Scotland-wide Council Tax freeze confirmed

SCOTTISH crime writer Val McDermid has said that misogyny directed towards former first minister Nicola Sturgeon is disgusting.

In an interview with The Times, the popular author said she struggled to believe some of the abuse directed at Sturgeon on social media.

McDermid said she hoped that Scotland had made some progress following her time working as a journalist, although it sometimes felt like what was being said comes from the “Dark Ages”.

“There are a lot of men who do not like the idea of a successful, powerful woman, in whatever walk of life,” she said. “I have seen some of the tweets, some of the trolling she [Sturgeon] gets and frankly they are disgusting.

“They would not speak to their mothers, their daughters, their wives, or their girlfriends like that – it depresses me beyond belief.”

McDermid spent 16 years working as a journalist, and said she hoped Scotland had made progress in terms of people being “offensive about your appearance, your gender, your sexual choices”.

However, she said she “had her doubts” when looking at

DEPUTY First Minister Shona Robison yesterday welcomed confirmation that Council Tax bills will be frozen across Scotland, after Argyll and Bute – which had proposed a 10% hike for 2024-25 – formally agreed that the levy would remain unchanged.

The authority’s new leader, Jim Lynch, said additional cash from the Scottish Government meant the council was now able to freeze Council Tax and protect local services.

It will receive an additional £6.26 million.

First Minister Humza Yousaf angered local government leaders when he announced the freeze at the party’s conference last autumn without consulting them.

With a new coalition of SNP, some of the misogyny directed towards Sturgeon.

“I really thought we had made progress in recent years but we are in some respects back in the Dark Ages”.

McDermid (pictured) added that her own approach to abuse was “to ignore it, to get on with your life and continue to behave in the best way you can, to be decent, generous and kind”.

“I brought my son up to have respect for women and I see the way that he lives his life, and I am proud of that. It’s sad that people hide behind aliases online because they have this well of bitterness and vitriol inside themselves.”

She added: “People come up to Nicola all the time to say she did an amazing job. I am often in England where people say, ‘You had the best leader out of the lot of us’.”

Labour and independents having taken over Argyll and Bute Council earlier this month, the freeze in bills was confirmed following a special meeting yesterday.

Robison, who is also Finance Secretary, said: “We know many households continue to struggle with the impact of rising prices, and this Council Tax freeze, funded by the Scottish Government, is just one of many ways that we’re offering support.

“We deeply value the role local authorities play in Scotland’s communities, which is why, in the face of a profoundly challenging financial situation, we have made available ... more than £14 billion to councils in 2024-25, a real-terms increase of 2.5%.”