By David Williams
Former first minister Henry McLeish has condemned the Scottish government-brokered freeze on council tax as a ‘gateway to disaster’, and called for a rethink of public spending priorities.
During a panel discussion on March 19, the former Labour MSP and MP, who led the Scottish government from 2000 to 2001, said: ‘Demand for services is exponential. There has been no real discussion at the broader Scottish level about priorities – for example, the freeze on council tax is a gateway to disaster.
‘The government didn’t know local income tax was going to be scrapped when they introduced the freeze. If you carry on with the freeze for another three years, where will we end up? Councils are now desperately trying to accommodate that but they’re cutting services.’
McLeish also warned: ‘There’s going to be a tsunami in public services. Over the past eight or nine years we’ve spent, spent, spent with no real realisation that that won’t last forever. This is now the time for looking at priorities for spending.’
Proposals for directly elected representatives on health trusts were dismissed by McLeish and his fellow panel members, Edinburgh City Council leader Jenny Dawe, Deloitte consulting partner Robert Wilson, and Simon Braunholtz, managing director of Ipsos Mori.
McLeish pointed to parts of the country where only a third of people voted, and said: ‘The last thing the health service needs is more directly elected representatives at that level. I can’t see any benefit.
‘Yes, I think our democracy has some real challenges, but dealing with the health service in this way is not the sensible way forward.’
