Edinburgh council budget: Sigh of relief for many, but funding still a problem

Many Edinburgh residents will be breathing a sigh of relief that their council tax bills won't be increasing after councillors agreed a freeze for next year.

Threatened cuts to school budgets and possible closures of leisure centres were thankfully averted. And the city's budget for 2024/25, approved last Thursday, includes record spending of £12.5 million on roads and pavements.

But the council's finances remain under severe pressure. City leaders warned that maintaining school budgets and preserving leisure services beyond the next 12 months would mean council tax rises of 1.5 and 1 per cent respectively. And council leader Cammy Day has said a "worst case scenario" could see the authority's financial black hole grow to £200m in the next five years. 

Councillors in Edinburgh have agreed to freeze the council tax - but the council remains the lowest-funded in Scotland per head of population.

Last week's budget meeting of the council proved more straightforward than a year ago, when tactical voting by the Greens saw the rejection of the package put forward by the minority Labour administration and the approval of the Lib Dems proposals instead. The Lib Dem budget did not, in the end, seem to cause too many problems for Labour, but it was an embarrassment they wanted to avoid this time. 

So there were careful discussions with other parties in advance and Labour accommodated some of the spending priorities of both the Lib Dems and the Tories in return for their votes, allocating more money to schools, subsidised bus services and a new scheme to clean up streets. 

The Greens were anxious to be seen as honest players this time, with finance spokesperson Alys Mumford admitting to "shenanigans" last year but promising there were no plans to "shenan-again". The SNP likes to portray the administration as a Labour-Lib Dem-Conservative coalition.  But, while the budget was passed by a combination of Labour, Lib Dem and Tory votes, when it came to setting council house rents, it was  Labour, the Lib Dems and the Green who voted together to approve the 7 per cent rise.  

Big cuts are still expected in health and social care when the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, funded jointly by the council and NHS Lothian, sets its budget next month.

Politicians always talk about 'tough decisions'. And in Edinburgh's case they are often tougher because despite being the Capital, the city remains the lowest-funded council per head of population out of all 32 local authorities in Scotland.