SNP treats councils worse than Thatcher did, says former Scottish Labour leader

Johann Lamont said the financial threats made to local authorities were ‘astonishing’

Margaret Thatcher. Picture: PA

SNP ministers are willing "to do and say things" to councils that even Margaret Thatcher would have baulked at, a former Scottish Labour leader has said.

Johann Lamont said the financial threats made to local authorities by the Scottish Government were "astonishing".

She said she was “mortified” by the quality of the argument around the council tax freeze in Scotland.

Ms Lamont and former SNP minister Alex Neil criticised the level of centralisation in Scotland at an event at Edinburgh University titled “Reform at Holyrood”, which discussed whether the Scottish Parliament had lived up to expectations.

First Minister Humza Yousaf announced a council tax freeze during the SNP conference in Aberdeen last year, but faced an immediate backlash from council leaders. They warned of cuts to public services and expressed anger that they were not told of the move in advance.

All 32 local authorities eventually agreed to the freeze in March following months of negotiation. Councils had been told they would not receive extra funding from the Scottish Government unless they implemented it.

Mr Yousaf celebrated the freeze with a media event in Greenock, in which he was photographed with activists.

Ms Lamont, who led Scottish Labour from 2011 to 2014, said: “I’m embarrassed that the First Minister went and stood in Greenock town centre with a banner saying ‘we’re having a council tax freeze’. Seriously? I mean, what are you? You would have knocked that back as an idea in your first year at university.

"I’m mortified at the quality of that kind of argument. And it comes on all sides, I’m not saying it’s unique to them [the SNP].”

Mr Neil, who served as a Cabinet minister under Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, said over-centralisation is “really damaging” to areas across Scotland.

He said many senior councillors hope to become MSPs or MPs, “so they’re not going to rock the party vote”.

Mr Neil praised figures down south such as Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, adding: "He and people like him are standing up for their area.”

But Ms Lamont insisted the problem was not that too many councillors want to make the transition to Holyrood or Westminster.

She added: “The current Scottish Government is willing to do and say things to local government that even Thatcher wouldn’t do. The threats they’ve made, financially, to anybody who steps out of line is astonishing.”

Mr Neil called for better leadership in local government, alongside wider reforms.

He said: “I’m not hung on any particular formula, I don’t know whether elected mayors or provosts is the answer, but I do think we need to have a fundamental look at the distribution of power, including devolution of power from local authorities to tenants’ groups and housing, to school boards and all the rest of it.

"It’s not just about devolution from one level of government to another level of government. We should, in a modern Scotland, be talking about the decentralisation of power at every level.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have worked with councils to agree a council tax freeze, fully funded by the Scottish Government, to provide much needed financial relief to Scottish households during the cost-of-living crisis.”