Centralisation is SNP trademark
Year after year, the Scottish Government takes more power away from local communities. We saw it with the police and we all know what happened there. Two chairmen gone. One Chief Constable gone and another one on special leave.
Yet the turmoil that centralisations brings has not discouraged the SNP Government from taking even more control from councils. They’ve taken control of the fire service, social care, enterprise and economic development and we hear that highways could be taken too. And despite widespread criticism they are still planning on doing the same to education.
The Scottish Parliament was forged so that decisions that are best made in Scotland are made here. The Scottish Parliament was not forged so that decisions that are best made in Inverness, Dundee or Ayr are made in Edinburgh too.
Under this Scottish Government the transfer of powers from your communities to the Scottish Government are even more significant than the powers transferred from Westminster to Edinburgh. That power was transferred to the Scottish Parliament through a referendum but where is the similar mandate for the transfer of powers from local communities?
Some vague and meaningless phrases on page 32 of a manifesto are simply no justification for the large scale stripping of powers that the SNP have undertaken.
I believe the Scottish Government has made a lot of mistakes but I don’t think it should be abolished or stripped of its powers. The answer to a failing government is not to remove powers from it forever. The answer is to change the government at the ballot box.
When a council makes mistakes I think the local voters should decide whether they want to change the administration rather than it being stripped of powers by government in Edinburgh. This is about who, for the long term, is best placed to make the decisions for each community. Communities have that right to choose their own leaders to run services for them that best fit their needs.
As a liberal, I believe that power is best used when it is shared. Every illiberal government in the world would rather their ministers were able to get on with things without interference, challenge or scrutiny from anyone else.
The SNP want to make their mistakes in private; squander our money without challenge; neglect the difficult issues with impunity. They are on a mission to remove the challenging voice of Scottish local government. They are opposed to challenge. As a result, we will lose local accountability, local services and local clout to challenge government in their failings.
We must continue to protect the rights of local people to choose their leaders to run local services; challenge the government to justify the removal of powers without a proper mandate; and protect the right of councils to question and probe the government of the day.
Elements of the SNP’s manifesto have been described as“vague and meaningless”by North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie