Tories and SNP have failed to help households - Ian Murray

My postbag has been bursting this week with correspondence from constituents angered by the SNPs proposals to increase council tax by up to 22.5 per cent.

Nearly one in four Edinburgh households would have to pay more council tax under the plans. Picture: Shaun Wilkinson

But let’s rewind to May 2007 when the SNP took power in Holyrood after promising to “scrap the unfair council tax”. They promised the same at the 2011 and 2016 elections.

Now in 2023, after 16 years of broken promises alongside economic and fiscal mismanagement, the chickens are coming home to roost and the £1 billion black hole in the Scottish Government’s Budget 2024/25 needs plugging.

And far from scrapping council tax, the SNP government’s plans to hike it for properties in bands E-H, which would hit 39 per cent of households in Edinburgh.

This means the capital will be the hardest hit by the SNP proposals, with 92,971 properties in our city in Bands E to H, including 4,365 households in the top council tax bracket – four times more than in any other area.

Years of brutal cuts by the SNP have left local services in Edinburgh at breaking point, and now the government wants to plug the gaps with eye-watering hikes of almost £800.

The impact on thousands of households will be severe, with many already struggling with energy bills, mortgage costs and inflation - with no reductions for any lower bands.

The proposal is predicated on the antiquated and simplistic idea that the change will capture the wealthiest households.

But with property valuations dating back to the 1990s, it should be no surprise that there are huge unintended consequences and unfairness.

The reality is that residents living in newer homes and on newer estates, of which there are many in south Edinburgh, will have to make further financial sacrifices.

Many facing this increase are first-time buyers and renters with young families and crippling mortgages, while people in older properties of a similar size face no increase at all – meaning this is effectively an unfair stealth tax on newer dwellings.

Ultimately, this ill-thought-out plan has been drawn up because the SNP has botched Scotland’s finances, and is now scraping the barrel for solutions - proposing to balance the books on the backs of households.

It is a scandal that ordinary people are once again being asked to pay more while getting less.

It’s worth remembering, of course, that council tax is just one part of a council’s income, and Edinburgh remains the lowest funded council per head in Scotland.

Between 2010 and 2015 the Tories cut Scotland’s block grant by almost five per cent, but the SNP government has gone further in local government: since 2011 cutting £1.5 billion – 4 times more.

So not only do Edinburgh residents face higher tax bills, but they are also being short- changed. What a double whammy from Humza Yousaf.

We expect governments to help during a cost-of-living crisis but the Tories crashed the economy and raised taxes on working people to their highest for 80 years and now this SNP tax grab.

We need measures to help cut household bills including a £100 water bill rebate for households, a mortgage rescue scheme, and measures to upgrade the energy efficiency of homes to reduce bills.

While the SNP punishes households, Labour will stand up for Scottish people struggling with soaring costs and fight for a fair deal for working people.

Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South