Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2026 [Draft]
I am not allowing Karen Adam an intervention. She would not take an intervention from any of us.
The 2026-27 budget is another dire one that will force all council administrations, whichever party leads them, to make cuts and put up council tax. Alex Burnett made the key point that council tax is going up because, for a long time, the SNP prevented councils from doing anything to council tax but did not make up the shortfall in funding, and because it has also not funded revenue over the years. We have seen massive increases in costs in education. Additional support needs and social, emotional and behavioural needs are through the roof, as are needs in other areas such as social care, but none of that has been funded. In addition, we are taking away services that have previously been provided. Why are swimming pools under threat? We need them. School crossing patrols are also under threat, and that is all because we are funding what this Government wants and not what we should be doing on the ground. To me, that is simply not good enough.
COSLA states:
“The budget reality is that this a cash reduction in core capital funding”.
That is not going to help with the bridges that I and Alex Burnett want to protect across rural Scotland.
A lot of councillors are trying their best and doing great work across the country, but it is very difficult. I say to the people of Scotland, “Don’t blame your councils—blame this SNP Government”. Ministers are the ones who have destroyed council funding because they are not up to the challenge of taking on the difficult things.
I will finish with a comment on NHS Grampian. A couple of days ago, it put out a press release that I found really frustrating. It says that it is an “incredible achievement” that NHS Grampian has managed to make budget cuts. I do not think that that is an incredible achievement. NHS Grampian is cutting its budget at a time when I have constituents coming to me with breast cancer or eye problems who cannot get into hospital. We should not be seeing cuts in those budgets. We should be seeing services being delivered, with more beds at Dr Gray’s and the hospital in Aberdeen. We need that so that our constituents, whom we care for and want to serve, can actually get the services that the NHS delivers. This Government has to step up to the plate and put more money into local services, particularly in rural Scotland.