Millions of pounds in additional funding for East Renfrewshire Council has been secured in the Scottish Government’s budget deal.

Council chiefs have welcomed the extra £3.1million that was negotiated by the Scottish Greens at Holyrood.

Tony Buchanan, the local authority’s leader, said: “I am very pleased that the budget will deliver an additional £3.1million for East Renfrewshire Council.

“In the face of massive Westminster cuts, the Scottish Government is using its powers progressively to invest in our schools and our hospitals.

“Our tax proposals deliver both fairness and much-needed investment.”

As well as this additional funding for East Renfrewshire, 75 per cent of government-controlled public sector workers in the area, including teachers and nurses, will now get a pay rise.

On a national level, an additional £2m will be used to make homes warmer and more energy efficient, while ‘low carbon’ funding, which will primarily target pollution levels, will be used to contribute to ‘carbon neutral’ schools and hospitals.

Ross Greer, who represents the Scottish Greens as a MSP for the West of Scotland, said: “This budget deal is a big win for East Renfrewshire.

“Most importantly, this means proposed cuts and job losses in East Renfrewshire, including to headteachers’ budgets, to pupil support assistants and to educational psychologists in our schools, can be ditched.

“For two years in a row, the Greens have taken over £3million of proposed cuts to our local services off the table.

“On top of that, this year, we have secured a better pay settlement for hard-pressed public sector workers and the opportunity to radically improve local public transport.”

Additionally, the Scottish Government say tax proposals that will bring in increases across Scotland will also mean greater levels of funding for councils.

Councillor Buchanan added: “The draft budget shows that, where Scotland has the power, the SNP will take a different, fairer approach and give Scots the best deal in the UK.”

The increase in funding as a result of the deal struck between the SNP and Greens was also welcomed by COSLA as good news for local government.

Gail McGregor, resources spokesperson for the local government umbrella group, said: “The reality of the situation is that the deal agreed puts local government in a better situation than in December and credit to the Scottish Greens for listening to, and acting upon, the case put forward by COSLA.

“There remain serious financial challenges ahead in several areas, an obvious one being public sector pay. Scottish Local Government should not remain the poor relation of the public sector.

“COSLA made no secret of the fact that our original allocation from the Scottish Government fell some way short of where local government as a sector ought to be and I am pleased that this has been recognised and acted upon.”