With council deficit growing it’s time to stop over spending

Aside from the Labour Government’s feeble attempts to tackle the ever-growing small boats crisis, all the political discussion this week seems to be about their other unintended growth areas - the public spending black hole they’ve created and the tax possibilities needed to fill it.

This situation is mirrored in microcosm in the City of Edinburgh Council. I don’t have space to explain more than the basics that immigrants make up a large part of our homeless crisis.

Edinburgh councillors passed a pay rise for 21 of their own members – and spent most of the debate on the issue arguing about the history of government in the council.

placeholder image — Edinburgh councillors passed a pay rise for 21 of their own members – and spent most of the debate on the issue arguing about the history of government in the council.

Suffice to say this influx means there is a “housing emergency” with a scarcity of temporary accommodation for anyone made homeless locally. Meanwhile, £53m was spent last year on hiring B&Bs and other unsuitable properties to stack people.

The wider problem for the council’s finances is ever growing asks for spending from the left-wing majority of councillors and the fourth highest debt of any council in the UK.

The budget this year saw an 8 per cent council tax increase to cope with this and now I hear officers are working on an assumption of 5 per cent for 2026 when preparing budget plans for councillors.

Let’s just remind ourselves that even the growing inflation rate under this Labour Government still only stands at 3.6 per cent. This is a serious hit for taxpayers two-years in a row.

The bad news is that they were talking about a 5 per cent increase at this time last year but increased it to 8 per cent by budget time. Your Labour councillors still claimed they were being prudent.

Plans to overhaul the wider council budget and concentrate spending where its most needed are slow to emerge and likely to hit barriers from trade unions and councillors who can’t bear to see their pet projects reorganised.

The result, without courage, will be stasis and more tax and borrowing. Just like the government, this will leave the problem for future taxpayers to sort.

With taxation taking the highest ever share of UK GDP outside wartime, the pips have been squeaking for years. As anyone with an overdraft knows, you don’t turn things around by splashing more cash. For the council, it’s time to stop spending.