SNP must hand over ‘missing millions’ to councils now

3 Jun 2020

The Scottish Conservatives have demanded that the SNP government hands over the ‘missing millions’ due to councils immediately.

In this morning’s local government committee meeting at Holyrood, Cosla confirmed that they still haven’t received the £155m promised by the SNP government to local authorities to help them deal with the Covid crisis.

The UK Government announced that Scotland would receive £155m in Barnett consequentials for local government on the 18^th April.

While initially reluctant, the Scottish Government finally agreed that all of this money would be given straight to local authorities, on the 6 May. 

Graham Simpson, Scottish Conservative shadow communities secretary said:

“The UK government announced the £155m in Barnett consequentials for local government support over six weeks ago, but the SNP still hasn’t passed it on.

“Councils came into this crisis ill-equipped to cope after years of the SNP slashing their budgets to the bone.

“Despite this, local authorities have worked tirelessly on the frontlines keeping essential services running and supporting their residents and businesses through this crisis.

“First the SNP made them fight for the money and now, for unknown reasons, they still haven’t handed it over.

“Some local authorities barely have any reserves left thanks to the SNP’s botched approach to funding.

“This is a totally unacceptable situation, the SNP government must hand over these missing millions to councils now.”