SNP MSP accuses Labour and Greens of “playing games” over taxation as MSPs vote to increase council tax

An SNP MSP has accused Labour and the Greens of “playing games” over fairer taxation.

Bob Doris said the two parties should “hang their heads in shame” for siding with the Tories against the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Parliament voted last night to increase council tax in the top four bands.

Bands E-H will increase from April 2017, while at the same time councils will be allowed to raise council tax across all bands by up to three per cent.

The motion was passed with the support of Labour and the Greens, with the Conservatives and Lib Dems voting against it.

However, the SNP was forced to accept an amendment that was voted through by all the opposition parties.

It didn’t change the substance of the motion about the changes to take place next year, but it expressed strong disapproval of the SNP’s plans.

The amendment by Green MSP Andy Wightman said that parliament “regrets that the Scottish Government’s proposals for Council Tax reform undermine the principle of local accountability and autonomy and fail to address a number of issues identified by the Commission on Local Tax Reform”.

It also called on the Scottish Government to have further discussions with other parties “to establish an enduring system of local government finance”.

In order to get their council tax plans passed, SNP MSPs had to vote for the motion containing the amendment criticising their own party.

Scottish Greens Local Government spokesperson Andy Wightman said: "Level heads prevailed tonight and educational attainment will be boosted by £100million.

“But what has also prevailed is an agreement by all Holyrood's five parties that the current system of local taxation is broken and that in this five-year Parliament we have an opportunity to fix it."

However, SNP MSP and chair of the Local Government and Communities Committee accused the Labour and the Greens of “playing games” over fairer taxation.

He said: “Labour and the Greens should hang their heads in shame tonight – for teaming up with the Tories to vote down the opportunity to embed fair taxation in future reforms.

“Every party at Holyrood put their plans on local taxation to the test in May and the SNP was returned for a third term in government.

“The SNP is determined to see a further £100 million invested in education and that is why we ensured our manifesto commitment passed through parliament tonight.

“Our plans make council tax fairer, more proportionate and more progressive. While you might expect opposition to such plans from the Tories, it is absolute shameful to see political gamesmanship of this nature from Labour and the Greens. It was a petty and poorly judged stunt on a petty and poorly thought-out amendment – and ultimately a vote against progressive taxation.”