Respect our Communities and fair funding for our essential council services was the call from COSLA today (Monday) in relation to next year’s budget for Local Government in Scotland.

The call from COSLA comes on the back of the UK Spending Review published last week and follows the incredible work undertaken by Scotland’s Councils throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Speaking today COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson, Councillor Gail Macgregor, said: "Our ask of both Westminster and Holyrood is very straightforward.  Respect our communities and fund our essential services.

“The bottom line is that Scottish Local Government needs to be properly funded for the essential services it delivers to communities – that means no cuts to our funding, indeed we demand full funding in order that we can meet our shared commitments contained in the National Performance Framework - as well as recognition of the longer term impacts of COVID in communities.

“There is every possibility that there will be more resources coming to Scotland as a result of the UK Government’s spending plans and if this is indeed the case, we will be pushing for a fair share of that money coming to Local Government.

“The role of Local Government has been under the spotlight this year and it’s time the spotlight was turned to highlight how underfunded we are.”