The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland - a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson
By Professor John Robertson OBA
In the Guardian today:
Ministers could allow council tax to rise by up to 25% to prevent bankruptcies – Experts say it is inevitable government will let English local authorities exceed 5% cap if they are likely to go bust. Tony Travers, an economics professor at the London School of Economics and an expert on local authority finance, said: “The government is bound to let some councils breach the 4.99% cap because it’s the least worst option.”
From the Daily Record, three days ago:
Scots face a huge hike in their council tax bills as cash-strapped local authorities struggle with mounting debts. Councillors must soon agree on how much households will be expected to pay before the start of the new financial year in April. One in five local authorities are reportedly considering increasing council tax payments by as much as 10 per cent. But Kate Forbes today claimed town halls did not need to resort to sharp increases as the Scottish Government Budget would hand councils more cash this year.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/scots-face-10-council-tax-34565038
How many English local authorities face bankruptcy? 32, one in ten of the 317 total.
How many Scottish local authorities face bankruptcy? None, not even the ones who stupidly lent money to the English councils about to renege on them.
Based on the above, council tax looks likely to increase in England by as much as 2.5 times [25/10] that in Scotland
What is the starting point for these increases?
Council Tax rates in Scotland are already much lower than in both England and Wales. Looking at the average Band D:
Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/
The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brown_(Scottish_activis
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Did the Local Authorities have any option other than to pass the Labour government’s increase in Employers NICs on to council tax payers?
Sorry for going off topic
Was this on the news?
https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/About-Us/News-and-Views/2025/01/300125-Whiteadder-switch-on
“Believed to be the first of its kind in Europe, the project is expected to offset almost a third of the energy used by one of East Lothian’s largest pumping stations, named Hungry Snout.
It takes around 32 million litres of water per day from the reservoir to Castle Moffat Water Treatment Works, where it then goes on to supply most of the East Lothian region with drinking water.
Through the use of siphon technology, water is drawn up through the intake and over the top of the dam before running down the siphon, through the hydro turbine, and back to the natural environment. This allows green energy to be generated while also accurately controlling the level of the reservoir during seasonal fluctuations in weather.”
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The story is about 4-5 years old in the making, but it bluntly would not have been possible before small home generation changed the energy landscape as solar panels took off – https://archive.ph/5HEPm – There is no truth to the rumour that the pump stations were named after Damn Baillie or Fffoulkesake, the “Hungry Snout” reference preceded them… A good bit of honest journalism from Craig Williams for the Herald by the way, one can only hope it lasts…
The beauty of it from SW’s perspective is it puts previously lost hydraulic head after the original syphon (normal) to good use, a sort of mini-hydro plant – I’d guess the payback period for the investment is ca 10 years, as 5-6 seems to be about the norm for solar.
It’s “change” beyond the facile slogans…..
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Still on local government financing:
Wales Online (January 14, 2025) ‘How much council tax is set to go up by in every part of Wales – Councils had more money than they expected in their grant from the Welsh Government but they say it isn’t enough’.
It reports: ‘The Welsh Government has published the amount it plans to give councils for the next year. Wales’ councils will get £6.1bn, up 4.3% on the previous year.’
The Scottish Government website (December 12, 2024) has this headline: ‘£15 billion for councils’. (See https://www.gov.scot/news/15-billion-for-councils/ )
The document has a table that indicates that the 2025-26 local government settlement will be 6.5% larger than for 2024-25.
Now budgets may still be subject to some shifts and I am aware of complexity/controversy over what is included by the funding governments in high level financial settlement figures. However, based on the above information, the British Labour Party government in Cardiff appears to be planning a smaller uplift for Welsh councils than the SNP government in Edinburgh.
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Worth repeating this from a recent TuS blog post to give another way of setting out Council Tax baselines prior to next financial year’s CT increases across Great Britain.
Insights into differences across Great Britain in 2024-25 for the benchmark average Band D tax can be found at https://propertydata.co.uk/council-tax
Focusing on Wales where the British Labour Party governs:
The contrast between Council Tax Band D rates in Scotland and Wales is quite remarkable! Is this what the British Labour Party would like to see in Scotland after 2026? ‘Levelling-up’ Scotland Labour style?
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This facility in the North East is going yo be massive!
(The article is dated 28 January 2025)
https://www.renews.biz/98423/haventus-files-scoping-report-for-ardersier-extension/
“The extension would transform Ardersier Energy Transition Facility into one of Europe’s largest facilities dedicated to offshore wind, expanding the developable land acreage of the site to around 500 acres, the company said.
continues
“The scale of offshore wind components means that deployment requires very large areas of land, and the opportunity to add to the site’s acreage greatly enhances the potential for our site and the wider Green Freeport area to further develop a global hub in the Highlands for offshore renewables engineering, manufacturing and assembly, and secure a multi-decade employment opportunity for the region.”
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Housing costs in the much more congested South are twice as much. London S/E the highest housing costs and housing benefit payments. Out stripping the economy.
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Solar now produces more energy than coal in Europe (10%.+) Cheaper. The switch over.
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