THE budget proposals put forward by the Labour/Tory budget coalition represent a massive tax bombshell for residents in East Lothian – over the next three years, an increase of more than 10 per cent.

The 4.79 per cent this year alone is the highest for 16 years in council tax since 2003, when Councillors Hampshire and Innes sat in this room after the Labour-led Scottish Executive relaxed the restrictions and voted through the maximum they could – some things just never change!

And if you are a council tenant then with the rent increases approved you will be hammered by a 25 per cent total hike. This budget is the very definition of the phrase 'tax bombshell'.

Make no mistake, this represents a hammer blow to residents in East Lothian, many of whom will simply not be able to afford this tax hit. My fear

is that arrears in rent will just be made much worse, which is surely in nobody’s interest.

And in this transactional world, what will residents receive for the hundreds of pounds they will now have to pay in additional tax and rents? Charges up year after year; children’s wellbeing budgets cut by 2.5 per cent; support for business and jobs cut by 12 per cent as we hurtle towards Brexit; £1m slashed from our community and area partnerships, including cuts to funding for educational attainment.

When the leader of the Conservative Group said last year that she wanted to see Conservative values to the fore, we now know what that means in terms of cuts to services for many of the most vulnerable and over £4.5million of cuts in jobs and workers' terms and conditions.

Or to put it another way, cuts for the many and vital support for the few. That is the reality of this budget.

In December last year, I wrote to the council leader offering constructive talks including meaningful discussions on the failing coastal car parking charges and the disastrous music tuition charges.

The car parking charges that Labour said would bring in £1million a year are now bringing in £116,000 a year in net income. I understand that this is now a policy supported by the Conservative Group. Residents will rightly want to read the leaflets Conservatives put out to get elected alongside your record now safely in the Council Chamber.

Music tuition charges are a complete failure of policy, with hundreds of children having life chances ripped away from them by this council. The income from this represents 0.0007 per cent of the council budget.

Sadly, the Labour leader made it clear that he wasn’t even prepared to discuss these policies with the SNP. The tragedy is that Labour has always felt more comfortable working with the Tories in the past seven years than working with the SNP.

We were prepared to deliver a budget that would require both of us to make compromises in policy to deliver better outcomes for those we serve. Tragically, unlike Labour in Edinburgh, Fife, Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, Stirling and many other councils, it is a budget coalition with the Tories that is the preferred option for this minority administration.

The final point I want to make in the short time I have is that having gone through the budget proposals put forward today, one of the largest increases in spending is not to help the elderly, disabled, children or the vulnerable, or to help our communities tackle poverty. One of the largest increases in spending is the massive hike in interest payments for the private finance of schools signed by Labour in 2003. Our education service will have to pay an additional £710,000 on interest payments that will not produce a single new educational advantage for children in this county. That is the price being paid by education of more than £2million a year in interest alone until 2033.

The mistakes made back then are still having an impact now. The errors of judgement being made in areas like music tuition for children will also have an impact in the years ahead.

The budget put before the council is unamendable, unsupportable and indefensible. And it is for those reasons that we cannot and will not support this tax bombshell for families, alongside cuts in services for those who need our help now more than ever.