Plenary, 13 Dec 2006

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Official Report 425KB pdf

---

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. During the ministerial statement on the local government finance settlement, the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, Mr McCabe, made two accusations about the performance of Scottish National Party-controlled local authorities, which were material to—

What is the point of order?

Mr Swinney has just started.

Exactly. If Mr McNeil is patient, he will find out that the point of order is about ministers misleading the Parliament.

Mr McCabe said that when the SNP manages to run a council, it delivers

"the highest tax levels of any area in Scotland."

Today the SNP controls two local authorities—Angus Council and Falkirk Council. Falkirk Council has the second-lowest council tax in Scotland and Angus Council has the fourth-lowest council tax in Scotland. At the top of the list are the Labour-controlled authorities: Glasgow City Council; Dundee City Council; Midlothian Council; Stirling Council; and Aberdeen City Council. [Interruption.]

Briefly, Mr Swinney. Get to the point.

Mr McCabe went on to say that the two councils that had the highest council tax increases in Scotland—5.1 per cent and 5.3 per cent—were run by the SNP. However, Angus Council had a council tax increase of 3.4 per cent and Falkirk Council had an increase of 4.6 per cent.

Where is the point of order?

The point of order is the charge of misleading the Parliament.

Exactly. Clackmannanshire Council, which is Labour controlled, had a council tax increase of 4.9 per cent, as did East Ayrshire Council and East Renfrewshire Council. North Ayrshire Council had an increase of 4.65 per cent.

In the face of that evidence, is it not clear that the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform has misled the Parliament and should put the record straight and apologise to members? Unless he does so, we will not be able to take seriously a word that he says to the Parliament.

I thank Mr Swinney for giving me advance notice of his point of order, which is now on the record in the Official Report. Although I take very seriously any accusation that the Parliament has been misled, any accusations that a minister has misled the Parliament are a matter for the ministerial code and not for me, so if Mr Swinney wishes to pursue the matter further, he must do so directly with the First Minister.

I would appreciate the opportunity to clarify the matter, if that is acceptable to you, Presiding Officer.

Indeed. The ministerial code sets out that clarification should be given at the earliest possible opportunity.

The member speaks about attempts to mislead the chamber only to go on to conflate council tax increases and council tax levels, which are, of course, two entirely different things. What I said earlier was that, last year—in 2005-06—the two councils that Mr Swinney mentioned raised council tax levels of 5.1 and 5.3 per cent and that they were very high indeed. That is what I said.

However, I am happy to confirm that what Mr Swinney has just said, with regard to 2006-07, is also correct. The three councils that are run by the SNP all raised council tax above the Scottish average—the figures are 3.4 per cent, 4.4 per cent and 4.6 per cent. Those are the increases that I referred to—for 2006-07. The previous figures were for 2005-06. I did not refer to council tax levels.

Right. That, too, is now on the record. I suggest that we proceed with today's business.