Rebuilding democracy from the ground up
Our councils need real powers to build local communities where everyone can thrive.
Rebuilding local services can be the front line in restoring public trust and bringing hope back to our communities.
Scotland has one of the most centralised democracies in Europe. The Scottish Greens will support reform of local government so that decisions are made as close as possible to the people they serve.
Green MSPs have led progress on empowering councils to raise more money locally, creating visitor levy powers and raising council tax on homes that are left empty during a housing crisis. But we can and must go further.
We believe that councils should be able to raise at least half of their total funding needs locally without increasing regional inequalities. The best way to do this is to increase their general revenue-raising powers, because what works in one area will not necessarily work in another.
We believe councils shouldn’t just deliver services: they should also direct how local economies work. The Scottish Greens will champion a major expansion in municipal ownership, in areas such as green energy, housing and transport, giving local communities a direct stake in a just transition.
And councils must be led by councillors who people can relate to and trust. We will continue to break down barriers to elected office, and properly support councillors to represent their local areas through better pay and conditions.
- Empower councils to raise at least half of their total funding needs locally where that is possible, primarily through replacing the Council Tax and rolling out the proposals laid out in the Scotland’s Finances chapter.
- Continue to develop a fiscal framework between local and national government so there is multi-year funding certainty. This will include rules around the share of total national funding which is provided to local government and its interaction with local revenue raising.
- Reaffirm the Verity House Agreement and its core principle of ‘local by default, national by agreement’. We will begin a wide-ranging policy review to give real meaning to that, including looking at reducing directed spend, updating statutory duties, devolving additional powers to local councils, reviewing the role of the Scottish Reporter and relevant NDPBs, and ending unnecessary Ministerial vetoes over local decisions.
- Support the emergence of new local governance models, including island authorities and city region structures. Any new structures must have local consent and be democratically accountable.
- Reduce barriers to elected office, implementing all recommendations from the Scottish Local Authority Remuneration Committee in full and working towards remuneration that allows all councillors to do the role full-time.
- Reform the way vacancies in local council elections are filled, to protect representative multi-party nature of wards and reduce the cost of the increasing number of by elections in councils.
- Update licensing legislation so that broader issues can be considered when making local decisions, including public health, workers’ rights and environmental standards.
- Reform the legal basis for councils to implement ethical procurement, boycott and divestment measures.
- Reform traffic management law to give councils the power to enforce local traffic contraventions, such as car-free streets around schools and speeding in 20mph zones, and allow councils to reinvest revenue in local priorities.
- Strengthen grassroots democracy, supporting new forms of citizen participation and decision making, including giving the power for communities to decide how money is spent in their area through more participatory budgeting.
- Produce new standards for community engagement across public bodies so that more people have their voices heard.
- Complete the Local Governance Review and Democracy Matters process, culminating in primary legislation to embed local democracy by default.
