Humza Yousaf is set to deliver his promise of a Scotland-wide council tax freeze from April after the only two hold-out councils backed down. 

Labour-led Inverclyde and Tory-Liberal Democrat run Argyll & Bute today both signalled they were ready to revisit their respective rises of 8.2% and 10%.

Using £2.9m from the Scottish Government, Inverclyde is set to credit residents’ bills with an amount equivalent to the 8.2% rise, meaning there is no net change.

Argyll & Bute will vote on having a freeze after all at a special meeting next month. 

It means that, barring a last minute hitch, residents of all 32 local authorities north of the border will see no rise in their council tax bills for 2024/25.

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The First Minister promised a freeze in the property levy at the SNP conference last October, but quickly ran into trouble with the council umbrella group Cosla.

Council leaders were unhappy at being bounced into the plan, especially as Mr Yousaf signed a “no surprises” deal with them last year, the Verity House Agreement.  

Councils also pushed for more money than the Scottish Government’s initial offer of £147m, which would have been enough to offset a 5% increase.

After deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary Shona Robison belatedly admitted that was not enough and found another £62.7m, most councils agreed to a freeze.

However Argyll & Bute and then Inverclyde put up their tax regardless, arguing that the money on offer was not enough to avoid cuts to public services.

In a letter to Ms Robison, Inverclyde’s Labour council leader Stephen McCabe, who had boasted of defying Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in going ahead with a freeze in February, said the situation was “deeply frustrating”.

He said a freeze was a “regressive tax policy that doesn’t benefit the lowest income households” and “undemocratic and a clear breach of the Verity House Agreement”.

However, he was “reluctantly” willing to recommend using £2.9m from the Government to make a “one-off credit to Council Taxpayers to fully mitigate the impact of the 8.2% increase in Council Tax approved for 2024/25”.

He said he would also recommend “an amended planning assumption for the 2025/26 provisional budget based on the 2023/24 Council Tax baseline being the starting point”.

Inverclyde had planned to raise the tax by 6% in 2025/26, but this may not now happen.

Robin Currie, the LibDem leader of Argyll & Bute Council, said: “We can now look at freezing council tax for the coming year. 

“We have been lobbying hard for equal support for Argyll and Bute which reflects the incredibly severe impact of unprecedented severe weather in October last year. 

“We made a very strong case for that to the Scottish Government at a meeting we asked for in January this year. 

“We have continued to press ministers ever since on a range of other issues. We are of course delighted that they have listened to our calls for severe weather support, and that they have now provided for Argyll and Bute that extra assistance that we are fighting for.”

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The support means additional funding of around £6.26m, including £2.3m for the impact of the severe weather in October. 

Cllr Currie added: “It is recognition of the unique challenges that Argyll and Bute faces, which we fight for at every possible opportunity. 

“It reinforces the important role of local government. 

“And it supports what has been our priority all along – protecting vital local jobs and services. 

“I will be recommending that we freeze council tax for this year at a special meeting of the council.”

In a statement, Mr McCabe said: "As each day passes the impact of the Council Tax freeze on local government services and jobs across Scotland, including on education and social care, becomes more evident.

"The £210m the Government set aside for the freeze would have been better spent on protecting these services and jobs.

"It is clear however that Ministers will not allow the people of Inverclyde to benefit from the £2.9m of funding unless the Council agrees to the terms set out [by] the Deputy First Minister.

"It should be borne in mind that without three small Councils – Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute and Orkney – being prepared to stand up to Scottish Government Ministers they would not have come up with the extra £62.7m. All Councils should be grateful for the stance we took.

"We have reinforced the principle that it is Councils and not the Scottish Government that sets Council Tax.

"I hope that the Scottish Government learns a lesson from this year’s budget process, and we have no more nationally imposed Council Tax caps and freezes.”

SNP MSP Willie Coffey, who sits on Holyrood’s Local Government Committee, said:

"The SNP promised to freeze council tax for every household in Scotland - and we will fulfil that promise.

"The fully funded council tax freeze, alongside policies such as the game-changing Scottish Child Payment, ensures that thousands of pounds are put back into the pockets of hard working families in Scotland. 

"Freezing council tax will benefit every single household in Scotland, helping to support people through the Westminster cost of living crisis. 

"The SNP Government is working tirelessly to protect the people of Scotland from cruel Westminster policies."

 

ENDS