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EVEN before we reach the Westminster election, the Scottish parties are looking ahead to the next Holyrood election.

In particular there’s an attempt to find agreement on reforms to local government and the way it’s funded.

Sadly not everyone seems to have an open mind.

To suggest, as SNP MSP Joan McAlpine did in her recent column for the Daily Record, that local councils have more than enough power in the current system, is absurd.

We know this is not the case: the Council Tax freeze , which remains popular despite giving the biggest savings to the wealthiest people, acts as a continual restraint on councils and allows them to raise an ever smaller fraction of the funds needed for local services.

The very poorest people in our society gain nothing from the freeze, as they are already exempt from paying Council Tax, yet they bear the brunt of cuts to frontline services or the hiking of fees and charges.

It is time we called this out for what it is; austerity by another name.

Most people are far more likely to come into contact with local government than national. That makes it all the more important that councils have the power to act as local people choose. Instead we’ve seen the centralisation of power in the Scottish Government, with the level of local taxes being just one example, giving councils responsibility to deliver services but without the power to decide their own priorities.

There is a solution to all of this: give local government the power to raise most of the money that funds local services. They often have the knowledge and expertise to make decisions on the needs and demands of a local community – and are best placed to agree how much this will cost. This doesn’t have to simply mean higher or lower taxes, but more local decisions funding local services.

We really should be aiming to get rid of the unfair and outdated Council Tax system altogether. Alternatives such as a Land Value Tax, which Greens have long proposed, would be a fairer and more accurate way to tax wealthy individuals.

Joan McAlpine recognises the problems of low voter turnout at local elections – but fails to question the reasons behind it. Is it any wonder people don’t believe in local government, given the lack of powers and capabilities that the Scottish Government gives to them? We can’t be surprised that they are seen as unimportant or powerless, and therefore unworthy of a vote. This decline in local government has been ignored for too long – it must be redeveloped and entrenched in communities.

The issue has been discussed for years now and reform is long overdue. But each session of the Scottish Parliament has become deadlocked, unable to take action. That has left Scotland with one of the most centralised systems of local democracy in the whole of Europe. We certainly have far fewer people taking part in local decision-making than the other small northern European countries we often compared ourselves to during the referendum debate.

Cross-party talks are getting under way at present. Even if the political parties still end up disagreeing, the aim must be to reach a clear understanding of the choices and put them to the voters with a commitment, finally, to take action to renew our local democracy and ensure that the services we all depend on are funded adequately, and fairly.

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