At a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council on Wednesday 9th March, Labour Group Leader Martin Rooney moved Labour’s budget proposal to address the cost of living crisis.

The Labour group proposals would have meant millions of pounds to support a Council Tax Freeze this year; a one-off £100 for families; a five year apprenticeship programme; and extra resources for the Scottish Welfare Fund, food banks and school clothing grant increased to £200.

But the move was thrown out by the SNP group lead by Cllr Jonathan McColl, of the Lomond Ward in Balloch.

Councillor Rooney, left,  said: “Budgets are about choices.  Excluding COVID Funding – the UK Government increased the Scottish Government Block Grant by 10.6% for 2022/23. Up from £36.7 Billion up to £40.6 Billion.  A former Tory Chancellor once said: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking serious money”.

He added:  “This is serious money and it is very much needed in Scotland to help us through the recovery stage;  to support the return to work;  to deal with poverty and exclusion;  to address homelessness; and to address the NHS backlog

“This is serious money – but very little of it has come to Scottish Councils. The Council report says this was ‘virtually flat cash’.  In fact the Scottish Government didn’t even pass on the National Insurance Contribution to West Dunbartonshire Council that the UK government gave to them.  It’s only £1 million to them but its serious money to us

“A million here and million there and pretty soon we are talking about serious money for West Dunbartonshire council.  We could have abolished non-residential care charges with a million pounds. – Community alarm charges, Day Care Charges, and Care at home charges.

“We could give our staff better pay rises – or took a step towards £15 an hour for carers – somebody has to do it first – why not us? 

“Or we might have even bought a few more oil paintings. …. but maybe not!”

Cllr Rooney maintained: “Budgets are about choices.  Someone once said: ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget. And I’ll tell you what you value.’

“Wise words … I suspect the individual might have gone on to do quite well for himself. (… it was some bloke called Joe Biden).

“So, you may ask, what is the Labour budget all about?  It’s a good question.  But it’s the same answer this year as has been in every year  It’s about our collective values. You show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.

“Most of us have grown up in a fairly humble background.  Where money was tight and every pound was a prisoner.  Families were big and came with matching grocery bills.  Everybody went to work but everyone was skint.

“Well it looks like for a lot of our citizens those good old days are coming back.  For some they never really went away.  You show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value. Most people dread doing budgets but I actually like it as it’s a time to be a bit creative.  As a group our shared experiences help us. Our shared understanding and our shared priorities help to shape the budgets we create

“We don’t always agree on everything but we know we can speak our minds and will be listened to.  I think today everyone in this council chamber has a shared understanding of what the priority is.

“We might disagree on how best to tackle it.  We can all agree that the biggest thing facing our communities is the cost of living crisis. Household energy prices are going through the roof.  Petrol and diesel prices are being driven ever upwards.  Food prices are eating into household budgets.  It affects us all.”

Labour’s Budget wants to address this challenge head on. The rising cost of living is the most important thing facing communities across Scotland. It’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.  Families will struggle if their income doesn’t keep pace with the cost of living.  They simply won’t have the same buying power.

“Businesses will struggle if people don’t have money to spend on their goods and services.  Our budget is designed to help everyone.

“We need to be proactive and shape our response not let circumstances dictate what we do.  People are really worried and need reassurance, they need leadership and practical help.

“This needs to be done now and Labour Budget has grasped that nettle.  We will help every household by using £1.11 million to freeze Council Tax this year.

“For families struggling to make ends meet we have increased the Social Welfare Fund by £250,000.  We are investing £1.2 million in supporting the most vulnerable families with a £100 grant to help them with household costs.

“To help business we are supporting the Shop Local initiative; providing some help to small traders like taxi drivers and window cleaners.

“The shop Local vouchers will help vulnerable families bit also help local businesses and encourage expansion of the scheme.

For young people we would increase the school clothing grant by £50 per child to £200 and we will invest £1.25 million in training young people for future jobs.

“We would support our foodbank heroes by introducing three funds to provide help with food, help with fuel costs and help with other necessities with the shop local vouchers.

“We still have our core workforce to support so extra money for working4u, more Environmental Health Staff and protecting our core spending and services is going to be a real challenge over the coming years.

“Labour’s budget is in tune with the big issue of the moment – the cost of living crisis. We simply can’t wait. The people we represent can’t wait. We need to act to protect and reassure the public.  Look, see, plan, act – it’s happening now. And most importantly it’s within our power to alleviate the worst effects of the cost of living crisis and protect our community.  I would ask that all councillors back Labour’s budget today.”

But it was not to be.  Jonathan McColl and the SNP, plus Tory Sally Page, of course,  shamelessly backed by  so-called Independents such as Bailie Denis Agnew didn’t have the stomach for it and increased Council Tax by three per cent  thus adding to the soaring cost of living which has already arrived in the UK.

A copy of the Labour motion is set out below:

LABOUR BUDGET 2022

Unfortunately, we [Labour] are limited by the Scottish Government continuous one-year budget approach, when a three-year budget would allow us to be much more strategic for council budgeting. We need to be bold, we need to plan ahead and we need to set the direction for the council and our citizens rather than taking the short sighted approach of the Scottish government.

The Labour group approach to the budget over the past four years has been to set a no-cuts budget – and we have done it again this year.

This year we also focussed our attention on measures to help our communities to deal with the cost of living crisis. We have been helped by the Scottish Government with £949,000 of remaining COVID funding; and with £1.458m of Cost of Living Funding.

Many of the spending options we have supported could fall under either category, therefore Council Officers will have the flexibility to move the funding between the two categories to best reflect the Scottish Governments requirements so that the COVID funding is aligned to the COVID impacts and that the additional revenue funding aligns with addressing the Cost of Living Crisis. The effect is that we can deliver against the identified priorities of supporting COVID recovery and tackling the cost of living crisis.

• We will invest £1.25 million into a five-year apprenticeship scheme – helping young people to compete effectively in the world of work.

• We will use £1.2 million to support 12,000 low income households with a £100 one off payment to help them with the cost of living crisis.

• We will support all residents by using £1.11 million to support a much needed Council Tax freeze – helping all households.

• We will provide additional support to families affected by the cost of living crisis by increasing social welfare fund by an extra £250,000.

• We will use £250,000 to increase the School Clothing Grant from £150 for Primary pupils & Secondary pupils to £200 per child.

• We will utilise £159,000 of COVID funding to support the reintroduction of grass cutting on open spaces within communities that have become overgrown and unsightly. This will support much-needed seasonal jobs for local residents and support our COVID recovery plans.

• We expect demand for welfare services, advice and support to increase. The closure of the Independent Resource Centre whose volunteers provided a lifeline for local residents is a great loss to our communities. Therefore we will retain the welfare service capacity and transfer £104,000 to the Working4U budget in 2022/23 and the ongoing revenue will be built in for future years.

• We will invest £101,000 in additional Environmental Health staff to support the new expanded food law intervention requirements.

• We will create a Community Food Bank Support Fund of £52,000 to be drawn from COVID Funding during 2022 to provide £1,000 a week support to struggling families.

• We will create a Community Energy Support Fund £52,000 per year to be drawn from COVID Funding in 2022 to provide £1,000 a week of support.

• We will create a Community and Business Support Fund of £52,000 provide £1,000 per week of shop local vouchers to support local business to be targeted at local families in need.

• We will use £30,000 of COVID Funds in 2022 to cover the costs of a Part Time officer to help staff the hybrid meetings.

• We will create a Local Authority COVID Economic Recovery fund to freeze the planned 4% increase in taxi fees to help support the taxi trade during the recovery. This is estimated at around £9,000. Any unused balance of funding can be used to support other hard-pressed trades such as window cleaners and street traders affected by the cost of living crisis.

• We will create a Pothole Rapid Response Service investing £5,000 to trial the concept.

• We will support an additional £1.7m for the Westbridgend Community Centre project which means the group will have the £2.3m for the project. But we will help the group to explore other match-funding options to minimise the cost on the council.

• Labour’s budget supports all the new capital projects in the report including the £210,000 Balloch Mountain Bike Track; another £500,000 for Play Area upgrades across the council; £1.4 million replacement of the CareFirst system.

• In terms of Capital Labour are proposing additional investments to improve our roads and community facilities.

• An additional £5 million of investment in roads across the council area over the next 5 years, an average of £1 million per year.

• Capital funding for an options appraisal on a replacement for the HUB CE Centre in Clydebank.

• Capital funding for an options appraisal on a replacement Linnvale Community Centre in the context of future redevelopment of the school campus.

• Capital Funding for a new MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area) for Breval Crescent.

• Capital funding for a new MUGA or five-a-side football pitch at Valeview Terrace in Bellsmyre in partnership with the current owners.

“By helping everyone in their time of need, we can build resilience, we can strengthen our sense of community and help build and maintain social cohesion, ” said Cllr Rooney.

He added: “Furthermore, the Council notes that West Dunbartonshire Health & Social Care Partnership has £6.6 million of COVID reserves and calls on the Council members on the Integrated Joint Board to support an increase to social care pay rates and to explore options for a phased increase to £15 per hour.

The measures identified to balance the Council revenue budget gap; to fund the growth, and to provide support to local residents are set out in the Labour Group Budget 2022/23.”