Ex-minister criticises Humza Yousaf's council tax freeze pledge

A former SNP health secretary who served in cabinet with Humza Yousaf has said that she does not agree with his plan to freeze council tax.

The first minister made the announcement during his closing speech at his party's conference in Aberdeen.

But Jeane Freeman, who stood down as an SNP MSP in 2021, said it was not handled well.

Cosla, which represents local authorities, said it had not been warned in advance about the freeze.

The Scottish government had previously proposed raising council tax rates by as much as 22.5% for homes in higher bands.

But Mr Yousaf pledged they will now remain at the current levels when councils set their budgets for 2024-25.

On Tuesday he told his party conference the proposed freeze was evidence of "the SNP delivering for people when they need it most".

But Ms Freeman, who served as health secretary during the Covid pandemic, told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show: "I don't think it was handled particularly well because after it all we've had is coverage, not about the announcement, but about people's anger and annoyance at the announcement.

"So that's never a good thing."

Ms Freeman said that she could "see the sense" in a progressive policy of freezing council tax for lower bands, but indicated that she did not personally need her bill to be frozen.

The former health secretary said there was "always a pressure" to have "important things to say" in a conference speech and that could tempt leaders to focus on announcements rather than the impact of policies.

She also described the fact that council tax had not been reformed since devolution as a "failure".

Ms Freeman urged parties had to "stop the point scoring" and have a "proper debate" about where the limited resources of the Scottish government should be targeted.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance denied Mr Yousaf's failure to consult local authorities ahead of his speech was a mistake.

Ms Constance told The Sunday Show: "The first minister has a duty to serve the people of Scotland and right now there is a cost of living crisis and his announcement will benefit 2.5m households."

The first minister later confirmed his plans would be be fully funded by the Scottish government.

However, local authority body Cosla criticised the move and said it was made without any agreement from councils.

A spokesperson for Cosla's presidential team said: "We deplore the way the announcement was made and its substance, both of which fly in the face of the Verity House Agreement which we all recently signed.

"It has been shown that previous council tax freezes have been regressive, having no impact for the poorest in society and eroding the council tax base, compounding councils' ongoing underfunding.

"We are clear that local taxation and particularly council tax should be left for democratically elected councils to determine."