Glasgow councillors are making last-minute pleas to the Scottish Government for more money to help cover a funding gap of up to £100m.
The city’s Green group wants deputy First Minister, and acting finance secretary, John Swinney MSP to attend an emergency summit in the city chambers on Wednesday — the day before the council sets its budget for 2023/24.
It is urging the Scottish Government, which includes Green ministers, to offer more money and powers to improve the “desperate” financial position, as the council faces a £60m shortfall and health and social care services deal with an estimated £40m gap.
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Greens want Mr Swinney to witness the extent of cuts being forced on Glasgow, and Cllr Thomas Kerr, the Conservative group leader, has also called for a fairer funding settlement.
A government spokesman said ministers will respond to Glasgow councillors in “due course” — and added resources available to local government in 2023/24 are “increasing”.
City treasurer Ricky Bell, SNP, will present his budget plan on Thursday while Labour and the Conservatives have said they won’t present alternative options. Cllr George Redmond, the Labour group leader, said his party would “stand up for the people of this city”.
Glasgow Greens have said they are working hard to develop proposals that would protect services, but “cannot support a budget that would slash statutory services”.
Invites to the summit on Wednesday have been sent to all Glasgow MSPs and Cllr Martha Wardrop, a co-leader of the city’s Green group, said the council needs support “to deliver investment in local public services”.
She said Labour’s decision to “take no interest in the most important budget this city has ever seen” was “an embarrassing dereliction of duty”. Cllr Redmond said Labour had listened to the people of Glasgow who wanted the party to “stand up to the SNP” in Glasgow and Holyrood.
Cllr Jon Molyneux, Glasgow Greens co-leader, added his group had been “working hard in an impossible situation for months as we try to find a solution”.
“We cannot — and will not — support a budget which puts the city and its people at risk," he said.
“But there is only so much we can do. Without more revenue raising powers — alongside the need for council tax to be scrapped and replaced with a more progressive local property tax — local authorities are relying on the Scottish Government to do all they can. In this case, their proposals are not good enough.”
Cllr Kerr said the two Conservative councillors wouldn’t vote through a budget that damages frontline services.
“For years SNP-Green ministers have savagely slashed council budgets and passed the buck on to us to deliver the hard news to communities across Glasgow,” he added.
“We will not be proposing an alternative budget. Instead, the best course of action would be for all councillors to come together and demand a better funding deal for Glasgow to protect jobs and services.”
The spokesman for the Scottish Government said it recognises “the crucial role councils and their employees play in our communities across Scotland and the challenging financial circumstances they face”.
“Ministers have received representations on the budget settlement from local authorities, including Glasgow City Council, and will respond in due course.
“The Scottish Government’s settlements from the UK Government have suffered a decade of austerity with average real term cuts of over 5%, equating to a loss of £18 billion.
“Despite this, Scottish Ministers have listened to councils and are increasing the resources available to local government in 2023/24 by more than £570 million, a real terms increase of £160.6 million compared to the 2022-23 budget figures.”
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