A group of cross-party and independent Inverclyde councillors have joined forces to press the case for more funding from the Scottish Government to help prevent jobs losses and severe cuts to services. 

The council’s members’ budget working group, which is made up of representatives from all political parties and independents elected to the council, have written to first minister Nicola Sturgeon to express their collective ‘concern over the financial sustainability of local government in Scotland’. 

In their letter, councillors Stephen McCabe, Elizabeth Robertson, Tommy McVey and Graeme Brooks also warned that vital services are likely to be closed with up to 200 job losses or Council Tax increases of up to 13 per cent. 

The move follows a similar plea ahead of the Scottish Government’s draft Scottish budget setting to the Deputy First Minister. 

The Inverclyde councillors said: “On the face of it the headline of over £500m extra for councils, though it may have fallen well short of what we need, did appear to be new money. Further analysis shows that there is only £38m of new funding against COSLA’s ask of over £1bn.  

“That is an extraordinary response to the financial crisis facing local government in Scotland and represents an unprecedented real-term cut to our funding.” 

The plea from Inverclyde Council’s ‘members’ budget working group’ comes after the group wrote to Depute First Minister John Swinney ahead of the draft Scottish budget in December. 

In an unprecedented move, finance directors from all 32 Scottish local authorities also wrote to Mr Swinney to express serious concerns about the funding crisis facing local government and in the same week that COSLA, the umbrella body that represents Scotland’s councils, launched an ‘SOS’ campaign to ‘Save Our Services’ calling for more money to prevent large-scale cuts. 

Members highlighted the scale of the challenge to set a balanced budget faced by the Council: 

“While the freedom to set our own Council Tax is welcome, the reality is that under the current budget settlement proposal, even after already agreeing on savings in excess of £4 million and using £2 million from the Council’s Reserves, the budget gap for Inverclyde Council sits currently at £4.3m in 2023/24, which translates to a 13% increase in Council Tax, with a further gap of £6.1m in 2024/25.   

A 13% increase in Council Tax would be difficult at the best of times but in the middle of a cost of living crisis, it will have a significant impact on many people in our communities. The alternative of course is the shutting down of services and redundancies, which would also put more pressure on our hard-pressed communities.  

The savings proposals facing elected members, if they were implemented in full, would cut 200 jobs from our workforce. including teachers, pupil support assistants, grounds and roads staff and librarians. They would also result in the closing of vital community facilities, including a swimming pool and sports centre.    

The loss of 200 jobs would have a significant impact on the people of Inverclyde. To put this into context, you will be aware of the Government’s promise last week ‘to leave no stone unturned’ in response to the potential loss of 300 jobs at the Amazon facility in Gourock. Council staff in Inverclyde should expect no less than a response from your Government to the threat to their jobs.“ 

The letter from the Inverclyde ‘members’ budget working group’ is: 

Dear First Minister,  

Before the recent budget announcement, with the support of all political groups and independent councillors, we collectively wrote to the Deputy First Minister to promote the case for increased funding for local government and Inverclyde in particular. We await a response from Mr Swinney.  

On the face of it the headline of over £500m extra for councils, though it may have fallen well short of what we need, did appear to be new money. Further analysis shows that there is only £38m of new funding against COSLA’s ask of over £1bn.  

That is an extraordinary response to the financial crisis facing local government in Scotland and represents an unprecedented real-term cut to our funding.  

You will also be aware that COSLA and many councils called for reductions in ring-fenced funding and greater flexibility in the setting of Council Tax.  

We acknowledge that your Government is no longer seeking to influence the decisions we make on Council Tax. We are still not clear however on the extent of flexibility there is in the use of the large number of funding streams we receive from the Government and continue to seek clarity through COSLA on this.  

While the freedom to set our own Council Tax is welcome, the reality is that under the current budget settlement proposal, even after already agreeing on savings in excess of £4 million and using £2 million from the Council’s Reserves, the budget gap for Inverclyde Council sits currently at £4.3m in 2023/24, which translates to a 13% increase in Council Tax, with a further gap of £6.1m in 2024/25.   

A 13% increase in Council Tax would be difficult at the best of times but in the middle of a cost of living crisis, it will have a significant impact on many people in our communities. The alternative of course is the shutting down of services and redundancies, which would also put more pressure on our hard-pressed communities.  

The savings proposals facing elected members, if they were implemented in full, would cut 200 jobs from our workforce. including teachers, pupil support assistants, grounds and roads staff and librarians. They would also result in the closing of vital community facilities, including a swimming pool and sports centre.    

The loss of 200 jobs would have a significant impact on the people of Inverclyde. To put this into context, you will be aware of the Government’s promise last week ‘to leave no stone unturned’ in response to the potential loss of 300 jobs at the Amazon facility in Gourock. Council staff in Inverclyde should expect no less than a response from your Government to the threat to their jobs.  

You will also be aware that Inverclyde, as a key partner in the west of Scotland Green Freeports bid, suffered another blow last week when the UK and Scottish Governments decided to favour locations in the East of the country for the two new Green Freeports.  

The loss of jobs at Amazon and the rejection of our Green Freeport bid are bad news any time but coming in the same week they are a real hammer blow to our local economy, one that both the Council and the Scottish Government acknowledge needing long-term sustainable support.  

Our collective plea to you is that the Scottish Government review its offer to the Scottish Local Government and focuses its economic support on areas like Inverclyde in line with the principle of inclusive economic growth.  

Our area can’t continue to lurch from one crisis to another. We need a fair funding settlement from the Government and sustained economic investment to make our communities and economy better able to deal with the current crisis and those that lie ahead.  

With your help, we can be both resilient to challenges and able to fully support our shared ambitions for Inverclyde and Scotland.  

We look forward to hearing from you.  

Yours sincerely, 

Councillor Stephen McCabe 

Councillor Elizabeth Robertson 

Councillor Tommy McVey 

Councillor Graeme Brooks