Meeting of the Parliament 28 February 2024
We will not oppose the order today, because we know that it is necessary to get the funding allocated to councils. However, although we will not attempt to block it, we cannot support it.
As we indicated during various stages of the budget process, we do not support the 2024-25 budget because people are paying more and getting less. Councils—and the democratic mandate that they receive from communities—have been treated with complete contempt, and decisions seem to have been made in a haphazard and chaotic way. The chaotic and disrespectful way in which councils have been treated also seems to have put the final nail in the coffin of the Verity house agreement.
From the very outset, the decision to impose a freeze on council tax has had a whiff of “The Thick of It” about it. The First Minister, panicked by a by-election drubbing, announced a freeze at the party conference, in front of astounded SNP councillors, without letting his Cabinet, civil servants or even his coalition partners know about it, never mind have any input—in direct conflict with the Verity house agreement that had just been signed with local authorities. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance was then sent out to assure councils and Parliament that the freeze would be fully funded.