Budget delivers for people of this area
As council leader, last week I had the honour and privilege of presenting the SNP administration’s firstever budget.
Last May, the people of South Lanarkshire voted for change and the budget delivers that change, despite the very real challenges posed by austerity policies of the Conservative Government at Westminster.
However, thanks in part to a larger financial settlement from the Scottish Government than we thought possible, we were able to scrap many original savings proposals and produce a progressive budget which was approved.
If I had to pick a theme for our budget I would say that it is designed to improve the lives and life prospects of local children, especially those in most need of our help.
This includes new initiatives which will introduce breakfast clubs and holiday activity lunch clubs to provide activities and healthy meals for children.
There is also a 50 per cent increase in the clothing and footwear allowance for pupils entitled to it.
As for some of our other initiatives, we will also fund 17 new mainstream teachers, 15 new Additional Support Need (ASN) teachers and 33 new classroom assistants. We will also recruit 50 trainees to work in early years and 50 more in elderly care.
We will also provide free lets so parent councils and PTAs can raise funds without the absurdity of having to pay for the hire of the schools for which they are raising money – also, there is a three per cent uplift in grants to third sector and voluntary organisations.
We have been able to put an additional £3 million into our roads programme, £1m of which will be for pavement improvements.
Another £17.3m will take forward improvements in social work care facilities and £13m will continue schools modernisation.
Now, when the SNP was in opposition, we always took a constructive approach at budget time, even though no budget produced by Labour was ever as progressive as the one I have just described.
I hoped other political groups might take the same constructive approach, in the best interests of local people.
I am sorry to tell you they did not – and I’d like to correct a number of misleading comments from Labour which are appearing in the press and social media.
For weeks the Labour Group said they would produce an alternative budget with more ideas than ours. But they produced neither a budget nor came up with a single new initiative.
Their sole effort was to produce was a two-item amendment.
It sought to place an additional £3m in the roads programme from reserves, which would leave a £3m black hole in next year’s budget – and, as I’ve already noted, our budget already put more money into the roads programme.
Secondly, Labour’s amendment wanted to “save” a day care centre for older people which actually closed last November because no one wanted to use it.
I know this sounds unbelievable but this amendment can be easily checked in council minutes.
Every member of the Labour Group then abstained on the budget vote, rejecting all the new initiatives I have mentioned.
They also failed to support automatic entitlement to allow 1200 children not getting free school meals and 1700 children not getting clothing allowance to participate in the schemes.
It begs the question – what has the Labour Party become?
Where is the social conscience that once defined them?
At least we expect the Conservatives to be heartless – and they didn’t disappoint. They produced an alternative budget but removed all of our new initiatives around child poverty and all voted against the budget.
Both Tories and Labour failed to put party politics aside and vote for a budget which contained so many good things for all of our constituents.
The very least a councillor can do is look after their communities.
They failed to do so and this should never be forgotten or forgiven.
It is designed to improve the lives and life prospects of local children, especially those in most need of our help...