SNP should focus on their day job

This week we will see the Scottish Government’s budget plans for the coming year debated at Holyrood.

For the first time the Scottish Parliament has direct control over an extensive range of taxes in Scotland.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Derek McKay has made the wrong choice in this budget.

He had the choice of whether to use these new powers to grow the economy but has instead chosen to increase taxes on hard-working families and businesses in Scotland. In short, he has chosen to make Scotland the highest-taxed part of the United Kingdom.

This is now absolutely critical for Scotland as under new powers the amount of money available to spend will largely rely on the performance of the economy.

Economic growth in Scotland for 2016 was a mere 0.7 per cent, compared to 2 per cent growth in the overall UK economy. More needs to be done to stimulate the economy and create more, and better-paid, jobs.

All this comes just a couple of weeks after it was revealed by the Fraser of Allander Institute that a decade of complaining about “Westminster cuts” has been hiding the fact that the total Scottish Government budget has actually risen from £37.2 billion in 2010/11 to £37.4 billion in 2016/17 in real terms.

The SNP have therefore willingly chosen to cut more than £130 million from the revenue grants given to local government.

This includes cutting the revenue allocation to Stirling Council by 3.3 per cent in real terms.

I therefore find it extraordinary that some politicians have chosen to use their column to complain that Stirling Council has had the cheek to complain that it was being starved of funds.

It seems to me that the imposition of reductions in revenue allocations to local councils, with the option of taking the politically difficult choice of raising council tax to plug the gap, and then going on to blame the council for loss of services is a strange way to conduct government.

The fact is that the choice of the SNP to raise the council tax for the top bands will directly hit hardworking families across the Stirling region and will result in council tax increases for almost 17,000 households.

Most of these households have modest incomes and do not deserve to be paying more tax than not just their counterparts in the rest of the UK but also their neighbour who may have more disposable income. This is a direct tax increase imposed by the Scottish Government on local authorities, who are again expected to clear up the mess.

In spite of the more than challenging funding situation coming from Edinburgh, prudent financial administration at Stirling Council has allowed front-line services to be protected whilst still delivering on priorities which matter to the people of Stirling.

Thanks to the effective administration, the council has been able to continue supporting key local infrastructure projects such as the new primary school in St Ninians and has been able to develop a comprehensive plan for future projects which will be included in the City Region Deal.

Instead of spending all their time obsessing about how to call a second independence referendum the SNP should focus on their day job of running the country in the best interests of Scotland.

By spending more time on the day job the SNP would hopefully avoid further catastrophic overspends on IT and infrastructure projects that have cost the Scottish taxpayer up to £432m.

Ultimately if the SNP showed more competence in government there would be a lot more money available to support critical local services, boost local economies and help struggling families.

It is increasingly clear that Derek McKay has made the wrong choice in this budget