{"id":20065,"date":"2024-12-01T18:20:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T18:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=20065"},"modified":"2024-12-01T18:20:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T18:20:46","slug":"scotlands-budget-must-not-cap-council-tax-rises-cosla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=20065","title":{"rendered":"Scotland's Budget must not cap council tax rises – Cosla"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"PAPA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Finance Secretary Shona Robison will present her Budget on Wednesday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Scotland’s Budget needs to end a freeze on council tax and must not cap possible increases, local government body Cosla says.<\/p>\n

Katie Hagmann, the group’s resources spokesperson, said a council tax increase was essential due to the “need to protect vital services”.<\/p>\n

On BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show<\/a> Social Justice Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville refused to confirm if the Budget on Wednesday would bring an end to the freeze.<\/p>\n

The policy was unexpectedly announced last year<\/a> at the SNP conference by former first minister Humza Yousaf, angering councils who were taken by surprise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms Hagmann, an SNP councillor in Dumfries & Galloway, said local authorities were “acutely aware” of the ongoing cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n

But she said increasing tax was not something councils wanted to do in a “complex landscape”.<\/p>\n

She said: “We have been consistent and clear that there should be no freeze on council tax and, importantly, there should be no cap either, because this is very much for local decision-making.<\/p>\n

“The last thing local leaders want to do is raise council tax in a cost of living crisis, we are acutely aware of that, but we also need to protect those vital services.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Somerville ‘will not comment’ on council tax plans<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
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Ms Hagmann said the lack of a cap would not necessarily mean huge increases, despite Argyll & Bute council previously voting for a 10% rise<\/a> earlier this year – a decision they later reversed. <\/p>\n

However, she argued that funding was needed to help with health, housing and other frontline services.<\/p>\n

She added: “If we have a good settlement, a good budget, then that will affect council tax locally.” <\/p>\n

Shirley-Anne Somerville was questioned on The Sunday Show about reports suggesting the end of the freeze would be announced.<\/p>\n

She said: “The council tax freeze was an important part of last year’s budget<\/a> because there was an exceptional push on a cost of living crisis and it was important that we took action on that. <\/p>\n

“I love reading the newspapers the week before the budget, but I am not going to comment on speculation.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"PAPA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Cosla claim that the tax rise is needed for public services<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The Scottish government’s decision to implement a council tax freeze last year sparked a furious reaction from councils<\/a>, with some local authorities – such as Inverclyde – arguing their case to ministers.<\/p>\n

All 32 local authorities eventually agreed to the decision. <\/p>\n

The SNP previously proposed raising council tax rates by as much as 22.5% for homes in higher bands last year, but switched their plan due to the impact of the cost of living crisis on people’s finances. <\/p>\n

Somerville also denied claims in the Sunday Times newspaper that her announcement last week of winter fuel payments for elderly Scots<\/a> had played out like an episode of comedy The Thick of It.<\/p>\n

The funds – which are limited to one payment per household – will be paid through a new Scottish Parliament benefit, which will not be ready until late 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Foundations of success’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The newspaper suggested the policy was a response to Scottish Labour proposals to reintroduce the payments – which the SNP said they had to drop due to UK Labour government cuts to Scotland’s funding. <\/p>\n

Somerville said: “I’m a great fan of the Thick of It but it had absolutely nothing to do with last week.<\/p>\n

“The first minister said many, many weeks ago that we were actively considering what to do with the winter fuel payment.” <\/p>\n

On wednesday, Finance Secretary Shona Robison will set out the Scottish Government’s tax and spending plans – the first Budget since John Swinney took office as First Minister<\/p>\n

The Budget comes against a backdrop of dire public finances, partly alleviated by a \u00a33.4bn increase caused by UK government spending decisions.<\/p>\n

Robison said her Budget would deliver “progress for Scotland, by Scotland – laying the foundations for Scotland’s long-term success”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PA Media Finance Secretary Shona Robison will present her Budget on Wednesday Scotland’s Budget needs to end a freeze on council tax and must not cap possible increases, local government body Cosla says. Katie Hagmann, the group’s resources spokesperson, said a council tax increase was essential due to the “need to protect vital services”. On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}