A Labour Councillor has criticised the treatment of Moray Council by the Scottish Government as resulting in ‘managed decline’.

At Wednesday’s meeting of Moray Council, potential capital proposals were debated, including a reduction in the amount of roads maintenance, and maintenance of school buildings within Moray, owing to funding from the Scottish Government having “been significantly reduced in the draft settlement and this should be recognised as a further limiting factor for capital expenditure”.

Labour councillor Ben Williams (Fochabers Lhanbryde) criticised the Scottish Government for their actions that lead to this point, saying:

“Let’s be honest about what that means – a lower level of maintenance for roads that we are asking our council tax payers to expect. We also see a proposed plan that seems, in my reading, to say we’re allowing children to be taught in substandard accommodation for longer.

If ScotGov invested properly in the services provided by councils, we could see better maintained roads, schools and services”.

Councillor Sandy Keith (Labour, Elgin North) agreed with Cllr Williams, saying that the plan was ‘managing down expectations, which is regrettable’.

The Moray Labour Group all signed Moray Trade Union Council’s proposal to introduce a ‘wealth tax’ which would render these cuts unnecessary, with Cllr Williams commenting:

“The Scottish Trade Union Congress offered a plan to make those who earn more and those who have vast wealth contribute more via a wealth tax. We were all contacted by Moray TUC and whilst the Labour group and Councillor Van Der Horn (Green, Forres) were able to indicate their support for such an approach, it is disappointing that others couldn’t”.