CUTS to East Renfrewshire Council’s budget have put lifeline services at risk, it is claimed.
New figures from the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre show that, between 2013/14 and 2018/19, the local authority’s budget was slashed by £188 per person in real terms.
West Scotland MSP Neil Bibby has expressed his concern over the cuts and called on the Scottish Government to invest in local services.
The Labour man told the Barrhead News: “Year after year, the SNP have hammered East Renfrewshire Council with cuts – and cuts to councils are cuts to communities.
“More than £800million has been stripped from council budgets in Scotland in real terms in recent years and lifeline local services are at risk.
“Instead of using the powers of Scotland’s parliament to stand up to the Tories, the SNP government have acted as a conveyor belt for cuts, imposing excessive austerity onto council services and local communities.
“It’s time for the SNP to stop the council cuts and start investing properly in local services again.”
In response, the Scottish Government said East Renfrewshire Council will receive £194m to fund local services in 2019/20.
It also pointed out that, taken together with the local authority’s decision to increase council tax by three per cent, there will be an extra £8m to support services in East Renfrewshire, compared to the previous year.
A spokesperson told the Barrhead News: “We continue to ensure that our partners in local government receive a fair funding settlement, despite further cuts to the Scottish budget from the UK Government.
“We are delivering a funding package of £11.2billion for all local authorities in 2019/20 – a real terms increase of more than £310million for essential public services in Scotland.
“All local authorities receive their fair share of the total funding available.”
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