Greens: Council will be better off because of us

Party insist budget deal will help boost local coffers

Greens were this week claiming Stirling Council will have extra cash in their coffers thanks to them.

At Holyrood last week, the party struck a deal which looks likely to provide the SNP Scottish Government with the votes they need to push through their latest budget.

Under the arrangement, Finance Minister Derek Mackay agreed to freeze the 40p rate of tax at £43,000 in return for £220 million of extra spending.

Out of that £220 million, £160 million will go directly to Scotland’s councils, and according to Greens Stirling’s share of the additional cash will be £2.85 million.

The threshold for the 40p rate of tax is being raised to £45,000 in the rest of the UK,meaning higher-rate taxpayers elsewhere will pay up to £400 less tax every year than people earning the same wage in Scotland.

The Scottish government had originally planned to raise the threshold only by the rate of inflation.

Green MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Mark Ruskell said: “I’m delighted that together with my Green colleagues we have secured nearly £3million extra budget for Stirling Council for the next year.

“This means that damaging proposed cuts to our frontline public services should now be dropped by Stirling’s Labour-Tory administration and we should look again at reversing damaging cuts agreed in previous years like the cuts to public transport and school crossing patrols.”

He said there was now no excuse for the council to tamper with school class sizes to save money. Stirling Council were facing around £5m in cuts in their 2017-18 budget but will get more income than the current financial year following changes in Council Tax bands which will see those in the most expensive homes pay more from April.

Stirling Council finance convenor Neil Benny said: “The extra funding is welcome but doesn’t deal with the long term issues.

“A one-off cash injection is a sticking plaster at best and the nationalist parties seem unable or unwilling to deal with the long term issue of council funding.

“Their insistence on keeping the country uncertain with threats of independence referendums against the settled will of the Scottish people is harming economic growth and makes planning for the future nearly impossible.” Stirling Labour Group finance spokesperson John Hendry added: “The SNP wanted to cut Scotland’s Local Authority budgets by £327m yet the Greens were happy to support £167m in cuts.

“If your boss wanted to cut your wages by £100 a week but your line manager convinced him to only cut it by £50 a week, would you be happy?

“You would still be £50 short every week while your line manager was telling everybody he’d managed to get you an `extra’ £50 pay rise.

“Mark Ruskell’s Green Party hasn’t helped Stirling, they have sold us down an SNP river of more pressure on local services.

“The Greens and the SNP should be hanging their heads in shame not trying to spin alternative facts into alternative maths.”

With my Green colleagues, we have secured nearly £3m extra budget for Stirling Council