Pressure mounts on Kate Forbes to hand over £155m of council cash

The Scottish Government is facing fresh calls to hand over £155 million of funding earmarked for cash-strapped councils battling to maintain frontline services as the impact of coronavirus takes its toll.

Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Kate Forbes MSP

Many councils around Scotland have warned that they are facing cash shortfalls, with Edinburgh looking at a blackhole of about £50m by the end of June.

The UK government made £1.6 billion of funding available to councils in England a month ago and Scotland’s share of this amounted to £155m in so called “Barnett consequentials” which finance secretary Kate Forbes has pledged to pass on to town halls.

The SNP minister insisted she had been waiting on a costing exercise from local government body Cosla on the costs which have faced councils as a result of the pandemic. A statement was issued a fortnight ago placing the impact at £250m, but there is still no word from ministers about now handing over the cash.

Labour local government spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said: “The tremendous efforts made by local authorities and their staff across Scotland to keep services going during the pandemic cannot be commended enough.

“A month has gone by since this emergency money was announced by the UK government for English councils. The Scottish Government’s condescending attitude to councils and lack of action is unacceptable.

“Councils should never have been forced to ask for this money. It is time for the finance secretary to do right by the councils that have kept Scotland moving during the most acute national crisis in living memory.”

In a statement issued earlier this month, Cosla said that some of the £250m costs facing councils may be considered a “one-off”.

But it added: “Some of the financial implications will have far reaching and have recurring consequences for councils.

“Ongoing review and joint consideration between councils and the Scottish Government of the cost implications of both the emergency response period and the subsequent period of economic and social recovery will be necessary.”

It emerged last month that City of Edinburgh council is facing the prospect of a black hole of more than £50m if the city is faced with a total of three months of lockdown, followed by another three months of slowly reduced lockdown measures, and no action is taken.