Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of snubbing council leaders after they requested an urgent meeting over local authority funding.
All 32 council chiefs signed a letter before Christmas demanding a summit, but it has been left to Finance Secretary Kate Forbes to address the concerns.
Councils are furious over what they regard as a £371m real terms cut in the Scottish Government ’s draft Budget.
Every town hall leader, including politicians from the SNP, expressed “extreme disappointment” at the financial settlement and demanded an “urgent meeting” with the First Minister.
However it was Forbes, not Sturgeon, who responded to the damning letter.
She wrote: “I believe that the 2022-23 Local Government Settlement of over £12.5 billion provides local government with a funding settlement that is both fair and affordable, under the most challenging of circumstances.
“It represents a cash increase of £917.9 million or 7.9 per cent which is the equivalent of a real terms increase of almost £600 million or 5.1 per cent.”
Forbes also sidestepped the call for a meeting with the FM and instead said she would meet council umbrella group COSLA on January 20th.
Stephen McCabe, leader of Inverclyde Council, tweeted last night: “The FM has snubbed the request for a meeting. Shame on her.”
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