The beginning of the end for Local Democracy

The problems with the CoSLA Scottish Government concordat go from bad to worse.

The CoSLA team that went to the Parliaments Education and lifelong learning committee on 5th December to talk about the class sizes policy. (you can read the minute here) Everyone knows there's no cash to deliver it but the CoSLA paper which you can read here somewhat bizarrely say that the agreement was based on "costed understandings". Yet despite heavy pressure form the committee members, the CoSLA team could not, (or would not), give figures.

Edinburgh knows what it would cost (around £40m), Glasgow knows, most other councils know, but CoSLA wouldn't give those figures.

Why not, well because the defence of the Concordat has become all important. More important than the needs, it would appear, of the Councils CoSLA is supposed to represent.

I predict that when this promise is not kept, (and it won't be), it will be Local Government that gets the blame and it will be the Scottish Government that will be doing to finger pointing. And hiding figures to defend and agreement that is a disaster from day one will have done us no favours