13/01/2016 Scotland 2016

Would you pay an extra ?200 a year in council tax

Moray Council is the first in Scotland to threaten to defy

the Scottish Government's council tax freeze.

We are aiming to increase the tax enough to protect the services, so

there is a compact between us and the public.

With 2,000 premature deaths a year caused by air pollution,

is enough being done to get people walking and cycling?

And we discussed the happiest, and probably the richest, couple in

Scotland. For eight years Scotland's

councils have, reluctantly, accepted a freeze by

the Scottish Government on the amount of council tax

they can collect from local people. But now one local authority

is fighting back. Moray Council is proposing

to increase the council tax For a Band D property,

that would mean a rise In a moment we'll hear from two

councillors on opposite sides of the argument, but first,

here's Catriona Renton. It has been a popular Scottish

Government policy for the past eight years. The council tax has remained

frozen. But Moray Council could be the first to break ranks, saying

they cannot protect services without raising it.

We have two achieve somewhere north of ?11 million. All of our swimming

pools, libraries, community centres grass cutting, playing fields and

parks for youngsters, all of that would go and much more.

Moray Council has faced tough choices in the past. Three years ago

it faced protests over a plan to shut several libraries.

In increasing council tax could result in a financial penalty from

the Scottish Government, but the council says allowances have been

made for this. If you put up the council tax, with

the penalty that that attracts, and you put up the council tax and still

cut services, you punish the voters twice. We are aiming for a situation

where we increase the tax enough to protect the services. So there is a

compact between us and the public. Moray Council needs to cut spending

by almost ?12 million in 2016, 20 17.

The council said an 18% rise would see the council tax for an average

Band D property increase from ?1135, where it has been paid since 2017,

to 1339 pounds. A Band a property would go up to

?892, and a Band H from ?2270 to ?2678.

It seems to me that what Moray Council are doing is making a bit of

a bold declaration, that the kind of increase they are talking about is

roughly the increase that we would have expected in council tax if

there had been no standstill over the past few years. They have no

chance of getting that kind of increase. The Scottish Government

would act on it, they have the powers to try and get that struck

down, but if they went for a reasonable increase of between 2%

and 3%, they might have a chance. There was a mixed reaction today.

I would be happy to pay more if I felt there would be fewer cuts. But

as for the 18%, I'm not so sure. It is not even in line with

inflation. I think we are paying enough council

tax. The Scottish Government says

freezing the council tax for services like these have helped

families, and Moray Council is acting prematurely.

I want to make sure there is a freeze in Scotland, there has been

one since 2018 respective estimate. All of the independent research

shows -- some research shows we have over provided for the council tax

freeze. So I want to take forward our

discussions to deliver a continued council tax freeze, to protect the

incomes of low-income households and ensure that for citizens of Scotland

one Bill but does not go up is council tax.

At least four other councils that also exploring the idea of

increasing council tax. Today I met the president of the umbrella group

that represents many of Scotland's councils.

Every local authority is facing the same pressures. Nobody wanted to

increase council tax, but unless we can convince the Scottish Government

to give more money, Moray Council will not be on their own.

So will some local authorities break rank, and will we end up paying more

for our local services? Joining me from Inverness is

Allan Wright, Conservative Convenor of Moray Council, and from Aberdeen,

SNP councillor Gary Coull. Councillor right, are you serious

about an 18% hike, or is this simply a bold declaration?

No, we are serious about it. We had a long, long meeting of the

administration on Friday of last week, and the conclusion that we

came to was that the 11 and a bit million pounds we have to save in

the coming financial year is of such magnitude that we just cannot

countenance looking to recoup that from cuts in services.

So you might actually go the to wall on this?

Yes. We are as one within the Administration, which comprises two

Conservative councillors and ten that are independent. So getting us

all together on this, it was I think last Friday quite surprising,

because we spoke almost straightaway with one voice that the chance of

cutting services to release ?11.5 million was not tenable.

Doesn't he have a point that the squeeze is so bad that they've got

to do something? Don't you think there might be some

local support for this? Undoubtedly the Scottish public

sector is facing challenging times, we are seeing from the Tory is

territory agenda from Westminster, swingeing cuts across the public

sector is in Scotland. And I think this is a premature announcement

from Moray Council's independent and Conservative administration. It is

really a knee jerk reaction given that the Scottish Government are

still in discussions with consular over the settlement.

-- COSLA. It is a reaction to the budget presented to your council on

Christmas Eve. But the council tax freeze over the

last eight years has been fully funded, and as John Swinney

outlined, in some cases some research has shown it has been

overfunded. There is a discussion still going on

with the Scottish Government and COSLA, councils can input to that,

and I do think this is a premature announcement from the

administration. It is one that will be worrying people in Murray tonight

when they find out that the consul tax bills could be increasing by

18%. -- ten won. A premature knee jerk

reaction? Know, and this business about the

freeze being fully funded. It is not, because we have had the same

grant of ?1.1 million in Moray for the past nine years old we are into

the ninth year now, and there has been no compound and because of

that, we are ?2 million per year worse off than we would have been if

there had been a 3% increase in council tax over that period.

It is an SNP Government that has left them in this position.

It is an SNP Government that has left us in this position, yes.

Sorry, that was a question for counsellor Coull.

The Scottish Government has got to deal with what they get from the

Tory Government in Westminster. We have seen from George Osborne's

statement but they just want to cut wholesale. And you know, as I said

earlier, the Scottish public sector is facing challenging times. I had

hoped that the SNP group in the council would have been able to work

with the administration on this. We met yesterday with the

administration to discuss the budget, but there was absolutely no

indication that there was even a contemplation of a rise in council

tax, never mind a huge 18% rise. That really indicates to me that

this Administration don't want to work across party boundaries, within

the Council, to achieve a decent budget for the people of Moray. This

18% rise will hit families and households really hard in ten won

when we are seeing that the high cost of living already -- we are

seeing a high cost of living already, we are seeing wages

stagnated throughout Scotland and indeed some folk are taking wage

cuts to get ahead in life at the moment. I am surprised, you know,

that it is a Tory councillor that is here defending and promoting this

rise. Well, indeed, we saw Ruth Davidson

tonight on a party political broadcast pledging that the

Conservatives will protect family finances.

They will protect finally -- family finances. We are talking here,

remember, about ?17 per month. But how will this protect family

finances? That doesn't protect family

finances, but it should be seen in context, and if those families want

to have the services that they currently enjoy it in Moray,

including all the leisure facilities and the community facilities that

they have, then they have to wake up to the fact that these services, to

be protected, and that is part of the deal but we are offering, we are

offering to take ?5 million out of reserves, and ask for the same

amount of money from the people of Moray.

Well, there we have got to leave it for this evening.

Thank you both very much for coming in.

An environmental law group warns it could take action

against the Scottish Government if it fails to tackle illegal levels

of air pollution in the country's biggest cities.

ClientEarth has already won a landmark ruling against the UK

The Scottish Government says there have already been significant

reductions in air pollutants, and further decreases are predicted.

Our transport correspondent David Miller has more.

Air pollution affects all of us, it is blamed for around 2000 premature

deaths in Scotland each year. We are talking about a complex mix of gases

and particles. Nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide

are just some of the gases which make up that mix. Then there are

tiny particles produced by diesel engines.

So is the Government at Westminster and at Hollywood doing enough to

protect us? Campaigners say no.

We are concerned that the new plans don't achieve compliance in places

like Lasko as soon as possible, so we're going to take the Government

back to court and forced them to take further action.

-- Glasgow. In the meantime Scottish ministers

are leaving themselves for rubble to a legal attack because they are

doing -- not doing everything they can to ensure everyone is breathing

safe levels. can to ensure everyone is breathing

scrutiny than ever before. Today's news from ClientEarth means that is

unlikely to change here at home any time soon.

Joining me now to discuss whether Scotland is doing enough

to tackle levels of air pollution and get people out of their cars

is motoring journalist Alan Douglas and from our Edinburgh studio

the Director of Friends of the Earth Scotland,

Richard Dixon. transport or to walk or cycle, that

has made a big difference to the infrastructure. It makes another

cyclists to get off the road because they can get on a safe cycle lane.

So, the balance in wrong when only ?40 million is being spent on

walking and cyclists. I think it is too much of a balance towards the

cyclist. What's the point of spending more money on cyclists when

they don't use what is there. There is another major dangerous road, the

A9, with a very good cycle path on it. I've driven up there many times

and I can think there's probably been a handful of cyclists I've seen

on that cycleway, so what is the point of spending more on cyclists

when they're not using it? There is the health issue, the nation's

health would benefit if we spend more on this. Why isn't there will

on the government to do more about it? Politicians are scared of the

car lobby and Alan doesn't help because he stokes it up. There is

actually a great mood out there to be more positive about public

transport, about cycling and walking. And my experience of

cycling in Edinburgh is that cycle paths are very well used, very

popular, and there is a consultation for a proper segregated route, like

the kind of thing on the continent through the centre of Edinburgh. I

think people will are frightened of the cycling lobby who become much

more militant. If you say anything against cycling, you're seen as

being an opponent of the environment, which is nonsense

because we all care about the environment. The car is essential,

and we all have to live together on the roads and work together. The

cyclist and no more important that the motorists and the motorists are

no more important than the cyclist is. Do you think militant cyclists

have a disproportionate interest? Every lobby can tell Parliament what

they want. Cyclists can turn up and say what they want. They start from

a disadvantaged position where they are disadvantaged on the road, where

they don't have segregated, safe cycle ways. The same for walking. It

is a third class way of getting about, in terms of government

investment, so, they need to be high profile in getting their message

across. The roads lobby has had 60-70 years of success in getting

roads built. We are going to have to leave it there although I'm sure we

could talk about it all might. Thank you very much.

There hasn't been much good news for Scotland's economy this week,

with hundreds more job losses announced in the North Sea.

But new figures show that Scotland's economy did grow slightly

between July and September last year.

Output increased, barely, by just 0.1%, which is slightly less

than the growth rate across the UK as a whole.

Earlier, I spoke to Merryn Somerset Webb,

editor in chief of financial magazine MoneyWeek,

and asked her whether this small increase is a case for optimism?

The fact there is a small increase in growth at all in Scotland at the

moment is something of a miracle when you think of the headwinds the

economy has. Firstly, the oil price collapsing. It is definitely

collapsing. You have a strong pound as well which affect all export, and

you have a Scotland that is much more dependent on the public sector

for its GDP than other parts of the UK. In a time of austerity, you're

going to see low growth there. If you look at the numbers, you can see

the contributors on the negative side have been manufacturing, some

of the exports, and the pub this -- public sector. So this is quite good

news. We've just heard tonight the price of oil has dropped below $30 a

barrel. That is going to hurt the economy even more, surely. The

Scottish economy is at the mercy of the oil price at the moment and that

the global economy, of what is happening in China and emerging

markets. These are things over which we have no control, and, oil, as

much as people say it is a bonus, it is a huge part of the economy, and

when that industry suffers, so does the economy. And how about where the

economy has done well in the last quarter, the construction boom, do

you think it can be sustained? Conceivably, although it comes down

to infrastructure spend, so it comes down to government priorities. Then

we've seen accommodation, retail and food grow, which is encouraging.

What do you think the Scottish government can do to boost growth

further? I don't think there's much they can do in the short term. We

are caught in a global economy, an open economy, so there's not much

you can do to change any of that. Over the longer term, all the

Scottish government can really do is be obviously open for business, and

we've had a lot of political turmoil which will continue for a while

longer with talk of referendums and income tax rates. This sort of thing

is very unsettling for people who might invest in an economy like

Scotland's, so it is going to take a while to settle down but the more

obviously inviting and business friendly the government can be, the

better. Thank you for coming in this evening.

Now to discuss that and some of today's other stories,

I'm joined by a couple of Scottish political editors.

And from the Times, Lindsay McIntosh.

Good evening to both of you. Let's stick with the economy for the

moment. Alex Salmond got a hard time earlier today over the plummeting

price of oil on his radio for phone in show. He was pretty bullish. The

price of oil will come back, everyone knows that. I remember back

in the 80s when it was in single figures. If you years later, it was

over $100. What do you think of that answer? Sounds like a politician

talking. I'm not here under false pretences! Do you share Alex

Salmond's optimism about the price of oil? He said he was a politician,

but he said it more like an economist. He was talking about the

very long-term cycles we see in the oil market. Undoubtedly, it'll

rebound, but that'll be several years away, which is of precious

comfort for people losing their jobs right now. It was a strange tack for

him to take, which shows how acutely sensitive years and the SNP are

about the price of oil, given they gave it such prominent string the

referendum campaign. Do you think he was rattled? I think so. You can

compare his approach and response to that colour with Nicola Sturgeon who

gave the press conference, asked if she was afraid there was a crisis,

she said of course this was a crisis and we will do what we can in that

situation. We've seen today the price of oil falling below $30 a

barrel, the first time in 12 years. There is obviously a lot of bad news

ahead for the Scottish economy. I hope not but it looks that way.

Obviously, there are people immediately employed, the money they

put into the market. Economists say it will stay low for the time being.

And there isn't oversupply of oil, plus demand is dropping in China.

This is making it awkward for our economy. As for Alex Salmond's first

outing as a radio show host what you make of him? He said he was going to

shoot from the hip, and he did that with some questions but with others

he was more circumspect and he wasn't willing to stick his neck

out, like on the next referendum. Yes, and I think he shot himself in

the foot. Let's move onto some more personal news in the physical world.

David Mundell announced he is gay. In a statement he said, how can it

be both so easy and hard to say a few short words? It was a pretty

moving statement. He'd obviously been reflecting on this over the New

Year. What did you think of his announcement? It was a personal,

eloquent statement that he had made. And I think he clearly felt it was

something that he personally needed to do, he needed to say that, and

the words he used was something like, I'm open with this personally

and in my private life and I want to be open with it publicly. He

referred to a man of his age, the conflicted feelings that may be

other men in his position might feel. Do you think it might be

helpful to them that he's done this? I don't think anybody looks at him

as a role model, he's pretty obscure. The general thing is

interesting. His attitude comes from when he entered politics went to

being gay, that was an impediment. That is possibly why it has taken

him so long to do this. It seems increasingly anachronistic,

increasingly rare politicians have to do that. We are seeing a new

breed of politicians who are gay from day one and it isn't an issue.

I hope it becomes more and more like that. Ruth Davidson tweeted she was

proud of her friend. It is quite a different Conservative Party we knew

30 years ago. I think that's true. Being led by David Cameron, who, I

think, can be described as socially liberal, the comments today from

Number Ten were very supportive of David Mundell. And, for goodness

sake, so it should be because it is the 21st century. All the reaction

has been positive. Might there be some in the Conservative Party who

feel uncomfortable with this sort of thing? Undoubtedly, most parties or

coalitions of people, there is a broad spectrum of views inside it

but there's no place in any party for people to open the air

homophobic views. Finally, the story talked about today, the Scottish

couple scooping ?33 million, making them the biggest wins of the

national lottery. The couple gave a press conference earlier today. We

just kept looking at each other. And I am going... No, it can't be. I

remember what Carroll said to me. It sounds weird. She said, what have we

done? They said they went public because you can't hide 33 million,

least of all in a small town. Did you think they might regret going

public like that? I think you have to take them at their word that they

felt that was anything they wanted to do and they wanted to do it. They

came across with you well in the first conference. They are clearly

pretty down to earth, they want to give money to victims of flooding

and buy some new shoes, so good luck to them. The last couple to win big

in the lottery in 2011 gave ?3 million to the SNP. Do you think

Scottish Labour might be hoping for a little phone call? I can only

imagine what Kezia Dugdale heard that Mr MacDonald had ?133 million

because there is an MEP of that name. They don't want to give any

money to political parties. It is an enormous amount of money, did you

buy a ticket? I didn't. I didn't. What would you do with 33 million?

Waste it somewhere in the sun. How about you? A house in the sun would

be pretty high up on the agenda. Once they've had a bit of time to

think about it, would they, with something more elaborate than new

shoes? Definitely the charities they wanted to donate to is where they

are heading, which is great. Thanks both for coming in this evening.

That's it for tonight. Thanks for watching.

I'm back same time tomorrow night. Until then, bye bye.