SNP-Green council cuts: Don't be fooled by Scottish government rhetoric, services in Edinburgh are set to get worse – Miles Briggs MSP

Last week Finance Secretary Kate Forbes announced an extra £120 million of funding for local government in the SNP’s 2022-23 Budget.

Councils need to be properly funded to tackle issues like homelessness (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The announcement came following a Scottish Conservative debate the previous week which called on SNP-Green ministers to look again at the planned real-terms funding cut to local councils of £371m for that year.

As with everything with this SNP-Green government, the spin around the additional funding didn’t match reality. The additional money for councils actually represents £70m from the UK government in National Insurance contribution compensation and £50m in additional UK government funding that SNP ministers will receive.

Therefore, with the announcement of extra funding, local councils still face an estimated real-terms cut of £251m. This still doesn’t even come close to what councils need just to maintain basic services.

MSPs from across the political spectrum are rightly asking the question why, when the Scottish government has received a record high funding settlement from the UK government, are local authorities still seeing continued cuts to their funding.

These cuts will mean increased council taxes and decreased services. It is also clear that under this SNP-Green government, the cost of living crisis is not being given the focus it needs.

Edinburgh City Council and NHS Lothian receive lower levels of funding per head of population from the Scottish government, under government funding formulae, than most other regions.

Services in the Capital are already under severe pressure and cannot afford to be cut any further. We are facing a social care crisis in the Capital with a shortage of places for people to be looked after in the community.

This has led to increases in delayed discharge, with people being stuck in hospital despite being medically fit to return home or into a care setting. The knock-on effect of this is increased waiting times in A&E departments, which also slows down ambulance teams.

Another area which requires significant funding is the housing, homelessness and fair work committee. In a debate at Holyrood this week, I talked about what needs to be done to end homelessness in the Capital. This is a challenging task and Edinburgh Council needs to be properly funded by SNP-Green ministers if they are to have a chance of achieving this.

The number of children and families in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh has not been resolved over the last two years, with 1,505 children in temporary accommodation in September 2019, compared to 1,515 children in temporary accommodation in September 2021.

This situation is unacceptable, a stable home is extremely important for everyone and especially for the development of children. Edinburgh Council has no chance of reducing temporary accommodation if they are continually underfunded by ministers.

Finally, I wanted to update readers on the recent changes made to staff parking a Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. I have been contacted by NHS staff and their families expressing real concern at the changes we have seen.

I have raised the issue with the First Minister and Health Secretary and called on NHS Lothian to look at this again. In the long-term, with more and more health services being located at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, we must see a solution developed to meet the parking needs of patients, NHS staff and visitors.

Miles Briggs is a Conservative MSP for Lothian

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