Hansard

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...