Statement by Kevin Keenan, Leader of the Labour Group on Dundee City Council
Labour's alternative plans for a better Dundee
" The Labour Group on Dundee City Council tabled a wide-ranging amendment ahead of the Dundee City Council budget meeting.
"The amendment included major alterations to the proposals that the
ruling administration has brought forward.
"This is the rainy day.
“The increase in council tax brings a little more money to the budget.
21 February 2019
Dundee Labour - protecting our future, saving jobs today
"Dundee Labour’s amendment would have:
• halted all education cuts to protect the future of all our children
and our city
• stopped the attack on the terms and conditions of vital council
workers
• put money back into vital third sector services who work with our most
vulnerable citizens
• protected family budgets by freezing charges in our schools
• created a Caring Dundee Fund to support vital work in social care to
protect the elderly and vulnerable and to help stop the scandal of the
revolving door at hospitals.
How Dundee Labour would pay for it:
• Maintain council reserves at the recent level of £5 million rather
than increasing them to £7m
• Take the full council tax rise available of 4.7% rather than the
proposed 3%
• Remove the second civic car
• Cancel the second homes discount
• Remove the funding for Police Scotland activities which should be
funded from their £1.2bn annual budget "
On the budget settlement, Kevin said :
This is a truly dreadful SNP budget from a party that has let Dundee
down yet again. Labour wants to protect our future and to save jobs
today.
Even the SNP Administration has given up pretending that the budget
allocation from their SNP bosses in Edinburgh is anything other than a
disaster for the City of Dundee. There is another option locally – the
choices Labour is offering.
The dismal decade of SNP incompetence has left us with a crumbling NHS,
a broken train service, teachers balloting for industrial action as
attainment plummets, a stagnant economy with soaring poverty and the
true abhorrence of child poverty at levels unseen since the days of
Thatcher.
“Now the SNP consumes itself in a civil war as the country spirals
downwards.”
On education, Kevin said:
“Protecting and enhancing education for all our children is the best
chance of a better future for our city.
“The test of real leadership is to plant trees knowing that we will not
see their fruit.
“To cut our schools and teaching workforce again and again and again as
the SNP has done shows they only care about the short-term.
“To cut another 26 teachers from our primary schools is a terrible
decision.
“To remove the support in secondary schools that keeps kids on the brink
inside our classrooms is a dereliction of duty.
"To do all of this would be to declare in public that any attempt to
close the gap between the poorest and the richest kids has been
abandoned.
"Remember when we were told that education would be the defining mission
of the SNP?
"We knew it was nonsense then, but every day we see the proof of what
hollow words those were.
"We would scrap all of the SNP education cuts.”
On jobs Kevin said:
“Dundee currently faces a jobs crisis.
“The tragic closure of Michelin.
“The abandonment of McGill by the SNP - when they are
pouring millions into failing businesses across Scotland they refuse to
stand a short term loan to a Dundee firm with a massive order book.
“The SNP plan to cut 10% of the NHS Tayside workforce.
“When the time has come to lift us up the SNP have kicked us when we are
down.
“For years now the people of Dundee have put trust in the SNP.
“That trust has been betrayed.
“Over recent years the SNP has cut 1400 jobs from our council.
“Good secure jobs.
“Now they are coming for the wages and conditions of the staff that
remain.
“They are using the threat of compulsory redundancies to strike fear
into staff. It has to stop.”
On presenting a balanced budget Kevin said:
“Labour is completely opposed to nationalist austerity cuts.
“We do not support any of the SNP cuts.
“These are wounds inflicted by the SNP and they are responsible for
them.
“For a decade now Dundee has sent SNP MSPs to Holyrood and what they
have sent back is cut after cut.
“The choice we face as a Labour Party is to play no part in this
dreadful SNP budget or to try and make better choices for the City of
Dundee.
“Over recent weeks we have listened to the anger in our communities,
spoken to bewildered council workers, heard the despair of teachers in
our schools, met with angry trade union colleagues and taken the counsel
of clergy and the city at large.
“These cuts are much worse than anyone anticipated.
“So our choice is to invest for the future where we can and to protect
jobs wherever possible.
“In order to do so we would stop the increase in council reserves.
“There is no point salting away cash for a rainy day.
“We know that will be difficult. Hard working people are struggling too.
“But our schools desperately need the resources to ensure we have a
better future for everybody.
On the budget process, Kevin said,
“Labour Councillors have met with council officers for detailed
discussions.
“We have engaged with the process whole-heartedly and used all of the
resources at our disposal.
“We have met with community groups, with trade unions and with service
providers.
“I have sat with the Leader of the Administration to discuss his cuts
and try to understand why he is putting our city’s future at risk.
“We will be sharing our proposals with all parties ahead of budget day.
“Our proposals have been accepted by legal services and the relevant
officers and I hope there will be a constructive debate from all parties
on Thursday.”
Our proposals are detailed here, in the narrative we have set out
thinking about each proposal.
“In the face of the refusal of the Scottish Parliament to use all of its
powers to deliver a better settlement for Dundee, Dundee City Council
has to use all of its powers to deliver a fairer budget designed to
protect jobs and services.