UNION representatives are to mount a protest over cuts to jobs and services in Glasgow - as fears mount over huge council tax rises to fill Scotland's funding black hole.
The union Unite say the demonstration raises concerns over cuts of around £500m over the past decade that have meant job losses and service cuts while there are fears more are on the cards due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has asked to remove the cap for the rate of council tax which councils can set - which currently sits at three percent.
It said £500m of additional funding would be needed to help fund Scottish councils as authorities warn they face “devastating” financial black holes.
In February, all four parties in the Glasgow city chambers said they were unnhappy at having to make cuts to the tune of £50m in that year’s budget.
All said that the city should get a better deal from the Scottish Government Budget.
Susan Aitken, council leader said the Scottish funding process was “perverse” and that relatively better of council areas like Aberdeen and Edinburgh, benefitted more than Glasgow.
Unite say today's protest – which will be socially distanced – is aimed at "highlighting the financial crisis facing key services provided by local government."
Ahead of the protest, Unite’s Wendy Dunsmore said: "The people of Glasgow, the services which they rely on and the workers who provide them are not to blame for this crisis but it is they who have borne the brunt of these industrial scale cutbacks.
“Local authorities also face a £739m funding shortfall due to COVID-19 with an expectation of it being closer to £1bn by the end of the year.
"What is required now is a fair funding model for local government, and in particular for those areas facing greater economic, transport and health challenges such as Glasgow.
"The position whereby tens of millions of cuts to vital services are made every year is unsustainable, unfair and unacceptable, and it just piles pressures on to a workforce already stretched bare thin.”
The protest in front of Glasgow City Chambers starts at 1pm.
A Blueprint for Local Government document earlier this month by COSLA warned that without "proper resourcing" cuts to council services are inevitable, risking the country's recovery from the virus.
A previous COSLA paper which emerged in July said: “Given the initial forecasts from local authorities it would require a council tax increase in 2021/22 in excess of 50 percent.”
Morag Johnston, Glasgow City Council's director of financial services said: “The council’s response to Covid-19 has incurred additional costs. Also, there have been a number of areas suffering from reduced income resulting from lockdown restrictions.”
“The council continues to engage with COSLA in lobbying the Scottish and UK Governments for additional funding to meet the full financial implications of Covid19. In the interim, net costs are being underpinned by reserves.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel