‘ Enough is enough’: Glasgow councillors stand united over £ 119 million gap in budget
GLASGOW councillors have united to say “enough is enough” and call for greater funding for the city as a £ 119 million budget gap looms.
They want a fairer funding settlement and more power to raise their own revenue, with city treasurer Ricky Bell suggesting a land value tax and a congestion charge.
C o u n c i l l o r Philip Braat, who presented a motion which secured cross- party support, said since 2013 to 2014, the council had been “forced to make savings of more than £ 300 million”.
He said the council is facing a £ 119.4 million shortfall next year and an additional £ 77 million over the next two years.
City treasurer, councillor Ricky Bell, SNP, said: “The role and rightful place of local government must be respected and must be financed accordingly.
“We should join together to say it’s time to give us tax- raising powers for ourselves, so that we can decide what is best for the citizens of Glasgow.
“So that we can decide how best to spend the money that’s raised here in Glasgow and not have to go cap in hand to Edinburgh and to London.”
He added a land value tax and congestion charge would “al
low us to raise proper revenues”. “There’s talk, I believe, at Scottish Government level just now about the possibility of making changes to the upper bands of council tax,” he said.
“That is not particularly helpful for Glasgow, we don’t have many people in the upper bands, so putting the percentage they pay up will not return a lot of money to us.
“But give us the power to have a congestion charge, where we say to people, if you want to come into our city and you want to use our service, it is right that you contribute to the cost of running this city.”
Council leader Susan Aitken, SNP, above, said there had already been “fairly extensive” talks with the Scottish Government, particularly with deputy
First Minister, and acting finance secretary, John Swinney, who she said had “the hardest ever task”.
Councillor Aitken said their “demands” had been “considerably more radical” than the initial Labour motion, which was amended by the SNP and Greens.
She said: “If we are going to speak with one voice, then let’s really ask for something.
“We need to think about how we use general revenue raising powers at a local level, which we shouldn’t forget will put an additional tax burden on our citizens, in order to drive forward improvements in our city.”
Councillor Jon Molyneux, Greens, said the situation had been “fuelled by a decade or more of austerity that got sent into overdrive by seven weeks of
the most calamitous UK Government in history”.
Greens want “wide- ranging local tax powers”, he said, adding the council should be “advocating for a general power which allows councils to raise revenues in ways that suit their specific local circumstances”.
Councillor Braat added: “None of us sought election to this council to simply manage diminishing budgets and to always be faced with choosing between the lesser of two evils and yet that is precisely the position that councillors from across the spectrum have been forced into over the last decade.
“This situation is completely and utterly unsustainable and this is before we even get to next year’s savings of £ 119.4 million.
“We need to be clear, enough is enough.”