​Kate ensures council do the right thing on pay - Angus Robertson

​Well done to SNP councillors for leading the charge to pressure the Labour-run Edinburgh council into funding Edinburgh Leisure facilities and to pay the real living wage.

Councillor Kate Campbell, former Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee

​ Councillor Kate Campbell, has for months, been arguing for proper funding for Edinburgh Leisure, but the Labour Council had resisted.

‘It has been almost six months since this was first raised as an issue with the Labour administration’, she said.

‘It’s shocking that they have sat back and allowed staff to be paid below the real living wage, during the cost-of-living crisis. This is especially shocking when it turns out this money was available all along.

‘It is only because SNP councillors have kept asking questions that Labour have finally done the right thing.’

No doubt this funding is the right thing to do and will ensure Edinburgh’s fantastic leisure facilities will remain open.

The commitment to getting more for our public services and staffing should be a key measure for the public as they consider their choices for the next general election, along with how parties are helping with the cost of living.

Notwithstanding Westminster austerity spending on education; transport; police; public order & safety; housing & community amenities; environmental protection; agriculture, fisheries and forestry; and Enterprise & economic development is higher per head in Scotland than Tory England and Labour Wales.

In health, the 2024/25 Scottish Budget takes total health portfolio funding to over £19.5bn, with resource funding more than doubling in cash terms under the SNP.