Countdown to local council elections
In May, voters in Stirling will be able to vote to choose which party runs local council services, and give their verdict on the past five years of Tory-Labour coalition control at Stirling Council.
In 2012, what would previously have been considered an impossible alliance between these recent political opponents became a cynical reality in many council chambers across the country. In Stirling, despite the SNP being returned as the largest party with nine councillors, Labour with eight and the Tories with four were able to combine to find a voting majority and political control.
Just weeks before the 2012 elections, these parties had combined to force through a 23p per week council tax cut that has cost almost half a million pounds a year in resources available to the council ever since – although naturally this hasn’t stopped them complaining routinely ever since that the council is not adequately resourced by the Scottish Government.
Lest anyone accuse me of being churlish, however, let me give credit where credit is due where there has been success. The Stirling City Deal initiative is to be welcomed, and the administration has sought to work across party lines, and with both Scottish and UK Governments to deliver the best outcomes for this area.
I hope that whichever party is at the helm at Stirling Council after May, this initiative remains one where politicians of all parties pull together on the important projects that can be delivered through the City Deal.
However, there have been many examples where the leadership the Tory-Labour administration has offered has been found badly wanting.
For example, almost £700,000 of cuts to social care budgets were voted through just last year. The condition of local roads, which was steadily improving under the previous SNP administration, has seen deterioration under a Tory-Labour administration that simply hasn’t placed the same priority on them.
The roll out of new bins – for which there is broad agreement across parties on the rational – has suffered from a failure of political leadership and a shambolic introduction that has caused widespread frustration in communities the length and breadth of the Stirling Council area.
And the Tory-Labour administration has let down many rural areas by savagely cutting bus service funding. Since the summer of last year, many constituents have contacted my office with their concerns over the reduction to bus services across the Stirling area – particularly affecting rural communities west of Stirling.
Both Bruce Crawford MSP and I met with representatives of First Bus, and it was clear that many routes had become financially unviable due to the administration’s policy of removing over 30 per cent of the support funding over the past few years.
It’s abundantly clear that promoting and supporting public transport has not been a priority of the present administration, and that these decisions should be reconsidered.
Finally, the Scottish Government is increasing the overall funding to Stirling Council services for next year, and has now ended the council tax freeze allowing councils the flexibility to vary the council tax by up to three per cent.
This will present Stirling’s ToryLabour coalition with something of a dilemma, since for years, Labour have complained they wish to raise the council tax whilst their Tory coalition partners have argued that the council tax should be lowered.
Since even this administration can’t raise and lower the council tax simultaneously, we’ll see once and for all whether Labour or the Tories are really in charge of the ruling coalition.
Supporting public transport has not been a priority of present administration