The SNP’s great poverty betrayal
![Scotland's economic disaster [Image: SNPfail - it's a Liberal Democrat-run site but the figures are accurate].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/150427SNPeconomy1.jpg)
Scotland’s economic disaster [Image: SNPfail – it’s a Liberal Democrat-run site but the figures are accurate].
Scotland’s 32 local authorities have still racked up a record £12-15 billion worth of debt as a result of the council tax freeze – but the SNP still claims it is a socialist party, and still claims it is economically responsible.
The SNP has kept council tax frozen every year since it took power in Holyrood in 2007. The party claims this helps all households – but of course it helps some more than others. The richer you are, the more you have to pay if council tax is increased, while the increase on poorer people is less. Therefore, if council tax is frozen, the rich see more benefit from it. Add in the fact that average wages have been stagnant for almost the entire period of the Scottish council tax freeze and is becomes clear that poorer people have seen little or no benefit at all.
Meanwhile, council services that benefit everybody are being harmed, with 50,000 jobs lost since the freeze was imposed and another 60,000 set to go.
Scotland’s local councils have borrowed billions of pounds to help survive the swingeing budget cuts from the Scottish government – and now owe more than twice as much per head than English and Welsh local authorities, equal to debts of £6,166 per household, compared with £3,100 per home in England and £2,825 per household in Wales.
And rather than spend £1 billion of money from Westminster on alleviating poverty – as intended – the SNP gave it to councils who used it to lessen their borrowing requirements. There was no scrutiny or management of how the money was spent.
The SNP is increasing poverty among the Scottish people, while continuing with giveaways to high-earners – there can be no doubt about that.
Yet that party is still claiming support from more than half the Scottish electorate. How?
Surely Scottish people are more intelligent than that.
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Glad to see that you have picked up on some of the points I made in a previous post. How the political commentators in Scotland are not doing it too and ramming home these messages I do not know.
Exactly – and thanks for the information. I’ve been checking it out and everything I’ve checked is accurate.
I don’t know why the message isn’t being broadcast loud and clear either.
As a side note, do you think Council Tax in its current form is fit for purpose Mike?
No.
Then you might be interested to know that there is a cross party (Labour,SNP,Lib Dem) discussion on reform of local government funding and council tax.
Unsurprisingly, The Tories have refused to take part.
https://commonspace.scot/articles/472/commission-considering-council-tax-alternatives-kicks-off
The SNP have their bad points, but they are the only left wing party likely to get anywhere. I don’t count Labour as being left wing anymore.
You’re not paying attention to what I’m saying. Its policies show that the SNP is a Right-wing party, further to the right than Labour, masquerading as left-wing in order to get votes.
Who do you think the people of Scotland should vote for?
It’s not for me to say. I’m just trying to put the facts in front of them, rather than the heavily-slanted propaganda they’ve been force-fed by some parties and media.
This is certainly news to me, but rings very true when I consider the SNP. I was a NO voter last year, because they couldn’t explain how independence would work and didn’t tell the truth about how much it would cost and how much more tax I would be forced to pay. Where I live, the SNP-led council has recently overseen a complete disaster, whereby an open-cast coal mining company went bust owing millions and failing to fulfil their contractual commitment to provide funds to offset the environmental impact of their activities. This commitment was supposed to be overseen by the council, who appear to have turned a blind eye and gorged themselves on the sweetners provided by the company. The up-shot is that it will the tax-payer that has to meet the huge bill involved in fixing the environmental damage done. Absolutely terrible, the SNP are a bad joke.