The first rule of economics, usually learned at the ‘pocket money’ stage of life, is that you can’t spend what you don’t have. If you don’t have the money to pay for sweeties or a toy, you have to save or earn more to make up the shortfall, and until then, you do without. The lesson is straightforward when applied to pocket money and toys; it is less easy to adhere to when the ‘toys’ you want to buy are in fact lifeline services, and there is no option to earn more because The Scottish Government has tied your hands.
This is the situation Scotland’s 32 local councils currently find themselves in. With cuts of 3.5% in funding for local councils from Scottish Government Budgets, and increasing demands on the services councils provide, there is clearly a shortfall. That first rule of economics, that you can’t spend what you don’t have, means that a solution must be found, and last month Moray Council raised its head above the parapet to say it would defy the Scottish Government and increase Council Tax, only to be shot down in flames.
I was proud of Moray Council when it made that announcement; it seemed to be a reasonable solution. Council Tax has been frozen since 2007 in accordance with Scottish Government diktat. But if we want decent public services, they have to be paid for. And if not by Council Tax then how?
Although Moray Council’s proposal was unpopular in some quarters (1100 people signed an SNP backed petition against the proposed 18% rise) it would have given the Council the funding it needed to plug its shortfall. But it was not to be. Scottish Government Finance Secretary John Swinney stamped his heavy foot and promised to impose punitive financial sanctions on the council, effectively cancelling out the raise. The plans had to be abandoned.
Last week Moray Council passed their budget, managing to plug the shortfall with reserves and by not replacing vacant staff posts. So while the wolf has been kept from the door for another year, the situation is far from sustainable, with huge future deficits predicted.
As you are reading this we’ll be discovering which of their £18million of necessary cuts Highland Council have been forced to impose. With a shortfall of £29million in their budgets, jobs will go, car parking and burial costs will increase and there will be grant cuts for leisure and cultural services. But most worryingly of all, the most vulnerable members of our society will be put at risk – education services will be severely eroded, as will services for the homeless and funding to social enterprises, charitable bodies including Women’s Aid, The National Autistic Society and The Black Isle Education Centre.
Each one of us, depending on the stage of life in which we find ourselves, will be affected in different ways, and to differing degrees, but none of us will be exempt from the impact of the cuts. And until the system of collecting local tax is changed, or sufficient funds are delivered from a central pot, the same issues will continue year after year.
Central government screwing over local government in this way does no-one any favours. Let’s just look at one example: For the lack of £57,000 the charity Blindcraft, which employs 19 visually impaired workers in its Inverness factory, may be forced to close. Where will those workers then find employment? The cost to the public purse will be significantly greater than the annual £57,000 if they all find themselves out of work, but who will be to blame – Highland Council, because they couldn’t afford to keep funding a worthwhile enterprise, or the SNP Government, who have tied the councils hands? Of course the lack of Scottish Government funding stems from Westminster’s austerity agenda, but Hollyrood has chosen to forbid Council Tax increases and chosen not to invoke their own income tax raising powers to bridge the funding gap. Is this for fear of political backlash in the run up to the Scottish elections?
I fear for the future of our council services, and for the future of local democracy. And I wonder who, in the current climate, will survive.
Danish Drama does it for me
A nasty flu bug over the last few weeks may have severely curtailed my social life but it did give me an excuse to open the cellophane on a box set which had been patiently waiting on the shelf for two years – we have finally embraced the phenomenon that is ‘Scandi-Drama’ and binge-watched Borgen.
And what a joy it is. As with all these series I got completely sucked in (I was convinced one of the main characters was in the queue at Asda the other day) but really – if you’ve not seen it, it’s one to look out for. Yes, there are sub-titles to grapple with, which means you can’t be on your phone at the same time, and yes, it’s all about politics, something we might have our fill of, with the ‘Brexit’ referendum date just announced.
Borgen is a brilliant piece of drama, and an exceptional example of consensus politics in action. I wonder if we could make it compulsory viewing for our own politicians…?
This column first appeared in the SPP Group newspapers week ended 26th February 2016. If you’ve enjoyed what you have read, please share using the buttons below.