TALKING POLITICS Budget cuts mean ‘hard choices’

At the council’s policy and strategy committee last month, the SNP group moved an amendment “to support a long term future for the Kilbowie outdoor centre and thus agrees to fund the continuation of Kilbowie and its associated subsidy levels”.

The 10 SNP councillors backed the amendment but it was defeated by 11 Labour councillors, while the three Conservative councillors and the sole independent councillor abstained.

The SNP group is appalled at this Labour party move to close Kilbowie after 29 years. It could now be sold off for a quick £680,000.

Kilbowie is a great residential outdoor experience; more than 3500 Primary Seven pupils go there every year.

The SNP group also moved an amendment to oppose charges in council car parks. The 10 SNP councillors, supported by the independent councillor, were opposed by 11 Labour councillors.

The committee convener, council leader Jim Logue, used his extra casting vote to make it 12-11 in favour of introducing car park charges; the three Conservative councillors abstained on this SNP amendment.

This column is written before the council budget is known. It is important to realise that the Scottish Government block grant from Westminster has been cut by 7.8 per cent over the 2013-2020 period.

Despite these UK Tory cuts, the SNP Government delivered £11.2 billion to Scotland’s 32 local councils in 2019-20.

This was a real-term increase of 3.1 per cent on the previous year. Indeed, since 2016, Scotland’s local councils have received £862 million in extra cash – a real-term increase of 2.4 per cent.

In the Tory-run England, English local councils have suffered a massive 22.8 per cent cut in their budgets over the 20132020 period; Labour-run Wales saw an 11.5 per cent cut in council budgets.

No wonder Cosla’s head of resources, Vicky Bibby, told a Scottish Parliament committee : “I do not think that anyone in Scottish local government or the Scottish Government would want to replicate what has happened in a number of councils in England. I am thankful that, in Scotland, we have taken a quite different approach.”

Budgets entail hard choices. The £11.2 billion given to local government in 2019-20 by the SNP represents 27 per cent of the total Scottish Government budget. Health spending is now a colossal 43 per cent of the budget, due to the rise in our elderly population; it used to be just 33 per cent when the Scottish Parliament started back in 1999.

At the 2016 Holyrood election, the SNP, unlike Labour, promised to increase NHS spending in Scotland by £500 million more than inflation during the 2016-21 lifetime of the Parliament session. This means £2 billion extra in cash terms.

We all want more money for councils. But what do we want to cut in the NHS, police, education and housing budgets at Holyrood?

Figures Councillor Johnston has highlighted how the £11.2 billion the SNP gave to local government in 2019-20 “represents 27 per cent of the total Scottish Government budget”