..to freeze council tax
Not for the first time, good news from the SNP Government is quickly flipped to present a negative narrative. it’s the easiest and most effective of propaganda moves.
BBC Scotland this morning lead with above and fail to mention this buried in their online report in paragraph 7:
Council tax had either been either frozen or capped at 3% since the SNP came to power in 2007, with the Scottish government providing local authorities with extra funding in return.
Or this in paragraph 23:
Humza Yousaf did not spell out how the freeze would be funded at a time when councils are under major financial pressures. That is to be negotiated with local government.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67135712
So, what basis is there for thinking the councils will not be compensated this time?
None.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
BBC , Englands propaganda organisation its purpose is to trick Scotland
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In August this year The Guardian reported that at least 26 councils in England risk bankruptcy within the next two years.
7 councils in England have already gone bankrupt since 2020 .
4 were Labour controlled councils.
1 was Conservative controlled and 1 was Lib Dem.
The other one was no overall control by any one party.
I Labour council , Croydon, went bankrupt THREE times…”In February 2023, Croydon was given permission by central government to increase council tax by 15%, 10 percentage points over the normal raise cap of 5%”.
However in August 2023 The Daily Express aka uber anti SNP rag….headlined that “SNP led council to pay 1.5billion to rent own building with council tax to be hikes and services cut”….of course the REAL headline is that the previous LABOUR council had FAILED to give equal pay to women , indeed they fought against it and they even used council money to do this, and when the SNP took over they, the SNP council, agreed to honour the payment to give women equal pay which impacted their available funds thus they, the SNP, had to find money to do this….CONTEXT is everything as is PROPAGANDA vis rags such as the Daily Express.
It seems though that there can NEVER be any good or positive news via the SNP with the hostile media that exists within Scotland……rule is #SNPBAD all the time……and ignore what has and is happening in English councils hence why compare and contrast is never ever adopted by the so called UK media……every piece of good news via the SNP must then be promoted to include a BUT…or a ….HOWEVER…..etc etc….I mean , come on, how else will New New Labour hope to win seats in the next GE in Scotland.
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Perhaps this has been done before but IF someone and/or group was to fund a billboard campaign to counter this media propaganda across Scotland then maybe just maybe we may start to get somewhere. Grass route SNP members like myself and many others would I’m sure support any crowd funding appeal for this purpose. It is the only way I can think of to expose their lies and distortions. On occasions I have seen many farmers fields alongside motor/railways display supporting messages.
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Something along the lines of the sterling work done by Led By Donkeys – only we could call it Led By Unicorns.
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Lead by Donkeys did this on a shoestring budget!
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In fact during the previous council tax freeze operated by the SNP government, local authorities were ‘over-compensated’ – see my btl comment on the immediately previous thread.
The Scotsman reported in 2015 that the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) had concluded that the money provided by the Scottish Government to freeze the council tax resulted in LAs receiving more income than they would have done by increasing rates by RPI (retail price index).
Whilst the proposed freeze will be welcome by many who struggle to pay council tax, it is an indication of the flawed governance of Scotland under present constitutional arrangements: any consideration of change is weaponised. The consultation by the Scottish Government on making council tax more progressive by raising rates in highest bands resulted in outrage by political opponents, aggregated and amplified by the BBC and allied mainstream media even though council tax rates in Scotland are among the lowest in Great Britain, often by a substantial amount.
Context? Perspective? Comparative analysis of council tax rates and bands in Tory-run England, in Labour-run Wales? Analysis of the financing of English local authorities away from central government grant to council tax payers, with its implication for Scotland’s ‘block grant’? Nope – none of that!
That’s NOT how the BBC and much of the mainstream media ‘serving’ Scotland do political journalism. There are no votes for their favoured Unionist parties in that!
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Got it stewartb
Thanks
Posted
John
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freezing the council tax is good for the council tax payers but not good for the councils.
if say the council tax is frozen for 10 years to 2033, and councils compensated by the gov for any lost revenues, then services should remain fairly constant.
and if then the freeze is scrapped for year 2034 and the councils lose their compensation money from the gov, they’re then faced with council tax at 2023 levels and then have to raise it by a massive amount or cut services.
is that right or I’m meringue?
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Meringue!!
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