North Lanarkshire Council faces £35m in cuts

Labour-run North Lanarkshire has warned it faced cuts of nearly £35 million, following the Scottish budget.

The news comes after Glasgow and Fife councils announced they would have to find at least £90 million of savings between them.

Council leader Jim Logue said the Scottish government's funding offer would mean a £34.5 million cut to local services in North Lanarkshire in 2017/18.

He explained: "We have now had time to analyse the Scottish government's budget announcement and, put simply, although there is a £400 million increase to the amount of money the Scottish government is getting, they have decided once again that local services should bear the brunt of the cuts.

"In North Lanarkshire, that is likely to mean £34.5 million of cuts once cost pressures and inflation are taken into account.

"That's a huge potential impact on vital local services. In addition, there is no increase in capital spending, which means that investment in new schools, houses and roads will stagnate.

"What the draft budget shows is that local councils like North Lanarkshire are being hit unfairly. But we are ambitious for our communities and the local economy and we will do everything we can before the budget is finalised to demand a guaranteed fair deal for North Lanarkshire."

Logue added: "We have always tried to minimise the impact on vital frontline services and we will continue to do that.

"We have also had a commitment to minimising the possibility of compulsory redundancies and we will look to continue with that policy. But this constant attack on local services in year after year of budget cuts has to stop."

The council will now work on producing its own budget for next year, with decisions due in February