discussion is for another day, but we will need to come back to it.
Scottish Labour agrees that local government should have a fiscal framework so that it can do long-term financial planning, and the detail of that framework should be determined in discussion between the Scottish Government and local authorities.
In introducing the bill, Andy Wightman has aimed to create parity of esteem between the Scottish Government and local government, ensuring that decisions that impact on local people are made locally.
This is a really important bill. I hope that, as it is enacted in the next parliamentary session, it makes a huge difference to our local communities through local authorities making the right decisions at the right time for local people. We are happy to support the bill.