New analysis has suggested SNP ministers have cut Scottish councils’ core funding by almost £8 billion.

Local authorities have had their core funding cut by almost £8 billion over the last 12 years as council tax is poised to soar across Scotland, new analysis has warned.

The research from Scottish Labour has found that the Scottish Government has cut a cumulative total of £7.8bn from core council budgets between 2013-14 and 2025-26 - including £1.5bn for Glasgow City Council alone.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison and John Swinney (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

The data emerged as several local authorities across Scotland have confirmed council tax will go up by more than 10 per cent next year after SNP ministers gave the green light for increased hikes to the charge.

The Scottish Government has pointed to the overall funding for local governments having increased by £5bn over the same 12-year period. But Scottish councils have long-warned that core budgets are being cut with funding available for Scottish Government priorities such as ramping up the provision of free childcare.

According to the IFS, local authorities in Scotland would need to hike council tax bills by almost a fifth if they are to keep pace with increases to local government funding in England.

The IFS research found “core spending power” for local government and schools in England is set to increase by 7.4 per cent in real-terms between 2023-24 and 2025-26, warning that “to match this, Scottish councils would need to increase their council tax by an average of 18-19 per cent”.

The new analysis shows that as well as the £1.5bn of core funding cut in Glasgow, Edinburgh City Councils has faced a total cut of £661m, North Lanarkshire has lost £613m, the Highlands have lost £443m and Argyll and Bute has seen a cut of £377m.

Scottish Labour local government spokesperson, Mark Griffin, said “Across Scotland struggling families are about to be hit with a tax bombshell as a result of the austerity the SNP has inflicted on councils.

“The SNP government has short-changed councils year after year, raiding an eye-watering £7.8 billion from local government coffers in total.

“These brutal cuts have pushed councils to breaking point and forced them to make impossible choices to protect lifeline services.

“The Labour UK government decisively ended the era of Tory austerity, but Scots are still being forced to pay the price for SNP failure.

“A Scottish Labour government will put an end to SNP mismanagement and cuts and deliver fair funding for local government so working people don’t have to plug the gaps of government cuts.”

SNP Finance Secretary Shona Robison has previously insisted that there should be no “inflation-busting” rises to council tax this year, has also handed over extra cash, equivalent to a 5 per cent rise to council tax, to partly mitigate the UK government’s hike to national insurance employer contributions, which Labour ministers haven’t fully funding for Scotland’s public sector.

Ms Robison said: “The total local government finance settlement has increased by £5 billion or 49.9 per cent between 2013-14 and 2025-26.

“The Scottish Government’s settlements from the UK government have suffered a decade of austerity with average real terms cuts of over 5 per cent, equating to a loss of £18bn.”

SNP Finance Secretary Shona Robison Picture: Robert Perry/PA Wire

She added: “We recognise the crucial role councils and their employees play in communities across Scotland. That’s why the Scottish Government has made available over £14bn to local councils this year, with a record £15 billion for 2025-26 set out in the Scottish Budget, a real terms increase of 5.5 per cent.

“We do know that most local authorities have had to account for the planned hike in employer national insurance contributions in council tax rises and the UK government is entirely responsible for this.

“The Scottish Government is committing an additional £144 million towards the cost of the employer National Insurance contributions, the equivalent of a 5 per cent council tax rise.”

SNP accused of 'raiding' £8bn from councils' core funding as tax poised to rise

Comments