THE Scottish Liberal Democrats will today put a “power surge” for councils at the heart of their local election campaign as they demand the reversal of SNP centralisation.
LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton will launch his party’s manifesto with a plan to end SNP “power grabs” by giving councils the clout to transform their areas and the lives of residents.
A core element would be giving councils the power to raise more of their own funding.
The manifesto will contain pledges to give the 32 councils back their previous power to set business rates locally, rather than have it set country-wide by the Scottish Government.
It will also oppose what it calls the SNP’s “centralisation agenda”, including a national care service involving social work, children’s services, community justice, and alcohol and drug services.
Mr Cole-Hamilton, whose party won just under 7 per cent of first preference votes in 2017 and 67 of Scotland’s 1,227 councillors, will launch the plan alongside activists in Edinburgh.
He will propose “a new vision for local councils with a suite of new powers which can be used to make a real difference to people’s lives, particularly in economic strategy, energy, transport, town planning and funding for affordable housing”.
Under the plan, which would be developed in liaison with the council umbrella body Cosla, there would be “parity of esteem” between local and central government underpinned by a fiscal framework that recognises the important work councils do.
He said there should be a recognition that planning decisions are best tailored and decided locally, not overruled nationally after being called in by ministers.
He said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats want powerful and well-run local councils with a “can do, will do” attitude, committed to the delivery of excellent local services.
“Local Authorities have suffered serious and disproportionate cuts to their budgets at the hands of SNP-Green budget deals, reducing their capacity for innovation and dynamism and damaging their ability to support local communities.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to deliver a power surge for local authorities. That means giving local communities more power over economic development, planning and transport and ending the SNP power grab that will see decisions over social work, children’s services and community justice taken by distant ministers far from the consequences of their decisions.
“After everything we’ve been through, Scotland needs new hope right now.
“At the coming council elections, you’ll only find that hope with the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
“Our councillors and candidates are thrilled by the idea of what community can mean.
“We see the best in people and we want the best for them.
“If something isn’t working, then we try to fix it. That’s why people should vote for Liberal Democrat councillors on May 5th.”
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