Local Government Finance

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:05 pm on 22 November 2000.

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Photo of Keith Harding Keith Harding Conservative 3:05, 22 November 2000

I am intrigued, as always, by the Executive's choice of topic for debate and by the length of the debate. The motion says very little and consists of the Executive welcoming its own decision to move to three-year budgeting. It is not even as if we have had a major ministerial announcement, given that the recent discussions with COSLA have been widely publicised. Why, therefore, are we having a two-and-a-half-hour debate? Despite my concern about some aspects of three-year budgeting as proposed by the Executive, I do not see how we will fill the time. Even the minister and Mr Gibson did not use their allotted time. The only logical conclusion is that the Executive wants to have a much wider debate on council finance, but is reluctant to say so.