Moray Council is to become the latest local authority to go against John Swinney’s plea for council tax rises to be limited. The Tory-led authority will meet next week to discuss the 10 per cent increase which the council is recommending.
It comes after East Lothian confirmed a 10 per cent hike on Tuesday. The Scottish Borders Council is considering a similar increase.
All Scottish councils will decide on their council tax increases over the next few weeks. It follows Humza Yousaf’s Government imposing a freeze last year.
Swinney said in a recent interview that his Government ’s draft budget is positive for councils and means big rises are not needed. Asked if 10 per cent is too high, he said: “I think it is, yes.” He added: “I don’t think that’s necessary, to be honest.”
In a recent interview, Swinney talked up his funding deal for councils: “I think if you had a quiet conversation with council leaders where they were not being bound by certain things, they would say to you, ‘We got a better settlement than we thought we were going to get’.
“I think that’s the case. That’s what they say to me as well in private moments – possibly, they might think these were reckless conversations to have with me, but they’ve had them. And I think as a consequence, that means council tax increases don’t need to be as high.”
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