Councils ‘reluctantly’ accept John Swinney’s funding package

All of Scotland’s 32 councils will “reluctantly” accept the Scottish Government’s funding deal, Holyrood understands.

The local authorities had until Tuesday to write to the Deputy First Minister to confirm whether they would continue the council tax freeze, or reject the funding designed to mitigate it.

Finance Secretary John Swinney had said councils would also lose out on extra funding to maintain teacher numbers and funding from the health service to support social care.

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Every local authority not run by an SNP administration has called the deal unacceptable.

Labour leader of Stirling Council Johanna Boyd said it was "with a heavy heart and under duress" that she had been "forced" to accept the funding settlement.

“There's only so much trimming and tweaking that we can do, so we're looking long and hard at the services we provide and considering if we can afford to keep delivering in the same way," she said.

Fife Council leader David Ross said Swinney had removed raising the council tax as an option.

“This is outrageous behaviour more like that of a Chicago gangster than what I would expect from the Deputy First Minister of Scotland,” he told the Courier.

Glasgow City Council said while it would accept it had “legal concerns” over the offer.

Moray Council had indicated it may reject the deal and raise council tax by 18 per cent to offset the extra funding, but it has since dropped the plans.

North Ayrshire's SNP leader Willie Gibson criticised “increasingly extreme statements from fellow council leaders, and said councils should work together with the Government.