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All Scots councils set to freeze tax for a second year

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Published Date: 11 February 2009
By David Maddox
JOHN Swinney, the finance secretary, is on the verge of securing a second successive council tax freeze over the next 48 hours, as local authorities confirm their budgets.
Despite a threatened rebellion late last year and tighter budgets caused by the economic crisis, it is almost certain that all Scottish councils will continue to freeze the tax.

The Scotsman has had confirmations from 25 of the 32 councils that t
he £70 million being offered to them collectively is enough to keep the council tax at the same level as it has been for the past two years.

The other seven local authorities have not replied, but they are expected to follow suit.

Privately, many councils have admitted that, even though they are short of funds, it would amount to "political suicide" to increase payments. If they did they would also have to make up for the money which Mr Swinney has offered for an inflation-level increase of 3 per cent that would be withdrawn from their budget allocation.

Linda Gow, the Labour leader of Falkirk Council, said: "We will be implementing a council tax freeze this year, as it is the only means of accessing our share of the £70 million."

Another council official, who did not wish to be identified, said that in the current economic climate a council tax rise above inflation would be very unpopular.

"It is better to take the Scottish Government's money and freeze the council tax," he added.

Other senior councillors were more enthusiastic. Peter Johnston, the SNP leader of West Lothian Council, said: "After a decade in which the council tax has gone up by 94 per cent, we are delighted to be in a position to freeze (it] for the second year running."

However, others warned it would lead to cuts.

Rhondda Geekie, the Labour leader of East Dunbartonshire, said: "We will freeze the council tax, but there will be £6 million worth of cuts to be made."

In Falkirk, Ms Gow said that there would have to be £9 million of savings.

SNP ministers have said that they fully expect a council tax freeze to be implemented and that the current settlement for councils is the best councils have ever had, supported by flexibility in the concordat.

They blame cuts on the "worst settlement in the Scottish block grant since devolution began".





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  • Last Updated: 10 February 2009 11:35 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Council tax
 
1

Rufus-T-Firefly,

10/02/2009 23:31:20
Well done John Swinney.

That's 2 years in a row if he pulls it off.
2

subrosa,

11/02/2009 01:52:17
Why am I having to sign it twice?

I just wanted to say another job well done John.
3

Voldemort,

Edinburgh 11/02/2009 05:08:28
Well done SNP -- keep these spendthrift, jobs for they boys, unionised, councils under control !!
4

donald,

glasgow 11/02/2009 05:57:12
Well done. Now for an end to that unfair tax.
5

Dave From Barra,

Western Isles 11/02/2009 07:47:25
Well well, leading fae the front. Under a lie-bour regime, we'd be screwed right now.
6

Luigiana,

Aberdeen 11/02/2009 09:10:30
Excellent news. No wonder the media are scrambling about in desperation, trying to generate negative non-stories like Anne McLaughlin's blog photos. It must be very difficult to get the "balance" right these days! The SNP are just too good whilst the unionists are still, well, pathetic.
7

Mr. Lachie Todd,

Edinburgh 11/02/2009 09:31:27
Lobby groups at Westminster are already questioning MP's demanding to know why local authorities in Scotland can freeze Council Tax in Scotland.

Lobby groups want to know why Scotland can do it by providing 32 Scottish councils with an additional £70 million?

The TA also want to know why on earth English and Welsh Councils are considering large increases, instead of holding the Council Tax rates, or considering a freeze South of the Border?
8

Big Dave Fae The Rigs,

11/02/2009 09:37:52
Taxpayers face a multimillion-pound maintenance bill at the Olympic Park after organisers admitted that they had failed to find a commercial operator to take over the main venue after 2012.

Amid growing concerns of a repeat of the £1billion Millennium Dome fiasco, The Times has learnt that the Olympic stadium will cost at least £800,000 a year to keep open.

Projected revenues from athletics events and a proposed sports academy will leave a big funding shortfall at the venue, where building costs have already spiralled from £282 million to £547 million. There are fears that the final bill could be much higher
9

watcher,

Edinburgh 11/02/2009 09:52:57
Play now Pay later. Some more care homes shutting and more Trusts formed to deflect the cost. Well done SNP.
10

Shredder,

11/02/2009 10:33:22
The CT freeze is blatant Tartan Toryism (indeed, Cameron has already stolen the policy for use down south).

The Nats are rightly seen by many as Toryism by the back door in Scotland and McLetchie has called them the next best thing to a Tory Administation in the SP (they are implementing many of his policies, after all!)
11

Wardog™,

11/02/2009 10:56:43

12. So why don't Labour come out and tell everyone that they would increase there council tax?

Are you saying that Labour are lying?

Are you a coward?
12

Wardog™,

11/02/2009 10:57:13


1. Rufus struggles, another promise kept.

13

Shredder,

11/02/2009 11:05:59
#13 Wardog: the thing about tax cuts is that it can be very unpopular to oppose them.

Best to wait quietly by the sidelines and point to the effects on services and the like, forcing the Nats into unconvincing prevaricating to try to make out that this just hasn't happened (a bit like happened during Glenrothes, now I come to think of it!)

It's the general perception of a reversion to Tartan Toryism which will be extremely damaging to the Natz in the long term (once the "anyone but Labour" feeling has dissipated in the wake of a national Tory Government, that is!)
14

Miss H,

11/02/2009 11:12:50
Walter, where are you?

15

alanh,

ek 11/02/2009 11:21:32
"Rhondda Geekie, the Labour leader of East Dunbartonshire, said: "We will freeze the council tax, but there will be £6 million worth of cuts to be made."

In Falkirk, Ms Gow said that there would have to be £9 million of savings."

So even with the 3% increase in the money their council will be getting from teh govt these nu liebore, north brittian dept, councillors are saying that there will be cuts .
So how much would they have put the council tax UP by if the previous administration were still in charge if they had their own way?5%? or more each year???
Thank goodness we saw sense and kicked them out of office
16

alanh,

ek 11/02/2009 11:27:07
#15 shredder.

One problem with your argument tho shredder is that the nu liebore govt is a bit to the right of maggie's lot.

Also one week the snp are supposed to be enacting labour policies and the next its claimed that they are tartan tories. Its worse than when the OF visit one of us diddy teams.
just make up your minds
17

W U Merchant,

Aberdeen 11/02/2009 11:27:16
Alex Neil? You're having a laugh.
18

Shredder,

11/02/2009 11:47:27
#18 alanh: nationalists do have the ability to appear all things to all men.

However, it's becoming increasingly apparent that their only truly left wing policies are throwbacks to Old Labour policies such as the increasingly outdated anti Trident and anti nuclear stances. I doubt these policies strike as big a chord in Scotland nowadays as the Nats think they do.

It's the Tartan Toryism which prevented a formal alliance with the Greens and we all have memories of the Natz plans for a "Celtic Lion" economy with light touch regulation of the markets.
19

bill-alba,

fife 11/02/2009 12:17:54
#20 and we are all very very aware of what is happening to the "british" economy that wasnt regulated at all. If you have to pay the council tax you will know what difficulties people have if you are just a brit spouting the usual lies you will no be aware of anything.
20

Brian Hill,

11/02/2009 12:21:48
Even more welcome in the current economic climate than last year. Well played JS.
21

alanh,

ek 11/02/2009 12:32:11
#20 shredder

I think that the SNP stance on nuclear has more of our country behind them than you and the nu liebore party, north brittian dept think.
a bit like trying to get rid of tution fees that most of the nu liebore politicians received then pulled the ladder up after them, even tho it was never in any of their manifestoes that I remember, and prescription charges that tax the poorer and older as lower paid are generally unhealthier.
Under this westmister nu liebore/old tory govt the gap between rich and poor has widenned and the poorer in our society pay a higher percentage of their take home pay in taxes
Not getting into bed with the stupid PFI that nu liebore favour so much, instead using traditional spending for our major investments is more from the left than right imo. As is the opposition to illegal wars.
some people tho only see the propoganda that they put out themselves tho so you nu lieborites just continue to spew out the old scaremongering lies, thinking that we are all thick and have forgotten how you have governed the last 12 years with your right of centre policies and sleazy/greedy politicians
22

Shredder,

11/02/2009 13:04:03
#23 alanh: you must be about the only person in Scotland who takes the Futures Trust seriously; it's simply not working: end of!

Why aren't prescription charges means tested if they're really supposed to benefit the poorest, rather than act as another tax cut for the well off?

Scrapping tuition fees for all is a disaster: universities are underfunded as compared to those down south as a result and again the Nats have eschewed means testing.

I trust you are legally qualified if you are able to spout the usual "illegal war" knee jerk reaction. I personally feel that the UN Resolution was open to the interpretation which the UK Government gave to it and completely fail to see why you Nats would rather Saddam were still in power to this day and able to inflict genocide on his own people (but there again, perhaps it's disingenuous to expect any better from a Nationalist party).
23

JT,

11/02/2009 13:32:40
Pity Scottish Water will charge us and increase of 3.7% this year and for what? I had to ring them up several times last year about water leaks in our road, one lasting 0ver 6 weeks before the engineers took a look at it.
24

Rev. S. Campbell,

Bath 11/02/2009 14:38:46
#24 "completely fail to see why you Nats would rather Saddam were still in power to this day and able to inflict genocide on his own people"

Yes, we know you prefer it when we and the Americans do it instead.
25

Shredder,

11/02/2009 14:46:00
#26 Rev: have the Allied Forces committed atrocities comparable to the brutal revenge which Mad Sad took against the Marsh Arabs, having first inflicted untold misery (leaving aside the ecological damage) by draining their watery habitat.

You may be willing to "turn the other cheek" to the doings of Saddam, but thank goodness Bush and Blair weren't!
26

A Clamper,

Edinburgh 11/02/2009 15:04:46
"All Scots Councils set to freeze tax for a second year"

Good news. Now press on and get rid of it.
27

ochone,

Sauchie, Clacks 11/02/2009 15:32:25
Bush and Blair said they went into Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction, not because of the Marsh Arabs whom they never cared about anyway.
28

Duncan in Edinburgh,

11/02/2009 15:45:02
No mention here yet of the fact that Swinney has dropped the LIT.

A sacrificial policy, as I always said, designed to pick fights with Westminster. And surprise, surprise the justification for dropping it is that the block grant is less than they wanted. Not that it is any different to what was already budgeted for when they came out with their ridiculous stunt, but still, fight-picking is fight-picking.

Miss H, I assume you'll be acknowledging that I called this right and you called it wrong? Thought not.
29

The west awake,

Argyll 11/02/2009 15:58:55
Shredder - "I trust you are legally qualified if you are able to spout the usual "illegal war" knee jerk reaction."

- I don't know if alanh is "qualified" to make the assertion that the Iraq war is illegal, but I would suggest Kofi Annan was/is. More qualified perhaps than yourself?

30

The west awake,

Argyll 11/02/2009 16:02:33
Duncan - "No mention here yet of the fact that Swinney has dropped the LIT."

Eh? Any chance of proof of this "fact".

My take is that LIT is being discussed between the SNP and the Lib Dems right now, but if you have "facts", I'd like to hear them!

- Anytime you like...

31

Shredder,

11/02/2009 16:06:56
#31 West: Kofi Annan's opinion's as good as anyone else's.

Position alone does not mean that he has the final word on the interpretation of UN Resolutions. It's a grey area and it's disigenuous to try to pretend otherwise.
32

The west awake,

Argyll 11/02/2009 16:20:45
33- Come off it, Annan was head of the UN and he stated categorically that he considered the Iraq War illegal.
It is you who is being disingenuous hiding behind technicalities and "grey areas".
The UK uttered the same tripe when it invaded Suez, and it suffered the same outcome.
I hope my country leaves this odious Union very soon, then the rump Brits, or whatever they call themselves, can answer to the world alone for their greed, power-madness and violence.
33

A Clamper,

Edinburgh 11/02/2009 16:43:12
#30 What was actually said ........

"today Finance Secretary John Swinney told MSPs the expected £1 billion cut in Scotland's budget over the next two years made it impossible to make the SNP's proposed tax reduction.

And he said the SNP had come to realise its position as a minority government meant they could not put together a majority to bring in the necessary legislation.

Mr Swinney said: "The Cabinet has therefore decided not to introduce legislation to abolish the unfair Council Tax and replace it with a local income tax until after the election in 2011."

But he insisted the SNP would fight that election campaigning against the council tax.

And he said the government would work with local authorities to freeze the council tax for the rest of the parliamentary session."
Evening News.
34

Rev. S. Campbell,

Bath 11/02/2009 17:06:08
#27 "You may be willing to "turn the other cheek" to the doings of Saddam, but thank goodness Bush and Blair weren't!"

I'm sure the million dead Iraqis are glad that the invasion got them killed before Saddam had a chance to do it.

Far more people have died in the war and its aftermath than were ever killed by Saddam's security forces. We've saved people from the peril of a grazed knee by cutting both their legs off, and we're surprised they're not grateful.
35

Rev. S. Campbell,

Bath 11/02/2009 17:07:49
#35 There's nothing remotely like that on the ET website. Got a link?
36

brownlie,

11/02/2009 17:19:17
37 Rev Campbell

It's on the BBC Scotland news site.
37

Miss H,

11/02/2009 18:18:24
30 We were both right and wrong.

LIT was not a sacrificial policy in the sense that you mean nor was it about picking fights with Westminster.

It will be the SNP's policy in 2011. We will deliver a 4 year council tax freeze and campaign to get a large enough mandate to scrap council tax altogether and replace it with LIT. We will present a vote for Labour as a vote not only for the council tax but a vote for council tax increases. That is the logic of their constant carping about the freeze. Vote Labour for higher council tax is what we will say.

It has however has been sacrificed in the course of this term so that the Government can focus its efforts on the independence referendum.

They obviously made a judgement after the Budget that there was no point spending a lot of time trying to win parliamentary support for it which would not be forthcoming. And post-Budget the Greens would be more likely to vote no than to abstain. Whereas the Greens will vote yes on a referendum bill.

38

karin.m,

11/02/2009 22:06:06
why is there no mention in the scotsman that the bank of england is to start printing money?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5708039.ece
39

JimC,

Kilmarnock 12/02/2009 09:56:12
As a lifelong SNP supporter I have concerns regarding this year on year freeze. With the recent drop of LIT until after the next election, the SNP will need to fund a freeze over the next two years. However, every local authority has to make efficiency savings across all departments even with government money. There has to come a time of reckoning, where the freeze is either too expensive to fund from the Scottish block grant or another form of funding local authorities is found. Salmond is looking for a majority after the next election, but what happens if that majority is not forthcoming, what happens if Labour regains control of Scotland? 12-15% increases in council tax! That is precisely the question Salmond will be asking labour during the campaign. Whoever gets into the driving seat after the election, local authority funding will be the big issue all political parties will have to address.

 

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