Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘The reality is there’ll be services we can’t provide any longer’
Democrat, Conservative or Independent,” he said.
“In Dundee we are living through unprecedented times with great uncertainty for families – 850 jobs to be lost by closure at Michelin, 1,300 jobs to go from NHS Tayside and a number from Dundee City Council.
“Labour is against cuts and the £19.4m for Dundee is a cut too deep.
“You only have to look at our streets, with litter strewn all over the place, coupled with fly-tipping.”
Council leader John Alexander admitted some services would have to be reduced to protect education and social services.
“The reality is that this is the most challenging budget that we have faced in a very long time,” he said.
“We are going to have to be honest about what this means for the people of Dundee.
“We are going to do as much as we can to protect services and enhance the lives of our residents. My priorities will be to protect social services and education where about 50% of our budget goes, but the reality is that there will be services we can’t provide.
“We will be forced to consider restructuring and reducing the level of service we can provide.”
PROTECTING social services and education in the face of almost £20 million worth of cuts is the priority for city politicians ahead of this month’s crunch budget meeting.
The Tele spoke to all four leaders of Dundee’s main political parties to ask them what services they would be fighting for when next year’s budget is agreed on February 21.
Dundee City Council’s chief executive has already warned it will have to find ways to save £19.4 min 2019-20, and admitted job losses at the authority would be inevitable.
Liberal Democrat leader Fraser Macpherson called for unity among the parties.
He said: “It is very important that all parties work together to try to lessen the impact on vital public services and on jobs.
“My priorities will be to protect schools, health and social care services and those services that we give to the most vulnerable members of our community.
“One way we can do this is to increase council tax. People pay their council tax and deserve a decent level of service for it.
“It is vital the Scottish Government thinks again about what level of support they are giving to local authorities.
“All parties on Dundee City Council must work together to get through this extremely challenging time.”
Philip Scott, depute leader of the Conservative group on the council, said: “The savings we are having to find add up to a massive amount of money – 6% of the council’s total budget. Some very difficult decisions are going to have to be made that will have a significant effect on the people of Dundee.
“The Conservative group will be looking to ensure that education, social care services, refuse collection and street cleaning services are protected while we try to attract people to the city.
“About 62% of the council budget is spent on staff costs so it is inevitable that savings will need to be made in that area in a bid to protect frontline services that are vital to the people of Dundee.”
But Labour leader Kevin Keenan said his party was giving “serious consideration” to not submitting an alternative budget at all.
“The SNP has been in control of Dundee for the last 10 years and not once has it taken any notice of the alternative budget proposals made by opposition parties, no matter the political persuasion, be it Labour, Liberal