Glasgow Labour will not present budget proposals to plug a gap of just over £60m, as the party pledges to “stand up for the people of this city”.
George Redmond, the Labour group leader, said the council’s funding shortfall is a “slap in the face to every single person that lives in this city”.
He claimed his group will stand up to the SNP in Glasgow and Holyrood and won’t take part in the “sham of setting a budget” which cuts services.
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City treasurer Ricky Bell, SNP, said the “severity of our situation needs a serious response” and the consequences of not setting a budget would be “dire”.
He added: “While the SNP continues to fight for every pound and the powers to better deliver for citizens, Glasgow Labour just follows their leaders’ instruction to carp from the sidelines.”
It is understood Labour voted on whether to not present a budget for the first time at a group meeting this week. The decision could mean the SNP will be able to pass its budget without a deal with the Greens, which has been needed in recent years.
Glasgow City Council is facing a £61m budget shortfall, while the funding gap for health and social care services is expected to be around £40m.
Cllr Redmond said his group had taken a “monumental decision” which had been made because Glasgow is “a complete mess, to say it is in crisis, I think would be a compliment”.
The city needs more teachers and social workers, not cuts to services, he said.
“Nobody has been under any illusion about the scale of the challenges for this city,” Cllr Redmond added. “The city centre is an absolute eyesore, it needs investment and it needs it now — and yet all we’re seeing is cut after cut.
“In the last 15 years, over £400m of cuts to Glasgow. 8,000 staff have left this city council and the services we deliver for people.
“We have an administration here that will not stand up for Glasgow. Glasgow Labour will stand up for people of this city. Enough is enough.”
Cllr Bell, who will put forward a budget on Thursday [February 16], said Labour’s response has “zero credibility”.
“The UK’s inflation crisis has been devastating for public finances. Councils are caught up in that. But Glaswegians require us to continue to deliver vital services.
“We can’t just walk away from setting a budget to make a political point. The severity of our situation needs a serious response, however difficult that is.”
The city treasurer added: “As Labour knows only too well, refusing to set a budget means civil servants will set it for you and their priorities are balancing the books, not the well-being of staff and communities.
“The consequences of this level of recklessness in Glasgow would be dire.”
Cllr Redmond said Labour’s “first responsibility is to the people who elect us”. “If we can’t stand up for them then we shouldn’t be here.
“We have asked the people of this city, we have asked our families, we’ve asked our neighbours and friends, we’ve asked the community organisations, ‘what do you want from us? What do you think we should do to represent you?’
“They are saying don’t participate in the budget. Stand up to the SNP in Glasgow and stand up to the SNP in Holyrood. It’s their mess, let them fix it.”
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