Moray Council has voted on its latest budget which includes a 5% increase in Council Tax for all homes in Moray, whilst also increasing the rent cost for social housing in the area.

The agreed increase in council tax bands will see people in Moray continue to pay above the Scottish average in council tax. This 5% increase was agreed by councillors from the Conservative and Labour groups despite the budget only planning for a 3% increase. The SNP and the Green councillors did not oppose the increase in council tax.

In the budget proposed by the Deputy Chief Executive of Moray Council, it stated that “A Council Tax increase of 3% had been used as a planning assumption in the financial planning process leading to this budget.”

There are no clean hands on Moray Council, no matter the rosette colour – the SNP and Conservative governments have both cut local council budgets. They are taking people for granted.

To increase council tax by 5%, when the budget only planned for an increase of 3%, is a betrayal of Moray residents and no sitting councillor argued against this. The increase will keep the average council tax in Moray above the Scottish average, that can’t be right.

It was also agreed at the council meeting that the rent for council housing will increase by 3.5%.

This is a further betrayal of working class families who will be hit twice by the increases agreed by Moray Council. With costs already rising across the board, we need to be protecting vulnerable families. Moray deserves better than this.

The Moray Council also heard proposals from the SNP group to increase the cost for charging electric vehicles. The Scottish Government scrapped their interest-free loan scheme to help people purchase an electric car. There’s no doubt, the SNP have totally abandoned their green card.

The Liberal Democrats have had budget successes across Scotland despite not being a part of the administration. Last week, in Labour run Edinburgh, The Lib Dem group managed to pass their budget proposals.

The Moray Lib Dems would not vote to increase council tax by more than planned for a budget. We would look to keep council tax below the Scottish average for residents in Moray. Given the cost-of-living crisis, we would also oppose an increase in council house rent right now to protect working families.

The council agreed to make use of their funding reserves in this budget. I would propose that we freeze the costs for electric vehicle charging and look to use reserves to increase the number of charging points available to increase revenue in the future.

These are long-term solutions to fixing short-term problems.

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