Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Council is not transparent
WHEN concerns are levelled against local politicians, it is easier to duck for cover than lift your head above the parapet.
Edward Snowden, the whistleblower on global surveillance, once said: “There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny – they should be setting the example of transparency.”
Locally, the highest tier of governance is Dundee City Council and, credit where credit is due, leader John Alexander responded to concerns raised by my fellow Tele’ columnist, Steve Finan, about lack of transparency.
I recognise Mr Alexander’s belief in this city, its historic progress and future potential and believe his aspiration to be genuine. We agree that austerity – the act of governing parties’ cutting available public expenditure in thrawn economic conditions – has exacted a heavy toll on cities and public services via council budgets.
Nobody claims these decisions are easy but where I differ with Mr Alexander is in relation to where he exclusively levels the blame. This is where his public response failed to quell my own concerns on slightly different issues.
The “austerity” to which Mr Alexander refers was driven by the UK Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010 which, upon arriving in office, were confronted with a national debt of £958 billion.
The incoming UK prime minister, David Cameron, thus inflicted severe cost-cutting measures often marketed as part of a “long-term economic plan”.
Council budgets were an area where the coalition sought to trim the fat. Council expenditure, for example, in Scotland was £18.5bn in 2010 and £23bn 10 years on. When levelled against inflation, this was a cut in real terms.
Equivalent spending would have been £27bn. Cuts cost and are often felt in lost jobs. Mr Alexander’s logic appears to be, therefore, if councils receive
their second-highest share of income from the Scottish Government and they are UK Government beneficiaries, then the UK Government is to blame, right?
He emphasises this thinking, several times, when he writes:
“The IFS recently stated that things are set to continue
to deteriorate, at a greater rate, under the current UK Government’s spending plans.”
“A dozen councils in England have essentially declared bankruptcy… while councils in Scotland have been better protected by the Scottish Government.”
“What we need completely new model of how the Scottish Government and local government is funded.”
These are fair criticisms of the UK Government but the councillor also claims “council tax is broken”, “yearly budget cycles don’t work” and desires “a bold approach which devolves more powers… to councils”.
These latter problems are not outside our devolution settlement – the SNP could address them all. Indeed, he would command a swathe of new-found respect if he levelled criticism towards the Scottish Government with similar veracity as he does against the UK Government, but he doesn’t.
Yet when John Alexander stops short of honesty about the share of blame his SNP counterparts share for this architecture of austerity we see erected around us, he is not levelling with his constituents to the extent he should. If he does, I’ll be the first to congratulate him – publicly.