JIM LOGUE Battle to keep our finances in order

We can all see that austerity has taken its toll on budgets across the UK over the last 10 years – and North Lanarkshire has been no exception.

Nowhere has this been more keenly felt than in the public sector pay freeze for our staff.

Our teams of staff do tremendous work and play an invaluable role in delivering your services on behalf of the council; and yet they are being treated with contempt by this SNP Government.

Not only have they decided to pit public sector workers against each other by offering a better pay increase for teachers than for other council staff, they have also tried to circumvent our trade union partners and demanded that councils write to teachers directly, advising and urging them to accept the pay offer currently on the table.

I am clear that our council will never cave in to such demands and undermine the role of our trade unions.

It is time for the SNP Government to stop ducking their responsibilities on this issue and commit to a fair and equitable pay rise for all of our hardworking council staff.

By the time you read my next column in the Advertiser, the Scottish Government will have announced its budget for next year.

Once again what is announced will have a big effect on the services the council delivers to you.

Through prudent financial management and by taking difficult decisions, our council has managed to mitigate the worst effects of austerity and make North Lanarkshire the fastest growing economy in Scotland.

We have also managed to poverty-proof our schools with policies such as Club 365, an increase in the school uniform clothing and footwear grant and the provision of free sanitary products across our school estate.

All of this has been achieved against a backdrop of more than £230 million being taken from our budget by this SNP Government since 2007, and council budgets being cut far in excess of the block grant received from Westminster.

This has had a visible impact on our frontline services, such as education, social care, roads maintenance and winter weather preparations.

However, finance secretary Derek Mackay himself has now admitted that the SNP Government budget will increase next year.

Our administration’s ambition is to grow our local economy to tackle poverty and inequality.

It’s why we have the biggest council house-building programme in Scotland, are rebuilding or refurbishing our schools as part of our Schools and Centres 21 programme and revitalising our town centres.

But this ambition will not be realised if the funding for our day-to-day services, which our residents rely on, simply isn’t there.

That’s why we believe it is time for the SNP to truly stand up for Scotland and ensure that there are no further cuts to council budgets such as North Lanarkshire’s.

We are already doing exciting things; we have worked hard to ensure North Lanarkshire has the fastestgrowing economy in Scotland.

But if our ambition of making North Lanarkshire the place to live, learn, work, invest and visit is to be fully achieved, we need a fair budget deal.

The need has never been greater. On December 12, Derek Mackay has the opportunity to reverse a decade of cuts to the services you rely on.

I would urge him to grasp that opportunity.

Making his case Mr Logue has urged finance secretary Derek Mackay to “grasp the opportunity” to reverse “a decade of cuts to the services you rely on”