JOHN Swinney has hinted at the “abolition” of council tax – and said that the Deputy First Minister has already started work on reforming the system.
The SNP leader’s comments – in which he also indicated support for cuts to the size of the civil service and said he will “consider” a four-day week for government workers – came in response to Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay at the first First Minister’s Questions of the new Scottish parliament.
Initially, Mackay said that “public sector reform is badly needed, but trade unions in particular are rightly concerned that reform is usually a euphemism for slashing budgets and cutting jobs”.
Swinney said: “Whilst I totally respect and understand trade union concern, we've also got to be open to new ways of delivering public services.
“I've seen fantastic work being delivered which has cost less but delivered better outcomes for individuals and that's at the heart of the work that [new Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform] Ivan McKee is bringing forward.”
Mackay then argued that a “pioneering trial of a four-day working week in the public sector resulted in a 25% drop in mental health sick days and no loss of service delivery or productivity”.
“Whilst our finances remain stretched, rolling out a four-day week would help transform public sector work at no extra cost to the public purse,” she went on.
“So will the First Minister commit to expanding the four-day week in the public sector?”
Swinney said that he was “certainly very happy to consider these issues”, but added that it was “bit early in the parliamentary session for me to be giving commitments quite as firm as Gillian Mackay is inviting from me”.
“But I do think there is a deadly serious point at the heart of her question, which is the environment in which public servants are working really matters,” he went on.
The Scottish Green co-leader then called for reform of council tax, which was a core pillar of her party’s election manifesto.
The SNP have been pledging council tax reform in some form or other since before first taking power in 2007. Their 2026 manifesto said the party would “set a high priority for the next parliament of seeking early cross-party agreement on reform [of council tax]”.
Mackay said: “For too long, the claim that we need consensus to replace the council tax has been used as an excuse not to take action.
“If the First Minister actually wants to scrap the council tax to fund public services, the Scottish Greens will work with them. That would be a parliamentary majority for change.
“So will the First Minister work with us to scrap council tax in this parliament?”
Swinney responded: “I want this to be a bold parliament so there's got to be reform in this parliament. We simply can't go on as we're going on just now.
“There are legitimate issues about the council tax and its fairness, and these are issues with which I have a great deal of sympathy.
“The Deputy First Minister [Jenny Gilruth] is meeting with the local authority leaders later on today to start with the dialogue and the constructive dialogue I want to see in place, and the government will be of course willing to engage with the Scottish Green Party on all issues including reform and abolition, potential abolition, of the council tax.
“But we have to put in place reliable means that will support the public finances and the delivery of public services, and that will be the key consideration that's brought to those discussions by the Scottish Government.”
Elsewhere at First Minister’s Questions, Reform UK’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord asked about energy policy, urging the SNP Government to “state categorically” that it supports new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
Swinney said: “The Scottish Government's position is that if new developments are to be taken forward, they have to pass a climate compatibility assessment to ensure that the extraction of those resources is compatible with our journey to net zero.”
He added that the “much more volatile circumstances that we now face as a consequence of what has happened in the Middle East in recent weeks and months” must also be taken into account.
“So that is the position of the Scottish Government and obviously the decision making on this question is a matter for the United Kingdom Government,” Swinney said.
Offord then – wrongly – claimed that “the licensing and planning [for new oil and gas fields] is in the control of the Scottish Government” and asked the First Minister to approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields.
Swinney said the “Scottish Government is going to act with all intervention we can to make sure we secure the future of those individuals affected by the downturn in oil and gas”.
Offord then said: “During the election the First Minister said if a Section 30 notice was rejected he had a cunning plan to get a referendum.
“The debate was on Tuesday, it was rejected on Wednesday, this is Thursday.
“Is this now the time for the First Minister to reveal his cunning plan? Or has Peter Murrell [the former SNP chief executive who has admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over 12 years] stolen that as well?”
Swinney said Offord’s question “gets to the heart of our democratic politics”.
“I am not going to just kowtow to 10 Downing Street," he added.
“The people of Scotland have decided that this Parliament has got an independence majority, and I am going to use that independence majority to deliver independence for our country.”
