Labour councils to keep tax freeze despite SNP cuts

FAMILIES living in three Labourrun local authorities look set to benefit from a freeze in the rate of basic council tax.

Yesterday South Lanarkshire Council announced it will not be increasing bills, with Inverclyde and Renfrewshire councils expected to do the same.

Bills in Scotland have not gone up anywhere since 2007. But now, for the first time in a decade, the Scottish Government has given councils the power to raise council tax by up to 3 per cent.

South Lanarkshire Council leader Eddie McAvoy said the local authority has faced large cuts from the Scottish Government but was able to freeze council tax for another year because the council has been ‘run effectively’. His budget also agreed to set the living wage paid to employees at a minimum of £8.69 an hour.

Mr McAvoy said: ‘We have had to find £100million in efficiencies in recent years and this year we have had to find another £19million in efficiencies after the Scottish Government cut another £160million from Scotland’s local services.

‘The council should always lead on the fight against austerity, but the only reason I have been able to take these positions on council tax and the living wage is because the council is well run and on a secure financial footing. I want to thank my colleagues and the council’s officers for their part in that.’

There is speculation that Aberdeen Council, which is also Labour-run, will choose to freeze bills as well.

But Scotland’s largest local authority has announced that it will back a rise in council tax for the next financial year.

Labour-led Glasgow City Council plans to increase bills by 3 per cent. Council leader Frank McAveety said: ‘Local government budgets are under extreme pressure, but we have delivered a people’s budget that delivers on the priorities of Glaswegians.’

City of Edinburgh Council, East Renfrewshire, Highlands and Scottish Borders are among those to have agreed a 3 per cent rise, while Aberdeenshire approved an increase of 2.5 per cent.

The changes will see homeowners in an average Band D property paying more than £30 a year extra from April.

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: ‘The SNP will have cut £1.5billion from services such as schools and care for the elderly since 2011. By backing the SNP’s austerity budget, the Scottish Greens have sold out communities across Scotland.’