GLASGOW has set up a cross party working group to plan the budget next year.

The council is facing cuts of around £60m from April and council departments are being asked to propose where savings can be made.

For the first time the council will establish a Budget Cross Party Working Group with councillors from all four parties meeting weekly to look at options for saving cash.

The full cost of cuts won’t be known until Scottish Government Finance Secretary Derek Mackay publishes his draft budget next month and reveals how much cash the council will get from Holyrood.

The council has had to find savings of £165m in the last three years and expects the demand to find cuts to continue.

Some of the cost of settling the equal pay claims, which could run into hundreds of millions of pounds, is expected to be included in next year’s budget as well.

Allan Gow, City Treasurer, who will set out the budget plans and present it to councillors said he wanted to achieve a more consensual process.

Mr Gow, said: ““Glasgow has coped well with the financial challenges we’ve faced in the last ten years.

“But in future the scale of the savings required is unlikely to reduce. We all need to work together to ensure that we meet that challenge and continue to invest in growing our economy and strengthening our communities.

“I want to do things differently, and I hope that today marks the start of a far more consensual way of working for the people of Glasgow.”

The group will meet from now until the end of the year and is hoped to ensure that all political groups in the council have the same access to options and information as each other.