Meeting of the Parliament 18 March 2026 [Draft]
Of course, we wanted to scrap the council tax, but we did not get a majority in the Scottish Parliament to do so. To put it bluntly, what we need is to reach some political consensus on what should replace the council tax. At the moment, such a political consensus does not exist. Even modest changes, such as the introduction of additional bands at the higher end, have been opposed by Labour members such as Daniel Johnson, for whatever reason, even though the Labour Government at Westminster has done exactly the same thing. That shows that there is a need to get beyond that dispute and to try to find political consensus.
I make the point again that there is a huge difference between council tax rates in Scotland and England. As of 2025-26, the average council tax bill in Scotland is £344 lower than the average bill in England. Despite all the talk of increases, council tax payers in Scotland will continue to pay less, on average, than they would south of the border.