Moray MSP Richard Lochhead has been challenged to explain why he refused to support plans to give local councils a fairer funding deal.
The SNP member and his party colleagues rejected a proposal from the Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood to change the way in which funding is distributed to local authorities.
The plan would have given councils a guaranteed amount from the Scottish Government’s budget each year.
The Scottish Conservatives said it would have been a localised version of the Barnett Formula, which is used to distribute funding from the UK Government to the devolved nations.
Between 2013-14 and 2019-20 local government funding fell by £276m in real terms. And this year, Scottish councils including Moray are facing a budget shortfall of £511m due to the pandemic.
Scottish Conservative MP for Moray Douglas Ross said:
“This proposal could have been a game changer for local councils like Moray.
“The Scottish Government has failed to pass on increases to its budget from the UK Government to local government.
“The result has been cuts to local services that we all rely on, such as schools, road repairs, elderly care and bin collections.
“The pandemic has left local authorities badly exposed with huge shortfalls in budgets.
“A guaranteed share of the total Scottish budget each year would help them keep up with demand for services and plan ahead for the future.
“I am disappointed that Richard Lochhead and his SNP colleagues rejected this out of hand. He should explain why he and his government don’t want to give our councils a better deal.”