CAMPAIGNERS led by local trade unionists and the Scottish TUC demanded an end yesterday to council tax freezes in Scotland as budget cuts hit jobs, services and communities.

Councils across Scotland have been lobbied on the subject over the last week as they met to set their budgets.

Edinburgh TUC secretary Des Loughney told the Morning Star that the £22 million cuts package forced on the city “will damage services and worsen poverty and inequality.”

Mr Loughney said Holyrood should “unfreeze the council tax and give local authorities the power to implement a visitor levy, a car parking levy and a supermarket levy.”

He argued if these powers had been available “the cuts would not be necessary, the people of Edinburgh would have been defended from austerity and poverty and inequality would have been reduced.”

STUC deputy general secretary Dave Moxham said: “There is almost a conspiracy of silence about the absolute impact that these cuts are having on individuals.

“We need to see the council tax increased and we need to start a proper debate about how we fund local government.”

Unison Scotland said the council tax freeze has now cost £2.5 billion since the SNP government introduced it in 2007.

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