Full and fair funding plea
EDINBURGH IS being short changed. For three years in a row it has had the lowest per capita settlement of Scotland’s major cities. For two years in a row the flooring mechanism guarantee of 85% has not been met. The Capital Coalition in its “Contract with the Capital’”made a commitment that it “will always put
Edinburgh First” and to “campaign against austerity in all its forms” and lobby both Westminster and Holyrood. In the case of Holyrood it has failed to fulfil this part of the contract. If it had then the hard facts above would be different.
My persistent questions to the Council Leader over the course of this administration have been met with obfuscation, avoidance and evasion. The results of this lack of commitment are felt not in the City Chambers but in parts of the city such as my ward of Leith with poverty among children, those in work and pensioners making life tough.
MOST DEPRIVED
Last year the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation showed that the Great Junction Street area was the most deprived part of the city and the 12th most deprived in Scotland.
This fact combined with the lack of commitment to its Contract along with the cuts each year meant that I could not support the Budgets for 2020-21 and 2021-22. I have been disciplined for two years in a row by the Labour Group part of the SNP led Coalition for this. This year I have been suspended from the Group for three months and removed from Council Committees.
This discipline does not hide the fact that Edinburgh is still being short changed by the Scottish Government but also by the Capital Coalition not fulfilling its contract. Holyrood has the money but not the political will to fully and fairly fund Edinburgh. It has money for Revenue and Capital (it had a record underspend of both of £778m in 2018/19) and it has nearly £1bn of unspent Covid monies from Westminster. The Edinburgh Poverty Commission reported that 77,600 people in this city live in poverty including 1 in 5 of all children.
Edinburgh needs to be fully and fairly funded to tackle poverty. to tackle the most acute housing problems in Scotland, to deliver services to best effect rather than cuts to health and social care, education, our libraries and roads. I will continue to press the case and press the coalition to keep to keep to its commitments. If that means getting into trouble