Falkirk Council Labour Group leader presented her speech moving the Falkirk Labour amendment to the Falkirk Council budget.
”Thank you Provost
Despite COSLA’s long-running budget campaign and united calls from local authorities across the country, the Scottish Government doggedly insisted there was no prospect of any additional funding for councils until its eleventh-hour offer of £62.7m. Even then, councils could not rely on an allocation which depends on the UK Government’s Spring Budget – an announcement not yet made. Gambling in this way with the arrangements which deliver vital local services does not permit a Falkirk Council to deliver a competent budget. Additional funding is needed now – not some time, maybe in the future. This is basing a budget for essential public services on the hope of jam tomorrow. The Scottish Government’s intentions in relation to potential additional funding have also been consistently unclear. Notification of the conditionality of the funding only came on Friday 23rd February. No one can base their budget plans on a gamble. The Scottish Government approach is an attempt to tie the hands of democratically elected councils. This is undemocratic, and flies in the face of the Verity House Agreement which promised “local by default, national by agreement” and “presumption in favour of local flexibility”.
Falkirk Council Labour Group has proposed an alternative to the SNP Administration’s budget for 2024/2025. Our proposal, which relies only on certainties, is:
To raise council tax by 8%.
To ring fence 1% of the increase so that we can invest £10 million in our public services.
I think every Councillor in this meeting knows the financial difficulties this Council is in. So do most of our citizens. I think every Councillor knows that to get Falkirk Council closer to a sustainable budget it will be necessary to raise the Council Tax. I think most of our citizens understands that good public services need to be paid for. What they object to is constantly paying more and getting less. The SNP approach may be freezing Council Tax, but it also involves no investment in services.
Inverclyde Council undertook a survey of citizens to ask if they were willing to pay more in Council Tax to protect public services. 2/3rds of the respondents said YES. Falkirk should consult citizens on what their priorities are.
Since 2007 the SNP Government has been reducing funding for councils in real terms every year. It does not provide sufficient funding to enable Councils to maintain existing public services. A substantial amount of the funding it does provide is ring fenced, so Councils have little say in how they spend the money they do get. The SNP argue that the problem is the level of funding they receive from the UK Government. This argument does not hold water, because the Scottish Government receives £126 per person of Barnett-based funding for every £100 per person of equivalent UK Government spending in England and Wales. 26% more.
Funding to the SNP Government has been increasing since 2013/14. Audit Scotland’s Financial Bulletin 2022/2023 has a graph which shows the increase very clearly. What it shows is that between 2013/14 to 2022/23 UK Government funding to the Scottish Government rose by 37%. Scottish Government funding for Local Authorities rose by 5%. But, I hear some people say, other services like the Health Service needed more. They may have needed more but they did not get it. Funding for Health rose by 20%. Inflation over that period was 24%.
Can I repeat that please:
UK Government funding for Scottish public services rose by 37%.
Funding for councils rose by 5%.
Funding for health services rose by 20%.
From the Bank of England calculator it can be seen that for the same period – inflation rose by 24%.
Local government spend (outturn) compared to other areas of the Scottish Budget, 2013/14 to 2022/23, real terms.
Source: Scottish Budget 2023/24, Annex D: Outturn Comparison 2013/14 to 2021/22 and Scottish Budget 2024/25, Annex H: Outturn Comparison 2014/15 to 2022/23
Council Tax Freeze
So we have had inadequate SNP Government funding for councils, we have had restrictions on the amount of money councils can raise, we have had increased demand for services and the SNP Government decided to freeze council tax, and to withhold money from councils unless they accept the council tax freeze. In Falkirk the SNP proposes to accept the £3.8 million the SNP Scottish Government withheld from the Council by agreeing to freeze council tax. The SNP proposal to accept this freeze increases the Budget Gap for 2025/2026 and for subsequent years. If this meeting accepts this proposal it will result in higher Council Tax rises next year and in future years, and much more damaging cuts in public services.
The Falkirk Council Labour proposal accepts there is a need to raise Council Tax. We know that there are some people who will find the extra cost difficult, but our proposed rise of 8% is £9.09 per month, or £2.10 per week on a Band D property.
Falkirk Council’s budget gap is the result of several political decisions over the years. The SNP promised in 2007 that it would freeze the Council Tax and that it would replace the Council Tax with a fairer system. From 2008 to 2021 the Scottish Government imposed a Council Tax freeze or capped the rise and has not brought forward any alternative. If Falkirk Council had been allowed increase the Council Tax each year by just the rate of inflation, the Council would have had an additional £9.169 million in the budget. That equates to around 300 jobs, or it could have been used to maintain community centres and sports facilities, or it could have been used to alleviate the worst effects of the cost of living crisis. There are many ways in which it could have benefitted the citizens of the Falkirk Council area.
Raising Council Tax
Falkirk Council’s Council Tax is the 8th lowest out of the 32 Scottish Councils. Falkirk Council’s budget gap is one of the highest in Scotland. Our proposal to raise council tax will enable the Council to invest £10 million in public services:
Our communities have made it clear that we need to improve the roads and officers have made it clear that to prevent the further deterioration of our road network we need to see investment of £4million extra annually. This is what this budget provides.
We need to start properly investing in flood defences and have put £1m extra forward towards schemes in Dunmore, Westquarter, Letham, Reddingmuirhead, Maddiston and Larbert.
We need to improve our drain infrastructure and will commit an additional £1m in tackling the substantial issue across the Falkirk Council area.
Our School ICT needs a well thought out and extensively funded replacement programme and we will provide an additional £1.5m of funding, to prevent the risk of over 2,000 secondary school computers and 1,000 primary school computers being pulled out of our classroom.
£0.6m more for our school buildings is required and Falkirk Labour will fund this, as opposed to the over £200k reduction proposed in the capital plan this year.
An additional 250k is proposed for Community Asset transfer bids which can show a reduction in carbon emissions. The administration’s Property Review must not simply shift high emitting buildings from the council's books to the communities without additional resources.
An additional £250k will go towards providing accessible playparks in line with our manifesto commitments, recognising the priority the people of Falkirk have towards providing recreation facilities for all young people.
Our alternative budget is based on fact, and does not gamble on decisions not yet made. In the event that further funds are available over the course of 2024/2025, the Council will be able to decide on the best way to use it in the interests of citizens. Falkirk Labour is not playing politics with people’s public services. Falkirk Labour is proposing protection for public services. Please support this alternative budget.”
