Accounts Commission report shows councils face "titanic gulf"

Responding to the embargoed Accounts Commission report into Scotland’s council finances, which warns that despite the average council tax rising by 9.6%, local government continues to face recurring pressures in excess of funding uplifts, with councils identifying a difference of £647 million between anticipated expenditure and the funding and income they receive, Scottish Liberal Democrat finance spokesperson Jamie Greene said:

“Local authorities have had a raw deal from the SNP over many years and that has had a knock-on impact on the provision of vital local functions.

“This report shows there is a titanic gulf between what the SNP have provided and what councils say they actually need to maintain basic local functions.

"The SNP have demanded councils do more with less. As a result, we have ended up with school strikes, bin strikes and shortages of elderly care packages.

“All the while people are seeing their council taxes rocket as councils desperately try to fill black holes in their finances.

"Local government deserves long-term central government funding deals which adequately meet its needs and provide locally delivered public services. That is what people rightly expect.”