MINISTERS have been warned they run the risk of much-needed cash-saving plans across local government being strangled at birth unless they take the lead and fund the moves.

The Labour leader of North Ayrshire Council and his SNP opponent have jointly appealed to the Scottish Government to issue a road map of where the public sector must change.

David O'Neill, who heads the administration, and political rival, SNP leader Matthew Brown, said the Government needed to either coerce the public sector into change or provide incentives for reform.

Last month, local government minister Derek Mackay said reform of local government, including councils working jointly with the health service and frontline services such as education being delivered across boundaries, would accelerate after May's municipal elections.

However, he avoided addressing what the Scottish Government could do to force this through.

While there have been some successes in joint working, high-profile schemes have collapsed, including plans by eight Clyde Valley councils to merge services and the failure of Glasgow City Council and the Greater Glasgow Health Board to launch a new social care body.

Mr Brown said: "If we wait for things to happen organically we'll be dead. The Scottish Government needs to publish a set of principles in terms of how and where reform should take place. They will have to be in contact with local government to see progress one way or another.

"But there needs to be incentives. Shared services cost money and the Government should be frontloading some of that. But what do we offer citizens when there's no money, and there is no money and won't be any money. Post-election there needs to be a strong view that things need to happen. But there also needs to be rewards."

Mr O'Neill said: "I'll not be surprised if after May's election there will be no more 'softly softly'. Any change is going to require courage to deliver because people will have things taken away from them."

Despite the reluctance of local and central government to discuss a total reorganisation, there has been talk about bringing the three Ayrshire councils together. They collectively receive £100 more per resident each year from the public purse than South Lanarkshire, an area of similar population and size.

Mr O'Neill said: "We've been working on a joint waste disposal system for the past 10 years but the Scottish Government and the previous administrations have been messing us about.

"We need clarity on how things like waste disposal will work across borders."