Left Field: Westminster and Holyrood still hold too much power
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By Councillor Ben Williams
I was four years old when the Scottish National Party came to power in 2007.
The manifesto from that election is still online, so I recently had a read through it. It mentions the issues that come along with the centralisation of power when it comes to energy and healthcare. That was the correct analysis, not just for energy and healthcare, but for many other aspects of decision-making.
Sixteen years later, however, too much power is still centralised, meaning that Holyrood and Westminster still hold too much power over the decision-making process, and it is harming communities such as ours.
I am a strong believer in letting communities decide how their money is spent. After all, somebody in Fochabers will have a better understanding of their community’s needs than somebody in Holyrood, and somebody in Garmouth will have a better understanding of how money should be spent in their community than somebody in Westminster. This, I believe, should not be a controversial opinion.
It was with this in mind that the Labour Group on Moray Council proposed that £15,000 should be given to each ward, so that the community would be able to decide how it is spent, as opposed to pitting communities against each other for funding, such as the UK Government has done with their ‘Levelling Up’ scheme. I am grateful that this proposal was agreed in Moray Council’s budget for this year. On that note, if you have any ideas for how you would like £15,000 to be spent in Fochabers Lhanbryde, let me know!
Unfortunately, the Scottish Government does not seem to agree with this notion of giving power to communities, and it is often rural communities such as ours that pay the price.
The Bottle Return Deposit Scheme has been delayed again, which came as a pleasant surprise to some members of the community, who had been (and still are) worried that, while a fundamentally good idea in principle, the current proposal might disproportionately affect community groups.
Five of the largest supermarkets in Scotland raised their concerns, as did many communities throughout the country; it took an entirely new First Minister for these concerns to finally be heard, because of the Scottish Government’s agenda of centralising the decision-making process.
A new First Minister, however, does not mean that this era of centralisation is going to end. After all, who would expect the ‘continuity candidate’ to drive any real change?
The new First Minister has also put the brakes on the National Care Service Bill, and the Scottish Government’s proposed alcohol advertising ban; but what he should do is scrap these plans entirely.
If he listened to our fishing communities, he would do the same with Highly Protected Marine Areas. Some of these ideas have their merits, but the Scottish Government’s centralisation of the decision-making process means that the concerns of communities like ours get ignored.
Rural areas, such as ours here in Moray, have different priorities and circumstances than those in Glasgow or Edinburgh, for example.
A redistribution of power, away from central governments in Holyrood and Westminster, is the only way to ensure that our voices are heard, and that communities can thrive.
