THE Scottish Greens have said that the Scottish Government’s proposed council tax freeze broke the Bute House Agreement.
A motion passed at the Scottish Green party conference criticised the way the SNP handled the announcement of the council tax freeze policy at the SNP conference earlier this month.
Councils were not informed of the decision before First Minister Humza Yousaf made the announcement, with the Scottish Greens only finding out shortly before.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) has said there is "absolutely no agreement" on the freeze.
The motion states that the council tax freeze decision “broke the Bute House Agreement’s commitment to ‘consultation and collaboration with the Green Group throughout the development and scrutiny of all stages of the annual budget process’.
“The way the policy was announced at SNP conference – without the agreement of Cosla – was unacceptable and not in line with the principles of partnership, trust and mutual respect which underpins both the Verity House Agreement and the Bute House Agreement.
“Conference believes that local taxation should be decided by democratically elected local government, and that failure to respect this damages trust and completely undermines attempts to treat local government with greater respect.
“Conference notes commitments that the freeze will be for one year only and believes that what has happened this year should never be repeated.”
The motion was passed at 64%.
It also calls for the delivery of proposals to charge second homes 200% council tax.
A proposed amendment to the motion asked Scottish Green MSPs to vote against any motion or budget in Holyrood that related to the freezing of council tax across Scotland.
The amendment failed, with Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater warning that if passed, it would “lead to the end of the Bute House Agreement”.
Those who believed MSPs should vote against matters related to a council tax freeze admitted that it could affect the Bute House Agreement, but said the future of the agreement ultimately fell into the hands of SNP leadership.
