South Lanarkshire Council Tax set for eyewatering 5.5% rise in Lab-Lib-Con pact
South Lanarkshire Council today passed its annual budget. The motion was proposed by the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition administration and was passed with the enthusiastic support of the local authority’s Conservative Group – who also had a hand in writing the motion as their back-room “Budget Working Group” deal.
The Unionist resolution means almost £2 million of ‘savings’ will be made and hard-working South Lanarkshire families will pay 5.5% more for their council tax this year than last. The SNP Group’s amendment proposed an alternative budget that would have seen the area’s families pay only a 3.5% increase — keeping it likely the lowest in mainland Scotland — and would have made almost £1 million less in savings.
The Leader of the Conservative Group made a speech in which he praised the collaborative work they were able to do with the administration but said that a 5.5% increase was “a great deal higher than we would like”. Despite this, he and his colleagues chose not to support the lower tax of the SNP proposal.
Commenting, SNP Group Leader Cllr John Ross said:
“There was absolutely no need for a 5.5% increase in council tax. The SNP Group’s proposals show that the budget gap could be closed, cuts could be avoided, and investments could be made with a reasonable 3.5% rise — sparing South Lanarkshire citizens further financial pressure in this cost-of-living crisis.”
The administration also voted-down the SNP’s proposals to introduce breakfast clubs in high schools and to bring free school meals in line with clothing grant eligibility. This is despite South Lanarkshire Labour committing in their 2022 Local Government Manifesto to “bring entitlement to Free School Meals into line with School Clothing Grants for groups not covered by universal free school meals”. The Lib Dem manifesto also said they would “Begin breakfast club provision in secondary schools”. Instead, the coalition not only broke their commitments but went directly against them by raising the price of a school meal by 10%.
Cllr Ross continued:
“We will continue to represent the people of South Lanarkshire as the largest single party on the Council, providing strong opposition to unionist parties who care more about being anti-SNP than pro-people.”
Cllr Cal Johnston-Dempsey 