Dave Thompson MSP

In delivering his budget last week, John Swinney has put the priorities of the people of Scotland first and showed that the SNP is the only party with the experience to deliver a difficult budget in tough financial times.

Our SNP Government put forward a budget which protects family incomes with a freeze on the unfair and unjust council tax; secures 10,000 jobs with a pay freeze in the public sector; keeps the additional 1000 police on our streets; invests over £2.5 billion in public infrastructure including roads, rail, schools, health services and housing to help grow our economy and protect jobs; increases spending on frontline NHS services; protects student funding and places; secures job opportunities for newly qualified teachers and continues support for small business with the small business bonus.

This was the most challenging time the Scottish Parliament has faced with the first ever spending cuts coming to Scotland as a result of Labour, Tory and Lib Dem financial mismanagement and the SNP has risen to the challenge. In particular, whilst the other parties would wreck Scotland’s economy with cuts to capital spending John Swinney has ensured we can invest in well over £2.5 billion of building projects to protect jobs and boost the economy.

An important aspect of the budget is the package agreed with councils in return for limiting the cut in their budget to just 2.6% when other areas are facing much larger cuts averaging 6.4%. This also contrasts starkly with the English settlement, announced by DCLG, where, between 2010-11 and 2014-15, local government faces an average annual reduction in its resources of 7.25 per cent.

The package includes a freeze on the Council Tax with the Scottish Government making a further £70 million available in 2011-12 to councils which freeze council tax at 2007-08 levels. This will make a total of £280 million which has been paid to councils since 2007 to compensate them for not increasing Council Tax.

The councils will also be required to maintain throughout 2011-12 the 1,000 additional police officers funded by the SNP Government and to deliver the Early Years Framework and Curriculum for Excellence and protect the number of teacher posts in education. A £70 million health and social care fund has also been created which will be held by health boards and spent in partnership with councils to support the redesign of services and shift the balance towards primary and community care.

The bottom line is that the funding package to Highland Council will not be nearly as bad as feared and that Councils' share of Scottish Government resources has risen steadily over recent years from a low point of 33.4% in 2007-08 - set before May 2007. This has risen under the SNP government to 34.5% of the total budget available to the Scottish Government, the same proportion as in 2010-11.

This settlement comes at a time when LibDem and Labour led Highland Council is privatising care homes and grass cutting services with scant regard for the service to be provided nor the effect on their employees. The council really does need to reflect on the direction in which it is travelling and ensure that whatever decisions it takes on service levels are arrived at in a way which minimises the effect on front line services and on their lowest paid staff.

I attended the Remembrance Parade in Dingwall just over a week ago and had the honour of laying a Scottish Parliament wreath at the memorial along with other organisations. It was particularly pleasing to see the young people who attended and laid wreaths and the growing numbers attending in recent years is very gratifying.

Our servicemen and women sacrifice a great deal for us and we must do all we can to honour them. That is why Remembrance Day is so important but it is also important to ensure that we help at other times of the year and that we support bodies like Combat Stress and the other charities which help veterans. So, please remember them all year round.