Borders council to spend £35,000 of Covid cash on coronation parties

Councillors approved £500 payments for a series of coronation parties

Scottish Borders Council has said it will spend nearly £35,000 of Covid recovery funds on parties for the coronation of King Charles.

Councillors approved £500 payments for a series of coronation events at 69 community councils in the region.

But opponents branded the move "tone deaf" during a cost of living crisis.

Scottish Borders Council was given £1.72m from the Scottish government's £80m Covid recovery fund in February last year.

Local authorities are able to use the cash to support businesses, community groups and low income households.

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Councillors also approved an extra staff holiday on Monday 8 May to mark the coronation.

Independent councillor Robin Tatler said he supported the holiday, but not the funding for the celebrations.

He said: "People are struggling to heat and to eat and next week we are going to consider putting up the council tax.

"The last coronation we had was in 1953. I don't think people then would have expected to get a handout for these events."

Mr Tatler said he understood communities wanting to celebrate, but said financing them was the "wrong thing at the wrong time".

The coronation weekend in May will include concerts and public celebrations for King Charles

SNP councillor Fay Sinclair also said she was not opposed to celebrations, but described financial support as "tone deaf".

"This is not an appropriate use of public funds," she added.

"Let's be clear what it is - it is a party fund at taxpayers' expense.

"I find it particularly difficult to justify when people are struggling to do the very basics of heating their homes and putting enough food on the table."

Scotland's councils are facing a £700m funding gap as they set their budgets for the coming year.

'Moment in history'

The move led to a lengthy debate at a meeting of Scottish Borders Council.

Two amendments were proposed by Mr Tatler and Ms Sinclair to drop the financial commitment from the council, but they were both voted down.

Conservative councillor Scott Hamilton said there was a "well established" history in the Borders of providing funding to celebrate royal events.

"This event has been 70 years in the making, this will be a moment in our history," he said.

"Like it or not, the king is our king - he represents us, he embodies us, he leads us."

He added that it was an ideal use of the council's Covid recovery funding.