Greene: Councils need sustainable finances and control over local priorities

Scottish Liberal Democrat finance spokesperson Jamie Greene has today said that councils need sustainable finances and to be handed back control over how their budgets are spent.

His comments come as an embargoed report from Audit Scotland Local Government in Scotland Financial Bulletin 2024/25, warns:

• The cost of delivering council services is rising faster than available funding,
• Across all 32 of Scotland’s councils the forecast budget gaps for 2025/26 is £647m.
• Councils are having to draw down their reserves to fill budget gaps.
• Councils now get less say on how money is spent with 24% of Scottish Government revenue funding ring-fenced or directed towards national policy commitments in 2024/25, up from 21 per cent in 2023/24.

Jamie Greene said:

“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 while an increasing proportion of spending decisions are dictated by ministers half a country away. As a result, we have ended up with school strikes, bin strikes and shortages of elderly care packages.

“The Scottish Government must act now to put local authority finances on a sustainable basis.

"We need real reform to push powers over both revenue raising and spending out to communities and help them to provide the reliable local services that people are crying out for."