RHODA GRANT: Councils in 'unimaginable' position due to Scottish Government

This month was the Scottish Labour conference and I was really proud to see the party united in fighting to rebuild the NHS, to provide homes and jobs for people and protect the most vulnerable from the cost-of-living crisis.

We would create a publicly-owned energy company that would shield people from the profiteering we have seen recently. We would invest in the NHS and local government. We are ready for the challenge to rebuild our country out of this current crisis.

The SNP leadership contest is an opportunity for a new First Minister to address these issues, that exist nationally. However, from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like a party arguing amongst themselves about themselves.

That could not be any clearer last week when SNP Inverness and Nairn MSP, Fergus Ewing broke the whip and voted in support of Scottish Labour’s debate amendment on the A9 dualling. I welcome this, however, I wish it came a few years ago when he was a cabinet secretary in this government and in a position to put real pressure on transport ministers.

In the debate, it was clear that Highland and Islands SNP MSPs abandoned the transport minister over this issue. Not one of them were there ready to speak up. Indeed it was MSPs from Greenock & Inverclyde, East Lothian and East Kilbride who spoke from the backbenches for the SNP.

Reports last week from an industry leader suggested that we will have to wait until 2050 for the dualling to be completed. I do not even think that is possible and in fact, at this rate, I will be lucky to see it dualled in my lifetime, which is incredibly disappointing.

Highland communities deserve a sincere apology for this. This government have taken us all for fools and I, like many residents, am furious. An inquiry into the failure to deliver on the promise to dual the A9 needs to take place to find out what went wrong and to put a realistic timeframe for this work in place.

Turning to council budgets, our local authorities are being put in an unimaginable position as the Scottish Government continue to slash their budgets. The truth is that these challenges are 15 years in the making because the SNP has repeatedly underfunded councils, making cuts even when their ministers had more money to spend.

Every single council in Scotland is now united in their opposition to the Scottish Government’s Budget with SNP councillors also expressing concerns.

Because of the SNP’s cuts, in real terms, we face a bleak year ahead. It is time for change in government, not just a change in First Minister.

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