Greens could vote against Budget if it cuts funding for councils

With one Green councillor warning local government is in a “dangerous position”, activists at the party’s conference this weekend will vote on a call for its MSPs to only back the Budget if it provides “real-terms increases in council funding”.

The powersharing deal between the SNP and the Greens at Holyrood ended earlier this year, which means First Minister John Swinney and his Government need to find support from at least one of the opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament if the Budget is pass.

To that end, negotiations between the two parties have taken place in the run up to the Budget, which will be unveiled by Finance Secretary Shona Robison on December 4.

Greens have already been urging the Scottish Government to consider measures such as taxing private jets, and a so-called “mansion tax” which would see an increased rate of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax levied on sales of properties worth £1 million or more.

But Green activist and Glasgow Maryhill by-election candidate Ellie Gomersall said they must also make sure council funding is protected.

She said: “Local authorities are on their knees. Councils all across the country are being forced to make huge cuts to vital services, from recycling to education, libraries to recreation.

“These essential services are critical to lifting people out of poverty and tackling the climate emergency, and simply must be a priority for Greens.

“The SNP’s failure to reform the regressive council tax more than 17 years since they first committed to doing so is one of the biggest betrayals of the devolution era, and their consistent cuts to council budgets year after year is kicking our councils when they’re down.

“With Greens in a vitally powerful position this Scottish Budget following the end of the Bute House Agreement, our party must take a stance against austerity and refuse to vote for any Budget which fails to give Scotland’s city chambers and town halls the vital funding they need.”

An amendment to a motion which will be debated and voted on at the conference in Greenock on Saturday commits the party’s MSPs to only voting for the 2025-26 Budget if it includes a real-terms cash increase for councils.

If the Budget cuts local government funding, Greens should vote against it, the amendment makes clear, adding that any further freeze in council tax should also be opposed given the “disastrous impact” this has had in 2024-25.

Ms Gomersall is bringing forward the amendment along with Anthony Carroll, a Green councillor in Glasgow and the co-convener of the Association of Scottish Greens Councillors (ASGC).

He said: “Local government has been reduced to such a dangerous position, where over 14 years of austerity is seeing scores of councils across the UK being threatened with effective bankruptcy.

“We must forge a different path now in Scotland, if we are to see our essentially daily services continue to exist.

“We as Greens must make that stand for local government in this Budget, or see those consequences in our communities worsen.”