Councillors want a pay rise while SNP Ministers on £110,000 receive tax cuts
Deputy leader Caroline McAllister put the poor mouth on it while MSPs discussed a pay rise and £100,000 plus Ministers took a tax cut.
By Bill Heaney
Would you ever believe it? I know the SNP in West Dunbartonshire like to keep things close to their chest. But a secret in Dumbarton is something people tell just one person at a time. And this week’s worst kept secret is that our local councillors are looking for a pay rise.
I suppose they got their answer from their own mouths when Councillor Caroline McAllister, deputy to the redoubtable council leader Jonathan McColl, put the poor mouth on it – again.
She told her colleagues that the West Dunbartonshire Council was so skint could not afford to grant a pay rise to their workers.
The reason? Austerity and the cuts in government financial support for councils.
On the contrary, the government said the West Dunbartonshire had more than enough money to meet their commitments in regard to council services.
Nicola Sturgeon herself told them so – even though the bearded one, Cllr McColl, had told the First Minister and Labour councillors, who had a letter containing Ms Sturgeon’s thoughts, that they hadn’t.
SNP member John Mason, who represents the East End of Glasgow, where the life expectancy for men is below 60, due to crippling deprivation and poverty, asked what consideration it has given to increasing pay for local councillors.
The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, Kevin Stewart, told the Holyrood parliament: “A Scottish statutory instrument to increase the level of remuneration payable to local authority councillors by 2.8 per cent with effect from 1 April this year was laid before the Parliament on 1 February.”
Mr Mason was not content with his answer, however. He said: “Members of Parliament are paid some £77,000; members of the Scottish Parliament get £62,000, and councillors get £17,000.
“That seems a bit uneven, given that—in my view, certainly—many councillors work just as hard as some MPs I know. Does the minister agree?”
But the Minister told him: “Mr Mason has pointed out the basic salary of councillors. As he is aware, many councillors also receive special responsibility allowances above that.”
Cllr McColl, for example, receives around £32,000 a year plus other emoluments for being the member of some outside committees and boards and being council leader.
Mr Stewart added: “In 2005, the independent Scottish local authorities’ remuneration committee considered whether councillors’ pay should be comparable to that of MSPs, but concluded that it should not, because there are more significant differences between the two roles than there are similarities.
“Of course, MSPs are legislators with a national role, whereas councillors are responsible for local services. The remuneration committee revisited the issue in 2010 and came to exactly the same conclusion.
Holyrood, where MSPs’ salaries are twice or three times higher than those of councillors.
“As a former councillor, I appreciate the contribution and hard work of councillors across the country, but I am not persuaded that recalling the remuneration committee at this point would lead to a different conclusion.”
Mr Stewart could have said, of course, that comparing a councillor to an MSP was an insult to MSPs, which it would be, of course.
Meanwhile, the allegedly cream of the crop of those MSPs, the Cabinet Secretaries, have just received a nice little bonus from the Scottish Budget deal cut between Nicola Sturgeon and Green Party leader Patrick Harvie.
The Ferret, Scotland’s top investigative journalism bureau, has found out that the claim made by Labour that the SNP budget gives tax cuts to Government ministers is Mostly True.
This comes at a time when Scottish income tax changes are once again the focus of political debate, and the government’s budget plans were voted through after an agreement with the Scottish Greens.
Scotland introduced a five-band tax system in 2018 and the latest budget for 2019-20 altered the thresholds at which taxpayers would pay more.
Scottish Labour has criticised the changes for not going far enough, and for including an alleged tax cut for the wealthy who are earning over £100,000 year.
This includes SNP Ministers, including the First Minister and Finance Minister Derek Mackay, who will receive a tax cut in the SNP’s Budget plans.
Labour says it can’t support a budget that cuts public services while cutting tax for high earners. Ferret Fact Service looked at this claim and found it to be Mostly True.
The evidence for this is that SNP’s budget was passed after an eleventh-hour agreement with the Scottish Greens to include more funding for local councils, an extension of the council tax cap and a potential ‘tourist tax’.
Scottish Labour’s criticism was focused on the changes in tax liability compared to last year, which was announced in the draft budget.
The five-band threshold remains in place, with a starter rate of 19 per cent, a basic 20 per cent rate, a 21 per cent band, and higher earners on 41 and 46 per cent bands.
What has changed is the amount of money a person has to earn to qualify for the lower bands, together with the amount people can earn before they start paying tax.
Tax band 2019-20 2018-19
19% Over £12,500 – £14,549 Over £11,850 – £13,850
20% Over £14,549 – £24,944 Over £13,850 – £24,000
21% Over £24,944 – £43,430 Over £24,000 – £43,430
41% Over £43,430 – £150,000 Over £43,430 – £150,000 46% Above £150,000 Above £150,000
Central to the Labour criticism of the tax system is a reported decrease in tax for high rate taxpayers.
According to analysis from the Scottish Parliament’s research body, SPICe, the amount of tax paid by all Scots earning up to £124,375 will reduce.
This is primarily due to the increase in the personal allowance, which is the amount of money you can earn without having to pay income tax. This amount increased to £12,500 in 2019-20, and is set by the UK government.
SPICe analysis states that “for the majority, only around £10 of the benefit results from the Scottish Government’s decisions; the rest (£120-£130) is the result of the UK Government’s change to the personal allowance.”
This means that there will be a reduction in income tax next year for those earning at the rate of Scottish cabinet secretaries, which is £111,359.
However, salaries for Scottish ministers are still subject to a voluntary pay freeze at 2008-09 levels, so they will voluntarily pay back a portion of the money. As a result, cabinet secretaries will continue to earn £96,999.
Labour is correct to say that Scottish ministers would be eligible for the small reduction in income tax in 2019-20.
However, we should note that everyone up to £124,375 will get a reduction, and the new rates do not include a specific decrease for high earners.
Higher earners will also still be taxed more than those earning at the same rate in the rest of the UK, due to the five-band tax rate introduced last year.
The Ferret Fact Service verdict on this is that it is: Mostly True