Parking levy row grows before vote

THE Scottish Conservatives have been accused of ripping up their commitment to local democracy after all their council leaders were asked to sign a pledge against the “parking tax”.

All 30 Conservative group leaders agreed to oppose the Workplace Parking Levy, saying it was a “tax on jobs” that would penalise workers without access to public transport.

They also declared every Tory councillor would automatically oppose the charge.

The SNP and Greens said it made a mockery of the 2017 manifesto the Tory councillors were elected on, which called for more local powers.

It complained Scotland was “one of the most centralised countries in the Western world” where power was “delivered in a top-down manner and taken away in the same way”.

Tory councillors in Edinburgh also backed the power for a parking levy last year.

The SNP and Greens said it showed “breath-taking hypocrisy” by the party.

The council-set levy is part of a deal between the SNP and Greens on the 2019/20 Budget, which goes to a final vote of MSPS today.

The Tories also plan to drive an advertising trailer across Scotland to oppose the new tax.

Friends of the Earth Scotland said using a truck to oppose an anti-congestion charge betrayed a “shocking lack of understanding of the air pollution health crisis”.

The only workplace parking levy in the UK is in Nottingham, where the council charges employers with more than 10 staff parking bays £415 a year to license each one.

NHS staff and hospitals will be exempt, but there have also been calls to exempt other public sector workers, such as teachers.

Labour, the Tories, Libdems, business leaders and unions have warned against it.

The Unite union yesterday wrote to all 32 Scottish councils urging them to rule out the “regressive” levy, calling it a “desperate attempt to absolve the Government” from a council funding crisis of its own making.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “Right across Scotland, Scottish Conservatives are making it clear today that we oppose this unwanted, poorly thought-out tax. It’s now beholden on SNP councillors to follow suit, follow the lead of the Scottish Conservatives, and make clear they too will oppose these ridiculous plans.”

SNP MSP George Adam said: “The public can see right through this two-faced opportunism – parties who demand localism in one breath and then demand Government acts against such policies in the next.”

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: “They once claimed to support localisation, but the Conservatives are apparently now imposing a national ban on their councillors even considering this new power.”

Chris Deerin, director of think-tank Reform Scotland, added: “It is disappointing that some political parties who have previously argued in favour of localism are not embracing this.”

Labour’s James Kelly said the Budget would impose £230 million of real terms cuts to councils. .