‘She chose to vote for this’: candidates row over 10 per cent council tax rise
Argyll and Bute’s sitting MP has warned one of his General Election rivals that she “will have to explain and justify” her backing for a 10 per cent council tax rise to local voters.
Brendan O’Hara (SNP) was reacting after Conservative councillor Amanda Hampsey – his rival for the new Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber seat at the forthcoming UK general election – joined her colleagues on Argyll and Bute Council’s ruling coalition in voting for the hefty tax hike.
The decision by the council’s ruling Argyll, Lomond and Islands Group (TALIG) – made up of Conservative, Liberal Democrat and some independent councillors – was at odds with First Minister Humza Yousaf’s pledge in October that council tax would be frozen.
Councillor Hampsey, who represents the Oban South and the Isles ward, said: “I didn’t enter local politics with the intention to increase people’s bills, but the savage cuts the SNP-Green government have imposed on Argyll and Bute Council left us in an impossible position.
“Over the last nine years, Argyll and Bute Council has had to find £70 million of savings due to Scottish Government cuts. This left the council in an unenviable position where we were forced to cut funding for vital public services or raise the council tax.
“The SNP-led opposition group suggested slashing the health and social care monies by £3.1 million, cutting it by more than half. This would have been a death knell to NHS services and care facilities which we all rely on.
“Such a cut would have unproportionally affected the most vulnerable in our society and the Scottish Conservative council group and I would not allow that.
“When Humza Yousaf announced a council tax freeze last year to score a much-needed cheer at his party’s conference, he showed clear contempt for councils across Scotland. He did not then mention that this would only be possible by cutting council budgets by extreme amounts.”
Mr O’Hara, who is aiming to win a fourth term representing the area at Westminster, said Councillor Hampsey had the opportunity to vote differently.
He added: “In the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in living memory, and when the people of Argyll and Bute are already having to cope with soaring energy cost, fuel prices, mortgage repayments and rampant food price inflation, Councillor Hampsey chose to raise our council tax by a whopping 10 per cent.
“Last week Councillor Hampsey had a choice to make. She could have accepted the money on offer from the Scottish Government, and had the shortfall made up from the council’s own cash reserves, resulting in a council tax freeze.
“Or she could choose to pass the entire cost of the Tory/Lib Dem administration budget on to the hard-pressed people of Argyll and Bute.
“Councillor Hampsey chose to raise our council tax by 10 per cent, and her spurious claim that she did what she did to protect the Health and
Social Care Partnership does not stand up to serious scrutiny. The competent budget put forward by the SNP protected the HSCP with £78 million for this and next year, rising to £81 million the following year.”
Liberal Democrat candidate Alan Reid, who was an Argyll and Bute councillor from 2017 to 2022, appealed for the SNP’s council tax freeze pledge to be scrapped.
He said: “The decision by the SNP/Green Government to fine Argyll and Bute Council £4 million every year until the next Holyrood election is a disgrace and I call on Argyll and Bute’s SNP MP and MSP to speak out against this bullying.
“Councils should be free to set their own level of council tax without the threat of being fined by the Scottish Government for doing so.
“The SNP/Green Government did not offer councils enough in grant funding to cover the cost of a council tax freeze.
“This has left all councils with the very difficult choice of putting up the council tax or making workers redundant and cutting services.”
Mr Reid previously served as Argyll and Bute’s MP for 14 years until being defeated by the SNP’s Brendan O’Hara in 2015, and is now bidding to win back the seat – being enlarged to include South Lochaber – for the Lib Dems. This week, a second council is to put up council tax against the wishes of the Scottish Government. Councillors in Inverclyde have backed an 8.2 per cent rise. Labour-run Inverclyde Council argues the rise means it will not need to cut jobs and can minimise cuts to services.