Rachael Hamilton MSP and John Lamont MP have called on the SNP to reverse ‘devastating’ local Government funding cuts.
The Borders’ parliamentarians said that the SNP Government is ‘passing the buck’ of cuts to Scottish Borders Council by leaving them with a difficult choice between delivering essential services on the cheap or implementing harsh Council Tax rises.
In Holyrood, the Scottish Conservatives used one of their debate slots in Parliament to call for the SNP to abandon the real-terms funding cut in their 2022-23 Budget, which would see local councils facing a £371million shortfall.
The Scottish Conservatives also outlined their own plans to bring forward a Bill guaranteeing fair funding for local councils in law, by ensuring a fixed percentage of the Scottish Budget is automatically passed on to local authorities each year.
Both Lamont and Hamilton described the proposed Bill as the only way to tackle the SNP’s “systematic underfunding” of local councils.
Rachael Hamilton MSP said:
“The SNP have massively cut the amount of funding local councils receive over many years.
“Scottish Borders Council is left with the tough decision on balancing the books because of the SNP’s lack of financial support.
“I worry that ordinary hardworking families will end up paying the price for the SNP’s cuts.
“We know the SNP don’t care about the Borders, and they are willing to raid local government budgets to pay for their vanity projects.
“My party want to introduce a fair funding settlement which will ensure that money going to councils is a fixed percentage of the Scottish Government budget.
“The position that the SNP put councils in, like the Scottish Borders, is unsustainable and deeply damaging to local services”.
John Lamont MP said:
“Local councils play a huge part in our daily lives. They provide essential services like social care, rubbish collection, maintaining roads and local parks.
“Yet somehow the Scottish Government expects councils to maintain these services, whilst also building new schools and infrastructure, with less and less money each year.
“Every council in Scotland is calling for more money to deliver local services. When even the SNP council leaders are calling on their political masters to deliver more funding, you know there is something wrong.
“Sadly, councils are now left in the unenviable position of having to choose whether to cut investment in local services, or raise council tax when the cost of living is already going up.
"I fear what the impact will be of the SNP's severe austerity on Borders communities."
