Scottish Labour leader accuses SNP of quadrupling Westminster austerity

The Scottish Government has “quadrupled Tory austerity” for local government, the Scottish Labour leader has said.

Richard Leonard raised the issue of council funding across Scotland at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood.

He pointed to a report by public finance watchdog the Accounts Commission that indicates council funding fell at four times the rate of the cut to the block grant given by the UK Government to the Scottish Government.

Mr Leonard said: “This time last week, the First Minister stood up in this chamber and claimed that she had given a very fair settlement to local government.

“Today, the Accounts Commission reports that funding for councils was cut in real terms by £220 million pounds in the past year.

“They also say that ‘funding for local government from the Scottish Government decreased at a faster rate 6.92% than the Scottish Government revenue budget at 1.65%’.

“That’s taking Tory austerity and quadrupling it. First Minister, what’s fair about that?”

He also raised concerns about letters from schools in Falkirk sent to parents warning of cuts and gave the example of a parent of a 10-year-old pupil, Lewis Sneddon, with a learning disability and epilepsy who is concerned about any impact to his additional support needs help.

Mr Leonard said: “It has reached a point where head teachers in schools across Falkirk are writing to parents to tell them that this so-called fair settlement means swingeing cuts.

“The result is that vulnerable children like Lewis and families like the Sneddons face the stress of cuts to the services and the support that they need.”

He added: “When will you stop imposing austerity on Scotland’s children and start investing instead in Scotland’s local services?

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the leader of SNP-run Falkirk Council had issued an apology for the “misleading impression” in the letters and “given assurances about education services in Falkirk”.

She added the education budget of the council had increased by £8 million in the current financial year to £158 million.

On overall local government funding, the First Minister said the Finance Secretary had increased the local authority revenue budget in real terms in 2018-19.

She said: “That is ensuring that local government can protect frontline services and, of course, he managed that against a backdrop of massive cuts to the Scottish Government budget imposed by the Tories at Westminster.”

Ms Sturgeon said Mr Leonard would have “more credibility” in raising the issue if he did not back enabling the UK Government to cut the budget of the Scottish Parliament.