Local Government Finance In Scotland

EDM number 491 in 1995-96, proposed by Jimmy Wray on 22/02/1996.

That this House calls upon the Secretary of State for Scotland to seriously reconsider the funding cuts to local government which will inevitably lead to reductions in services, especially in the case of Glasgow which has the worst housing, the worst health, the highest unemployment, the worst drug problem and the highest crime rate in all of Scotland; notes that the new City of Glasgow Council will not be able to maintain the same level of service to the community that it has in the past, meaning that four secondary and up to 16 primary schools will have to be closed as well as two homes for the elderly; notes that had the restructuring of Scottish local govenment not taken place and had unitary authorities not been introduced then the same standard level of service could have been provided for ú45.8 million less while under the restructuring scheme two thirds of this will be covered by other Strathclyde couoncils that will not contribute anything after next year; notes that Glasgow taxpayers will be expected to come up with an additional ú15.1 million this year, the remaining third of the total, and even more in the years to come; and believes that the same standards of services are costing the people of Glasgow more and more money and that the Secretary of State for Scotland needs to examine the effects of these cuts on the people of Glasgow and on the people of Scotland.

This motion has been signed by a total of 21 MPs.