Exclusive:Crumbling public services a 'terrible mess' and council tax 'stupid', says scathing union boss

Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, said services are in a ‘terrible mess’

Crumbling public services in Scotland and across the UK have reached a "crunch point", the UK's largest trade union has warned.

Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, said services were in a "terrible mess" and politicians now needed to grasp the nettle. She said the council tax system was "stupid" and should be subject to a "proper, fundamental review".

Unison described councils as ''the glue that holds lots of things together' | PA

Speaking exclusively to The Scotsman, Ms McAnea said: "The big issue is, and has been for many years, local government, and that's as bad in Scotland as it is anywhere else."

She described local government as "the glue that holds lots of things together", adding: "The fact is, because funding has been so restricted in local government, the two big services, which are social care and education - once you take out the money for them, there's practically nothing left for those other essential services."

Ms McAnea said areas such as planning and environmental services had been "utterly devastated", adding: "I think society can only operate so long on that kind of level and things start to crumble and fall apart, and that's what we're seeing in local authorities at the moment.”

She said there needed to be “a proper, fundamental review of council tax and how you fund local authorities”.

The trade union leader continued: "If you're not going to raise taxes centrally and get a better settlement, then you have to find a different way of doing it. Having a system that is 30, 40 years old is not a sensible way to do it."

She called the existing council tax arrangement "a stupid way to run a tax system".

Unison has 1.3 million members across the UK, including within councils and the NHS. "I think we have reached a crunch point,” Ms McAnea said. “And it's not just in the NHS."

She added: "I think governments need that long-term vision. It's not just about 'can I win the next election?' But what is the long-term vision and strategy for our country and for some of these key services?

"And every time you speak to government ministers - and I speak to them about things like the cost of children's care services, for example, or adult social care - they’ll all tell me it's a total mess and something needs to be done about it. 

"But it always seems like they put it in the 'too-difficult' box. It's going to cost too much money, they don't have the resources, we don't have enough staff. But somebody has to grasp that by the nettle and start to plan for it, and I don't think any of them have got it right yet."

Elsewhere, she accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of scoring “own goals”.

Asked about the UK Labour government’s first seven months, she said: "It's hard to call it a total success when you see some of the things that have happened. Some of them do feel like own goals.

"But equally, I do accept that they did inherit a mess and the country's financially not doing well. Growth has been stagnant for years, and so they are having to put a lot of focus into that.”

However, she praised the "ambitious" reform of employment rights.