Disappointed on budget outcome
Last week Parliament returned to Holyrood after a short recess and on our return the Scottish Government budget was finalised. As a consequence, thousands of hard-working people across Stirling and more than one million across Scotland will now pay more income tax as well as households being burdened with higher council tax.
It is troubling that instead of focusing on improving Scotland’s prosperity, the SNP are choosing to hike taxes for thousands of hard working Scots. It is a fundamental mistake to make Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK. It is also a direct breach of what the SNP promised in the manifesto on which they were elected.
This SNP tax increase was not necessary in the first place. The total block grant budget from the UK Government to the Scottish Government is increasing in real terms. Once again, we have another example of why you can’t trust Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.
Last week also saw the budget of Stirling Council being passed. However, a number of proposals from my Scottish Conservative council colleagues, including in the areas of education, transport and community sports, were rejected by the administration.
Although decisions about local government spending priorities are a matter for Stirling Council, I am extremely disappointed that the SNP-led administration failed to grasp the opportunity to work together and could not even discuss a compromise.
During the parliamentary recess I took the opportunity to catch up with individuals and organisations across the region. One of the biggest issues raised with me is the poor and often non-existent broadband service that many individuals and businesses have to endure.
The latest analysis from ThinkBroadband shows that while there has been some progress on superfast broadband in the Stirling area, 8.2 per cent of people in the Stirling area still have no broadband access or only have access to speeds of under 15mbps.
The current lack of connectivity is damaging for small businesses and concerning for those accessing on-line educational and business tools. This is a particular problem for rural Stirlingshire where the availability of broadband is still very patchy.
I have worked hard with a number of rural communities to push for better broadband. However, more needs to be done and I will continue to pressure both the Scottish Government and the UK Government on this issue.
The frustrations of rural communities are not limited to broadband however, and reflect a wider feeling that rural Stirling is being left behind when it comes to the investment and other priorities of the Scottish Government and the local authority.
This is evident across a number of areas such as rural transport and health services where some constituents still face in some cases two hourly journeys to Forth Valley Royal Hospital when there are other alternatives available.
These feelings of frustration have also been seen in the recent debate over bank branch closures which have the potential to leave many residents cut-off from accessing banking services.
I have been involved in cross party efforts to resist these closures and pressure will continue to be placed on the banks to reconsider these proposals to close branches.