Scottish Conservative Finance Spokesman, Murdo Fraser MSP, has challenged Finance Secretary, John Swinney, to review the funding settlement to Aberdeen City Council.
Mr Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, made the call during the Local Government Finance Order debate at Holyrood.
Aberdeen City Council received a cut of more than a £10 million to its revenue funding from Scottish Government and identified £26 million of savings in its budget set last week.
Aberdeen City is the lowest funded local authority in Scotland.
This disadvantage was raised by Mr Fraser during the Holyrood debate as part of his call for the Scottish Government to look again at the funding allocation settlement to councils.
This intervention from a senior MSP at Holyrood has been welcomed locally by Councillor Ross Thomson, Vice-Convenor of the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee at Aberdeen City Council and candidate for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine at the Holyrood elections in May.
However, the call was dismissed by Mr Swinney during the debate.
Murdo Fraser MSP, said:
“Not since 2009 has the Scottish Government had a proper look at the distribution of funding to our local Councils.”
“It is clear that the current funding mechanism disadvantages Aberdeen City Council the most as well as other North East Councils.”
“With the collapse in the price of oil and the subsequent rapid downturn in the industry, the situation has become more acute and undoubtedly there is greater demand on council services in Aberdeen than there has been before.”
“For those reasons, we believe that it is time to look again at the funding allocation settlement. I am disappointed that the Scottish Government have dismissed my call to carry out such a review which could have seen Aberdeen receive a fairer funding deal than it currently has.”
Welcoming Murdo Fraser’s intervention Councillor Ross Thomson said:
“I thank Murdo Fraser for standing up for Aberdeen during the Local Government Finance Order debate. Aberdeen is consistently the most underfunded Council in the country. Last week we had to deal with an £10 million Swinney Cut to our revenue budget.”
“Aberdeen is reeling from the shock of the collapse in the price of oil with thousands of people losing their jobs. At the centre of this storm it is Aberdeen City Council that is expected to guide the city through this and to support local people in their time of need.”
“Yet Clackmannanshire and the Western Isles get more support than Europe’s Energy Capital, Scotland’s economic powerhouse. With this in mind I am particularly disappointed though not surprised that John Swinney has rejected Murdo Fraser’s sensible call to review the distribution of funding to Councils.”
“This further demonstrates that the North East continues to get the worst possible financial deal from the Scottish Government and they have absolutely no interest in addressing it. If Aberdeen were in the central belt I am sure their attitude would be different.”