Plea for government to step up with funds

North Lanarkshire Council's leader says the Scottish Government must step up and provide additional funding through the forthcoming Scottish settlement to plug the local authority's £34.639m gap in its 2026/27 budget.

- IAN BUNTING

Appeal Council leader Jim Logue

Councillor Jim Logue responded to COSLA's budget campaign by calling for increased financing to address escalating demand pressures - and to give local government the "space to decide how local services should be funded."

He said: "Ongoing real-term cuts to local service budgets are causing a deep, lasting mark on people and communities in North Lanarkshire - and it cannot continue.

"The increasing demand pressures for services such as social care compounded with increasing costs to deliver them, is leaving us in an untenable position.

"We have seen more than £200 million removed from the council's budget through recurring savings in the last decade and we have forecast abudget gap of more than £85 million over the next three financial years.