An SNP-run council has defied John Swinney by raising council tax by 10 per cent. Midlothian Council will implement the inflation-busting hike despite the First Minister pleading for rises to be limited.
It becomes the fourth local authority to increase rates by 10 per cent – although the others were all Labour or Tory administrations. The First Minister said in a recent interview that his Government’s 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.” It comes on a bumper week for local authorities announcing council tax increases – with 18 local authorities set to vote on their budgets.
Six councils did so last week. On Thursday, the Borders and North Lanarkshire brought in 10 per cent rises, Fife introduced an eight per cent hike, Edinburgh’s was 8.2 per cent while Glasgow’s was 7.5 per cent.This followed East Lothian council bringing in a 10 per cent hike on Tuesday.
Then first minister Humza Yousaf hastily announced a council tax freeze at the SNP’s conference in 2023. Swinney confirmed it had been lifted at the recent budget.
In a recent interview, Swinney has 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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