I was in Edinburgh today, speaking at the launch of the New Local Democracy for Scotland Declaration.Building a Local Scotland is a group of academics, trade unionists, former council leaders, and journalists who have launched a campaign to tackle the …Read more…
Why another Council Tax freeze is wrong
Yesterday, the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government would freeze the Council Tax next year. While many will welcome any help with the cost of living crisis, this is the least effective way to provide that support. I thought my da…Read more…
From the national to the local
Yesterday, I was speaking at the book launch of ‘A New Scotland: Building an Equal, Fair and Sustainable Society’. I have previously written about the themes in the book, which I picked up in my Afterword. These go beyond traditional economic thinking …Read more…
Paint Your Town Red
Community Wealth Building is a new kind of economy. It offers a way of addressing the major divides in wealth and opportunity by focusing on local economies. This new book by Matthew Brown and Rhian…Read more…
Building Stronger Communities
The COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted the importance of strong communities, supporting and looking out for each other. However, strong communities do not happen by accident; they need to be nurtured…Read more…
Financial and workforce challenges for social care in Scotland
Two new reports again highlight the problems facing social care in Scotland but offer few indications that a credible solution is on the horizon.
The Accounts Commission annual overview of…Read more…
The Common Good
Austerity has undermined many of the local institutions that bind our communities together. Cuts to our libraries, community learning, youth work, day centres and grants to voluntary organisations…Read more…
Communities or regions?
Boundary change in local government is usually shunted into the ‘too difficult’ box, for good reasons. Local identity can get everyone excited. I painfully recall spending three days at Boundary…Read more…
Time for coordinated workforce planning
Workforce planning in Scottish local government is largely a local and ad-hoc approach, which is simply inadequate for the challenges created by austerity and will not cope with future demand. It is…Read more…
Should having Liberal Democrats running the council mean workers suffer?
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have always been strong supporters of local government. That’s why it is very disappointing that they have teamed up with the Tories in East Dunbartonshire to attack the wages, terms and conditions, and work life balance of council staff.
Doubly disappointing when they refused to even discuss the issues until threatened with a legal challenge. The Scottish Read more…
Council funding – a step forward, but not out of the woods
The Scottish Budget dance has taken another swirl as the Bill passes its first stage. Let’s have a look at what the changes mean for local government and pay.
First a quick recap. The draft budget…Read more…
There is no ‘fair deal’ for councils
Barely a day goes by without another report on the impact of cuts on local services, as councils start the difficult process of managing yet another round of cuts.
Today, I was speaking at Scottish…Read more…
Apprenticeship levy – keeping it local
With an ageing public sector workforce, we should be encouraging apprenticeships by passing the funding from the Apprenticeship Levy onto those public service employers who deliver quality…Read more…
Let’s have a proper reform of the council tax – not another sticking plaster
We understand that the Council Tax is a difficult issue for politicians, but this latest sticking plaster isn’t the solution.
I was giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government…Read more…
Welcome end to the council tax freeze, but this isn’t a proper reform of local taxation
The First Minister has made the welcome announcement that the Council Tax freeze will end next year and has published the outline of some reforms to local taxation. The much needed detail is due in…Read more…
Job losses and the Scottish Budget
In recent days there have been many political exchanges over job losses as a consequence of the cuts to council grant allocations in the Scottish Budget for 2016/17. Let’s look at the issue…Read more…
Budget Bill – Stage 3
The Scottish Budget is debated at Stage 3 in parliament tomorrow. While there is plenty of pain for all public services, it is local government that is bearing the brunt of austerity in…Read more…
The Council Tax freeze explained
The announcement by Moray Council that they are to consider increasing the Council Tax has highlighted the Council Tax freeze. It is unlikely that many, if any, councils will actually increase the…Read more…
Time for a political consensus on local taxation
The funding of local government in Scotland has been a difficult issue for political parties. At best proposals have been sticking plaster solutions because change is viewed as being politically…Read more…
Global Divestment Day
If we are to save the planet for future generations, it’s time to take action against the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry.
13th-14th February is Global Divestment Day. Thousands of…Read more…