SNP need to change their control mindset

The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham was in Scotland last week with a call to unleash the power and potential of Scotland’s towns, cities and regions right across the country.

He made a serious offer to the Scottish Government to do things differently. To move on from the same old politics of constititional conflict and to work together to put power back into the hands of local people. Place-first, not party-first, as he said in Motherwell.

We do that by working together. It’s why our new Scottish Labour leader, Michael Marra MSP has said he will work in good faith with the Scottish Government on tackling the big issues of the day, including on child poverty, which continues to blight too many lives across Scotland, and education.

Devolution was never meant to stop at the doors of the Scottish Parliament, but in the last 20 years, we have too often seen the Scottish Government show a willingness to centralise power.

The SNP centralise so they can control. They starve councils of money so they can control. They block regional partnerships so they can control.

Let’s stop this ideological vandalism and unleash the potential of our Scottish regions by empowering them.

The Prime Minister has said he wants to rewire the state and that must apply here in Scotland as much as south of the border.

We live in one of the most centralised countries in Europe. The Scottish Parliament may be just miles away from the south of Edinburgh, but all too often it feels like it is on a different planet. Taking power out of the centre is just as important within Scotland as it is anywhere else.

Decision-making power is important, but money matters too. Last week, Scottish Labour revealed the SNP had short-changed councils in Scotland by over £2 billion since 2014.

Had funding for local authorities kept pace with the Scottish block grant since that year, Edinburgh council’s budget would be £147 million higher, Aberdeen’s would be £36 million higher, Dundee’s would be £70 million higher and Highland council’s would be a staggering £117 million higher.

That means that Edinburgh has been short-changed by nearly £150 million in Scottish Government funding since 2014.

That’s equivalent to nearly £600 on your council tax. Yes, you are reading that right: Edinburgh residents are paying up to £600 more in council tax because of the SNP underfunding Edinburgh.

Our city has the worst-funded council in Scotland despite being the Scottish Government's cash cow. No wonder local services are on their knees.

Edinburgh could thrive if given the powers and resources to do what is in the best interests of our communities. We know that to be the case as it did so before. That’s why Scottish Labour is arguing for more power to be pushed out of Holyrood and into communities around Scotland.

At the SNP conference at the weekend, John Swinney said he wants to leave Scotland a better place for the next generation. I do not doubt the sincerity of his ambition. But rather than yet again blaming Westminster for all the country’s problems, he should consider looking closer to home. He should make good on the promise of devolution, and set Scotland free from the yoke of the SNP and set out cities and regions free from the yoke of an all controlling Scottish government.