Nicola Sturgeon’s Punishment of the Poor, Moray Council forced to drop plans to introduce 18% council tax increase in face of Government sanctions, someone has to be the first to stand up and become ‘Spartacus’, if local government democracy is to be maintained then someone has to be willing to do through the pain barrier, right to the end

Dear All

The Council tax freeze on the surface seems a great idea, but beyond the idea, the practical application is wrong.

Why should rich people like billionaires and millionaires get a subsidy at the expense of the poor, the SNP has introduced middle class welfare-ism to buy the electorate. The poor people have been deceived as the services they need from the Government, Councils and NGO’s has been reduced.

In short, middle class welfare-ism firmly shows that the Scottish National Party doesn’t stand for fairness, equality and social justice. There is no social justice helping the rich at the expense of the poor.

Moray Council had planned to increase council tax by 18% in order to safeguard local services and jobs. They have now been forced into a U turn after the SNP Government threatened them with sanctions.

The problem with Moray Council is that they have a £11m budget deficit which is no small sum for this little council.

So, what should Moray Council have done?

Moray Council should have went ahead and raised council tax by 18%, and when the SNP Government sanctioned them, they should then done a revised second bill to taxpayers in Moray.

Moray Council leader councillor Stewart Cree said:

"We simply cannot proceed with the proposal as the extra penalties it would now attract would have a devastating effect on the services people in Moray tell us they want protected. These extra penalties revealed last week as part of ‘the deal’ were not there when we looking at the implications of a council tax increase. We were told quite clearly by Mr Swinney that he would take every penny we try and raise from council tax, leaving Moray with a greater deficit and services still under threat”.

So, there you have it, the threat by SNP Minister John Swinney to sanction the council.

Cree added:

"So to make ends meet this year the administration have decided to defer certain works and spending, and to draw the remaining shortfall from reserves. We have pledged not to cut services and make any redundancies, and we’ll stick to that. But this is for one year only – it is not sustainable. During that year we would expect the Scottish Government to finally make good on it’s nine-year-old promise to reform local government funding."

In other words what this is about is making councils fall into line to assist the SNP Government get elected.

The SNP isn’t about democracy, they don’t like free speech, they like centralisation and control, at some point people will have to realise that this state of affairs cannot continue and that it is unhealthy.

The SNP don’t care about the individual needs of people, they are all about image and spin, all it takes is for one council to stand up and say no.

This will involve pain, but as the fight escalates and the SNP realise that far from being the pretend good guys that are seen as the bad guys, they will run for cover and ‘do a deal’. Nicola Sturgeon is a shallow hollow woman who likes to give the impression she is likeable, that isn’t the reality.

To save her face, the SNP will do anything, but someone has to say they are ‘Spartacus’ and refuse to budge.  

You may remember years ago that I said that there should be a reform of local government, there was no such reform; the SNP are making noises about it now. An idea over land valuation tax was previously supposed to have been hosted by Mike Russell at Holyrood as the SNP try and find a new measure to replace council tax. Council tax is unpopular and the consensus is that it needs replaced.

Another idea going the rounds by Mike Russell is that councils should be broken down to smaller units; I don’t like this idea or even see it as a viable alternative to the present setup given what is already in the public domain.

As to land valuation tax, the idea on paper seems to have merit, a seminar I went to was very interesting but questions remain over the nuts and bolts of how this would affect people and how they would pay and how much. The question on how much an ordinary person would pay seems to be glossed over instead people want to take about how this will create new jobs. New jobs are all well and good, if you can get one.

But what if you can’t?

Others ideas are for a reformed council tax which is tinkering or a local income tax which some people like the Lib Dems back.

Would the Land valuation tax feature in this year’s Holyrood manifesto of any party, I would say no.

John Swinney is wrong to punish councils who find themselves in a financial hole, he should have put in place an option to raise council tax by about 3% to 5% while at the same time using the Scottish Government money as previously before. This should have been done to allow councils to have greater reserves.

The SNP scream about Oil Fund, but Scotland needs what I previously wrote about ‘City Sovereign Funds’ to build up their reserves, and a reform local government to bring forward new ideas to get more people employed in local business.

Swinney’s ultimatum was branded 'draconian' by Cosla, the body representing the majority of Scotland's councils, and they are right, this is highly unfair, and an affront to democracy. People elect councillors to help manage councils, if the SNP don’t like this they should just go the whole hog and do away with local democracy.

David O'Neill, leader of Cosla, said:

"Make no mistake this is not a matter of choice for councils and this may be perceived as victory for Mr Swinney but it is certainly not a victory for communities or democracy.”

Scotland is going to have to go through a lot of pain before people realise that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP don’t care about them or their communities.

You only have to look at the state of Govanhill ‘represented’ by Nicola Sturgeon to see how a decent area was allowed to descend into become a slum.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University