Scottish Borders Council Leader Mark Rowley and Borders politicians, Rachael Hamilton MSP and John Lamont MP, have criticised the Scottish Government for failing to properly support local councils in this year’s Scottish Budget.
The core Local Government Budget Settlement represents a real-terms cut of £251 million for Scottish councils. Local government capital funding is over £200 million short of what COSLA said councils need just to survive.
The Scottish Greens will also be breaking their 2021 manifesto promise which they pledged to increase council funding. Their manifesto went on to commit to “above-inflation increases in the share of the local government budget.”
Since 2017, Scottish Borders council have been forced to make £63.4 million worth of cuts due to harsh SNP settlements to councils.
Money which Scottish Borders Conservative councillors and parliamentarians argue could have been spent on improving roads, schools and delivering vital local services.
Despite the imposed cuts, Scottish Conservative-led Scottish Borders Council have delivered important projects such as the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme, the Inspire Learning programme connecting pupils digitally, millions of pounds of Covid support to businesses and communities, as well as new community schools and investment across the region.
In these challenging financial circumstances, Scottish Borders Council is set to deliver a proportionate budget which protects local services as best as possible and shows real ambition for promoting the Borders as an exception place to come to work, visit or invest in.
There is to be capital investment to the tune of £66.2 million, £9.3m of savings and a balanced revenue budget.
Mrs Hamilton, Mr Lamont and Cllr Rowley want a fair settlement for Scottish Borders Council to reverse the £371 million cuts by passing on the UK Government’s block grant boost.
Rachael Hamilton MSP said:
“The SNP have yet again treated local councils, such as Scottish Borders Council, with utter distain.
“Kate Forbes increasing local authority funding by £120 million is a welcome increase but insufficient, more than £80 million below what COSLA says is required for councils to survive.
“The Scottish Conservatives cannot support a budget that fails to put our economic recovery first and protect local services. It is past time that this SNP Government focussed on rebuilding Scotland from the coronavirus pandemic instead of its political priorities.
“Their cuts put pressure on our local council to make savings, which takes funding away from local services, such as schools and road maintenance.
“The Conservative led Scottish Borders Council has worked hard to ensure excellent services can be delivered even within a tight budget, which has seen cuts of £63.4 million since the SNP came to power.
“My party would ensure that the cuts were reversed, to give councils the chance to balance the books and avoid threats to local services.
John Lamont MP said:
“This budget demonstrates the SNP-Green Government’s reckless priorities. It has completely missed the mark by pushing through cuts for councils, housing, road infrastructure and agriculture whilst money has been allocated to fund plans for a second independence referendum. The SNP are imposing severe austerity on our local council for the sake of their obsession with another independence referendum.
“We need to secure a strong economic recovery from the pandemic and this budget completely overlooks the importance of this.
“I’m grateful for the hard work of Scottish Conservative led Scottish Borders Council, particularly throughout the pandemic. But it is not fair that the SNP have put them in a position where they will have to make tough choices between scaling back essential services or imposing council tax rises on hard-pressed taxpayers who are already facing an increase in the cost of living.
“Unfortunately this budget continues a trend of council budgets being slashed. Local councils across Scotland have had to deal with this ever since the SNP came to power.
“This budget does not reflect the priorities of our local businesses and ordinary Scots and so I cannot support it.”
Council Leader, Cllr Mark Rowley said:
“Councils are at the sharp-end of delivering services, supporting residents and sustaining our communities.
“Despite year after year of cuts and ever-increasing obligations to deliver the Scottish Governments agenda I'm proud that, despite the huge challenges our staff continue to deliver and support our communities.
“But cuts year after year are unsustainable and it is now time for Scottish Government to recognise the key role local government has in delivering support and services and give us the resources that our residents deserve”.
