SNP ministers face accusations of hypocrisy for demanding respect from Westminster on financial matters while hitting Scots councils with "draconian" diktats and cash punishments.
On the eve of the deadline for councils to accept or reject the controversial all-or-nothing package of demands set out by John Swinney, the country's most senior local government politician accused the finance secretary of a divide-and-conquer strategy with local authorities.
David O'Neill, president of local government umbrella body Cosla, said the raft of cuts facing authorities was something the organisation was "unwilling to inflict on our communities but that from tomorrow will be forced upon individual councils".
Following a call to local authority chief executives almost a fortnight ago, Mr Swinney said failure to agree to both a council tax and teacher numbers freeze as well as new social care plans would see a council's share of the combined cash to deliver the Government policies axed.
In all, £408million has been set aside to pay for maintaining the freeze, the health and social care integration and retaining teacher pupil ratios. Failure to meet any part of the deal would cost a council tens of millions of pounds.
Ahead of the February 9 deadline, Mr O'Neill said the financial settlement offered to councils "remains as unfair and undeliverable today as it did when it was first announced in December ".
He said: “All we are expecting for Local Government is the same level of respect that the Scottish Government demand from Westminster in areas such as discussions on the Fiscal Framework where they would rightly find it unacceptable if Westminster was to impose a deal with sanctions and cut across the collective democratic view of the Scottish Cabinet.
“It is hypocritical for them to demand that, as they hold the power, everyone else has to accept it or be punished in the most draconian of fashions."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We have been committed to ensuring a positive, collaborative relationship with Cosla and have engaged in open discussions on what is a challenging but fair settlement for local government.
“We recognise the pressures on budgets across the whole of the public sector, and in households throughout Scotland, which is why it is important to maintain the Council Tax freeze while we consider ways to replace it - as well as reimbursing local authorities to ensure they can continue to provide essential services.”
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