Swinney’s retreat in council tax freeze row

JOHN Swinney was last night in retreat over his council tax war with town halls as he postponed his own deadline for a deal.

The Finance Secretary is under pressure after Moray Council announced plans for an 18 per cent council tax hike, and several others are poised to follow suit.

The SNP had promised voters another year of the popular tax freeze, but now faces the humiliation of seeing rates rise weeks before May’s Scottish elections.

An independent report by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre confirmed the Scottish Government has cut overall council funding by £600million between 2015-16 and 2016-17.

The Convention of Scottish Local

‘His cuts would be disastrous’

Authorities (COSLA) estimates the actual cut is around £350million, because councils have received extra money from the government’s health budget – albeit still a major blow for councils.

COSLA sources have warned several local authorities will follow Moray in ripping up the freeze.

Fife Council is debating a possible 7.5 per cent hike, while Aberdeen is considering a rise of up to 10 per cent. Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway may also reverse the tax freeze.

In a letter to council chiefs yesterday, Mr Swinney acknowledged discussions were still ongoing, and said he no longer required councils who did not agree to his deal to write to him by January 22, 2016.

Despite the delay, a spokesman for the First Minister said there would be no improvement in the government’s offer to councils.

Ken Macintosh, Scottish Labour’s communities spokesman, said: ‘ It’s no surprise that John Swinney is running into trouble trying to get local leaders to agree to his plans – his cuts would be absolutely disastrous for families across Scotland.’