I WAS hoping to be able to say that Covid levels and hospitalisations are falling in Scotland, but it seems that we have the highest rates in the UK even though we appear to be taking a more cautious approach. Hopefully, things will improve over the coming weeks as we move towards spring.

The council set its budget for 2022 on March 9. Labour councillors’ proposals were laser focussed on the cost of living crisis. We have soaring inflation, the cost of household energy has exploded, food prices are rising weekly and the cost of travel is going up.

All of this is heaping more pressure on hard-pressed families who aren’t seeing their wages going up quick enough to stand still. We also have further energy cost increases to come, and National Insurance contributions are set to rise along with water rates.

The last thing anyone needed was a three per cent increase in council tax, so Labour put forward a council tax freeze to help all residents. Our proposals also included a £100 cash grant to 12,000 low income households, and £250,000 extra set aside from the Scottish Welfare Fund to support families in greatest need.

In addition our budget would have given local food banks £156,000 so that they could purchase £1,000 of food each week to supplement donations; £1,000 per week to help people with fuel vouchers; and another £1,000 a week to purchase ShopLocal vouchers, supporting local businesses as well as helping struggling families.

There was a lot more in Labour’s budget proposals, such as a £1.25m investment in apprenticeships, a top up of £50 per child for school clothing grants, and additional capital projects like £5m more for road improvements. Unfortunately, the SNP councillors won the vote and imposed a three per cent council tax on local residents.

Labour’s budget proposals invested £3.5m towards the cost of living crisis but the SNP only set aside £400,000.

With household bills and energy costs rising to record levels, the SNP councillors added fuel to the fire and showed their lack of support for struggling residents when they top-sliced the £150 cost of living payment from people’s council tax bills rather than handing it over as a lump sum.

Some 38,500 households in West Dunbartonshire will be eligible for the payment which applies to those who stay in homes in council tax bands A-D. But struggling families need to get money in their pockets now to help them cope with their winter fuel bills, not have it spread out over the full year.

I will close with some good news that after two years, the council’s offices have reopened to the public, so local residents can speak to council staff face to face once more.