The Conservatives are a party of low taxation. We believe the man or woman in the street is entitled to spend most of his own pound rather than it being taken and spent by Government. So I congratulate the SNP Government for last week voting with the Conservatives in Holyrood to oppose the Labour Party's proposal to increase the rate of income tax by 1p in the pound. It is good to see that the Conservatives and the SNP can sometimes support each other. It gives more credence to the belief that the SNP are indeed the Tartan Tories. Indeed they talk Left but walk right.
While I support the decision to accept the settlement from the Scottish government, I can only do this under protest. The timescale for agreeing this settlement is not acceptable particularly when one considers the long time scale the SNP Government has being taken to agree the fiscal settlement to accompany the Smith Commission’s devolution of powers to Scotland.
In spite of receiving devolved powers from the UK Government, the SNP Government wishes not to devolve them to Local Authorities, but behaves in the opposite manner by not only removing powers from Local Authorities (e.g. Police Scotland) but now seeks to cajole, instruct and bully the Council as to how to set its Budget and threaten draconian penalties; and Mr Swinney, in his letter, talks of “Partnership”. There can only be a partnership between equals – not bullies.
So I welcome the decision by the SNP Government to freeze the Council Tax for the 9th year bringing a welcome relief to many of my voters who pay a high level of Council Tax for little perceived benefit – but the freeze must end soon.
The policy to protect teacher numbers has no foundation in fact. What is needed is not more teachers but better qualified and motivated teachers. The appalling state of the decline in educational standards under this Government needs to be reversed by the application of radical policies as proposed by the Scottish Conservatives.
While £250M to the Integration Fund may seem good news it masks the fact that the gatekeepers to the NHS, the GPs and Primary Care who deal with 95% of patient contact, have received an increase of only £13M a rise of 1.9% - whereas Health Boards receive 3.8%. The Chairman of RCGP accuses the SNP that their intention is to “erode or end the current role of GP in family life”
AMENDMENT
The amendment successfully passed by Cllr Marshall, Labour and Independent councillors is the inclusion of the statement below in the Council's response to the Scottish Finance Secretary.
"This council is deeply concerned by the budget cuts that have been imposed, under threat, on the people of North Ayrshire
Whilst agreeing under duress to your demands, we wish to record our very real concerns that due to the required timescales for response and the threats under which we are operating, the elected Councillors of North Ayrshire have been unable to give this budget the scrutiny it requires.
This lack of scrutiny undermines the democratic principles which we all, as democratic politicians, have signed up to and must comply with.
In conclusion we would ask that you take our concerns seriously and, in any future relations with your department, the principles of democratic scrutiny and openness are vigorously adhered to."