We need to stop SNP cuts and protect Glasgow’s services
THE TORY VIEW
THIS week Glasgow’s Conservative Councillors will bring forward a motion to a full meeting of the Council demanding fair funding is delivered for our local authorities. You might wonder why does this matter to you? The answer is simple. If you look at the state of our roads, the piled-up rubbish on our streets, the libraries being closed or our pavements that are falling apart - this is all down to budget cuts from the SNP Government who have continually passed their cuts onto our councils.
Since I became a Councillor in 2017, I’ve had to deal with numerous issues in my own Shettleston Ward where a lack of investment has seen our communities left behind. Yet every year we have SNP Councillors who champion these cuts from Nicola Sturgeon – preferring to cheerlead for their national party rather than stand up for the communities they represent in this city.
That must change. That’s why in last month’s election one of the Scottish Conservatives’ key promises was to reform how local councils get our cash and ensure that it was fairer for our communities. The SNP talk a lot about devolution, but rarely about ensuring it is delivered to where it can really make a difference- the hands of individuals. That’s true localism.
The nationalists have created a myth in Scotland over the past few years by yelling “Tory Austerity” and claiming it is the blame for all of our problems.
But as usual with Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality. This Conservative led UK Government has invested vast amounts of additional resources into the Scottish Parliament. This year its budget increased by 9% alone, yet our local councils have continued to suffer time and time again with resources being slashed further and further. We now have a situation where the First Minister, who is an avid fan of reading, has cut our budget so far that libraries in her own home city are being closed. A situation where later this year President Biden and other world leaders are to land in Glasgow to discuss climate change, yet we have fly-tipping common place across our streets. A situation where pop-up cycle lanes are appearing everywhere with no proper consultation, yet our roads are ridden with potholes.
Glasgow can’t afford another year of SNP cuts, yet that is what we will receive because of our city’s ineffective leadership which is too scared to challenge their Holyrood bosses.
This week Councillors can unite to send a clear message to the SNP Government, that Glasgow really does deserve better. Let’s see if for once, nationalists in Glasgow can put their money where their mouth is and join our efforts to restore our public services to the standards they deserve.