THE Scottish National Party has told the Government that it could

support single-tier local authorities, but only if they were working

alongside an independent Scottish government and were elected by

proportional representation.

Current Tory moves towards the creation of unitary authorities, claims

the SNP, would weaken the democratic effectiveness of local government

and could seriously threaten the quality of services provided.

The party's vice-convener of local government, Mr George Leslie, said

in Glasgow yesterday that the Government's proposed restructuring was

not for the benefit of the Scottish people, but for the benefit of a

Tory Party which had failed to take control of local government through

the ballot box and now intended to hamstring it instead.

Mr Leslie, who was launching the SNP's response to the Government's

consultation document on reorganisation, said the structure of local

government should be monitored by an independent boundaries commission.

This would examine all proposals for local government boundary

changes, and seek to ensure that any change of structure or size had the

approval of the communities affected -- by the use of local ballots if

necessary.

The SNP rejects the Government's approach to council reform, but it

does put forward some comments on the question of joint arrangements

under a one-tier system.

The response says the party does not consider that the widespread use

of joint arrangements would be necessary in a properly organised system

of unitary councils. The decision as to whether joint arrangements were

necessary in a particular service area should only be taken by councils

themselves.

''We do not believe,'' says the response, ''that prejudiced opposition

to joint arrangements should be used as a basis for advocating the

establishment of unnecessarily large single-tier units.''

Councillor Kathleen McAlorum, secretary of the SNP group on Motherwell

District Council, said the party did not intend to get involved in

discussions on local boundaries, as this was a matter for local

communities. It was more important to challenge the Government on the

fundamental dangers of its reforms: the loss of democratic effectiveness

and control of vital services, and the unnecessary cost.

The SNP's response claims that the cost of the proposed reorganisation

would be unacceptably high at a time of recession and cutbacks. ''If the

Government can find money for this inadequately thought out

reorganisation of local government, then we believe all this money from

Scottish taxpayers would be better spent on improving the quality of

many of our local services,'' it states.

It also calls on the Government to extend its consultation to include

all aspects of Scotland's government, both central and local, and the

relationship of each tier of that government to the European Community.