EXPOSED: South Lanarkshire’s missing millions

Labour have warned that South Lanarkshire has been “ripped off” as the Scottish Government’s funding deal for councils unravels.

South Lanarkshire Council HQ

Estimates suggest South Lanarkshire Council will be under-funded by £53 million in the coming financial year.

Analysis of the SNP Budget found that it falls massively short of what council leaders said represents a fair settlement. 

Estimates suggest South Lanarkshire Council will be under-funded by £53 million in the coming financial year. 

Local government umbrella body COSLA campaigned for £697 million of additional funding in council revenue budgets.

the Scottish Parliament Information Centre revealed that since 2013 the SNP Scottish Government has subjected Scotland’s councils to core revenue funding cuts of £937.3 million in real terms.

Only £335 million has been provided, less than half of what is needed and South Lanarkshire’s share of the £362 million shortfall is estimated to be over £20 million.

The area’s estimated share of shortfalls in capital funding and one-off Covid funds indicate that South Lanarkshire is being under-funded by more than £53 million in 2021/22.

Local Labour councillors, campaigning for fair funding for the area, are demanding that the SNP release £53 million to South Lanarkshire Council this year.

While Council Leaders from other parts of Scotland have been pressing Ministers on funding, the SNP here have been silent. They have a responsibility to shield communities from austerity but they’d rather shield Nicola Sturgeon from the blame.

Cllr Joe Fagan

Last week independent researchers at the Scottish Parliament Information Centre revealed that since 2013 the SNP Scottish Government has subjected Scotland’s councils to core revenue funding cuts of £937.3 million in real terms.

Many councils are still forecasting years of austerity ahead and in South Lanarkshire officials have projected five years of pain to close an £83 million gap from next year onwards.

 

Councillor Joe Fagan

Councillor Joe Fagan: “We won’t stay silent when our communities are being ripped off and left behind.”

Leader of South Lanarkshire’s Labour Opposition, Councillor Joe Fagan said:

This Budget has completely unravelled. It doesn’t meet the needs of our residents. It doesn’t even come close.

Based on South Lanarkshire’s approximate share of the Scotland-wide shortfall, we estimate the Council needs another £53 million before this settlement could be considered a fair one.

While Council Leaders from other parts of Scotland have been pressing Ministers on funding, the SNP here have been silent. They have a responsibility to shield communities from austerity but they’d rather shield Nicola Sturgeon from the blame. If they won’t stand up for local people now, they never will.

With an absence of political leadership at the SNP Council, it falls to Labour to expose the scandal of South Lanarkshire’s missing millions. We won’t stay silent when our communities are being ripped off and left behind.  

The Council has been consulting on appalling cuts to Breakfast Clubs, Holiday Lunch Clubs, the early years, schools and frontline jobs. Even if they stop the worst of those cuts this year, South Lanarkshire faces an £83 million spending gap in the years to come. That is simply not sustainable. Something has to change. 

Labour are calling on the SNP Government to pay up, give our communities a fair deal and release South Lanarkshire’s missing millions. We can put that money to work locally – protecting services, securing jobs and rebuilding from Covid.

With a fairer Budget, we can get the Council staffing up again, investing again and changing people’s lives for the better.

That’s Labour’s vision for the future. That’s why we’re fighting to get a fair deal for South Lanarkshire.

 

10th February 2021

Posted by HLSLabour

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