AN East Renfrewshire politician has clashed with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon over the funding of police services.

Speaking during First Minister's Questions at the Scottish Parliament today, Eastwood MSP Jackson Carlaw highlighted the condition of police stations as evidence of insufficient investment.

It follows comments made by Scottish Police Authority (SPA) vice-chairman David Crichton that there is a "structural deficit" in the policing budget.

At Holyrood on Tuesday, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said it was "unhelpful" to use "hyperbole" to say police stations are falling apart.

Just hours after those remarks, it was reported that the ceiling at Broughty Ferry police station, in Dundee, had collapsed.

Mr Carlaw, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said: "Water pouring in through ceilings and windows, mushrooms growing in the carpets and rats scurrying about the mouldy floors...what word would the First Minister use to describe the state of some of Scotland's police stations?"

However, Ms Sturgeon suggested it was Mr Carlaw's party that was guilty of underfunding police services in the UK.

She said: "I do think that Jackson Carlaw has something of a nerve to raise issues like this because, before I address the issue directly, let me just remind Jackson Carlaw and the chamber that it was indeed the Conservative Party that reduced the resource budget of this government by £1.5billion – that's five per cent in real terms – since 2010.

"It's also the Conservatives who have robbed the Scottish police service of £125million in VAT that should never have been claimed.

"But despite all of that, since 2016, the annual budget for policing in Scotland has increased by more than £80million, bringing it to £1.2billion in this year."

She added: "The capital budget of the service has increased in this year alone by 52 per cent to support the roll-out of mobile technology.

"So we are investing in police officers, also of course maintaining 1,000 more police officers in our communities, while the Tories have cut 20,000 from the streets in England.

"So we'll take no lectures from the Conservatives on matters of public services and, as we prepare our budget for the year ahead, our priority will continue to be investment in public services and we'll leave Jackson Carlaw to argue for tax cuts for the highest paid in our country."

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