Amid concern over the future for workers and key public services, Unison will host a conference at the end of January, while the STUC is due to stage a further gathering later to coincide with Scotland’s 32 council budgets being announced.

A mass meeting had been discussed as part of Unison’s strategy to deal with the biggest squeeze on public finances in generations but this debate has been accelerated on the back of the detail of next year’s cuts in the city.

Poverty campaigners are also urging the city council to carry out checks on the potential impact of cuts on families before implementing them.

The planned cuts have again opened splits between the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, with the authority claiming it has had to reduce public services as a result of an “east coast bias”.

The council announced yesterday it was considering a plan to cut more than £30 million from its budget, including axing 600 jobs, reducing opening hours

at the city’s museums and ­charging some pupils for school breakfast clubs.

The council is also considering closing community halls, swimming pools and a library.

With the SNP claiming Glasgow’s Labour administration has created “a nightmare before Christmas” and that its claims to have been “ripped off” by Holyrood do not stand up, the council has claimed Finance Secretary John Swinney’s settlement in November favoured authorities in Nationalist heartlands.

City council leader Steven Purcell said: “If the SNP disagree with the tough choices we are making then perhaps they can explain why Glasgow with all the social challenges it faces has been given the smallest increase in funds of any council in Scotland.

“Perhaps they can explain why SNP-run Perth and Kinross has received an extremely generous 5% uplift while our increase is less than 1.5%. If we got a deal that good we would have an extra £50m to spend on frontline services. That’s the price Glasgow is paying for an SNP executive in Edinburgh.”

SNP MP for Glasgow East John Mason said: “This is the nightmare before Christmas for families across Glasgow. Labour hypocrisy beggars belief. Voters promised the earth by Labour have been kicked in the teeth.”

James Dornan, leader of the council’s SNP group, said: “Glasgow City Council, like the rest of Scotland and thanks to Labour’s mismanagement of the UK economy, is facing a lengthy period of financial uncertainty. Glasgow Labour’s acceptance of this difficulty is welcome, if a little late.

“Positioning Glasgow as the ripped off city simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Our city is due to receive 125% of the Scot­tish average for every man woman and child in Glasgow. It is Labour’s misguided priorities that have seen funding levels, unheard of in other areas of mainland Scotland, being squandered.”

Meanwhile, Unison, the biggest union within the council, has also warned of problems ahead if compulsory redundancies are forced on staff.

Charities have also called for the savings proposals to be “proofed” so they do not have a detrimental impact on families.

Unison’s Scottish convener Mike Kirby said: “While we have seen trillions of public money being used to bail out the banks this is the price the communities of Glasgow are paying.”

John Dickie, of Child Poverty Action, added: “It’s our poorest families and children who most rely on public services.

“It’s vital all these cuts are proofed for their impact on those families, otherwise the commitment to reduce child poverty in Glasgow will be undermined.”

 

 

We must protect the most disadvantaged

By Peter Kelly of the Poverty Alliance

Glasgow City Council’s proposed cuts have long been expected but are still shocking.

The exact scale of the cuts and where they will hit is still to be determined but we would expect the council to do everything to ensure they do not hit those who are already most disadvantaged.

The council plays a central role in delivering and funding services that protect against poverty. At the height of a recession, the protection of those services should be a priority.

It is worrying then that among some of those services and facilities that have been proposed for cuts or reductions are a dozen community facilities.

These are vital services and are often the only places where communities can come together. As many communities struggle with the impact of unemployment, these resources become more, not less, important.

The proposed cut of 7% to the voluntary sector is also likely to impact severely on the ability to provide the services that many people in the city rely on.

We recognise the council faces difficult decisions, but it should ensure the poorest and most vulnerable in the city are protected during this process. After the recent reports of progress in tackling disadvantage in the city, it would be disappointing if the budget cuts led to further hardship.

The UK Government has made the choice to support financial institutions with billions of pounds over the last year.

It needs to show similar commitment to those who are struggling now because of the recklessness of City institutions. Closer to home we need to question the logic of a council tax freeze, which does little for the incomes of the poorest in Scotland, and only increases the pressure on local services.

There can be little doubt Glasgow needs, and deserves, a greater share of resources but the amount of funding available to all local authorities needs to be looked at again.