Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

SNP council co-leader warns of cuts as Tayside and Fife’s core revenue funding slashed by £43m

David Alexander, co-leader of Fife Council
David Alexander, co-leader of Fife Council

The SNP leader in Fife has warned of more cuts to services because of an “overall reduction” in the council’s funding.

David Alexander’s party colleagues in the Scottish Government have celebrated funding increases for local government in 2019-20 following last week’s Budget.

Analysis by The Courier shows next year’s general revenue grants for Tayside and Fife councils – the main pot for delivering services – will fall by a total of £43 million.

An alternative measure shows the total grant for the day-to-day spending in Courier Country will increase by £18m.

But that includes ring-fenced money and new responsibilities for councils, such as extending free childcare hours and the implementation of Frank’s Law.

Mr Alexander, the  co-leader of Fife Council, which is jointly run by Labour and the SNP,  said: “We have savings to make but we have also been given additional money which, while ring-fenced, is very welcome.

“Our overall reduction is similar to the Scottish Government reduction from Westminster.

“So far, no political parties have sat down seriously and talked to the Scottish Government about options.

“Until they do – and put forward their own ideas – any criticism needs to be seen in that light.

“We can balance the budget with this settlement.”

The overall size of the local government settlement, which includes day-to-day and project budgets, is listed by the government as £11.2 billion.

Finance Minister Derek Mackay says that is a 2% real terms increase of £210m on the previous year.

That figure includes extra cash for councils to meet centrally-pledged new commitments on areas like business rates and the extension of social and child care services.

Cosla said this week the “real impact” of the settlement across Scotland is a £237m cut, leading to “substantial job losses”.

Gail Macgregor, from Cosla, said: “This is a severe cut to the core budget that provides the vast majority of our essential services.”

Public finance minister Kate Forbes said: “The Scottish Government guarantees funding to local authorities which includes the General Revenue Grant and Non Domestic Rate Income.

“Angus, Dundee City, Fife, and Perth and Kinross Councils will all get increased funding compared to 2018-19.

“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.”