Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Labour claims scrapping council tax would save people money

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale.

Scots will save more than £100 a year on average under Labour’s plans to scrap the council tax, leader Kezia Dugdale said.

The average household will be £111 a year better off, she said, adding that in Glasgow that would rise to £135.

Labour has already put forward plans to abolish the council tax and replace it with a new property tax, claiming this would see four out of five households paying less, although bills for those in the most expensive properties would rise by up to a fifth.

Ms Dugdale raised the issue as she campaigned in the city with her deputy leader Alex Rowley and Glasgow City Council leader Frank McAveety.

The Labour leader also hit out at the SNP after it went back on a previous commitment to abolish the council tax, with Nicola Sturgeon announcing higher charges are to be brought in for those in high-value properties.

The First Minister also revealed the council-tax freeze, which was brought in after the SNP came to power in 2007, will be brought to an end in April 2017, with local authorities able to increase the levy by up to 3%.

Ms Dugdale said: “Nicola Sturgeon stood on manifestos in 2007 and 2011 to scrap the council tax – now all she’ll promise to scrap is the council-tax freeze.

“People deserve bold proposals from the next Scottish Government, not broken promises. Labour’s fair plans will see 80% of households pay less. That means the average household will be better-off by £111.

“We will make good on the SNP’s broken promise to scrap the council tax and fix local government finance for good, rather than carry on the SNP’s cuts to councils.

“After a decade in office won on the promise to scrap the council tax the SNP bottled it. That’s not fair to those who should be paying less.”

SNP local government minister Marco Biagi said Labour had not mentioned its plans for a property re-evaluation, saying this meant the savings it claimed households will make are “essentially meaningless”.

Mr Biagi said: “The last time a re-evaluation was carried out in Labour-run Wales, four times as many households ended up paying more than paying less – this could just be the tip of the iceberg.

“Under Labour’s plans people in small family homes in Edinburgh Eastern could end up paying almost double what they are paying right now.

“Not for the first time in this election, Labour’s tax plans are falling apart under the slightest scrutiny – and people on modest incomes are set to bear the brunt.”