Be straight with taxpayers

Sir, - When Angus Councillor Bill Duff presented his budget for approval in Forfar last Thursday he stated: “As sure as night follows day these austerity measures are the fault of the Westminster Government”.

This was backed up by Councillor Paul Valentine. This is an example of the SNP believing that if you say something often enough it may become true.

We constantly hear the SNP rhetoric about “Tory cuts”.

The truth is that the total Scottish budget for 2017-18 shows a huge £371 million real-terms year-on-year increase.

Spending on Scotland by Westminster has now even overtaken the preausterity peak of 2009-10 and this is despite North Sea oil revenues having declined by nearly £6 billion since then.

Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance Derek Mackay is wrong when he says the budget has decreased by 9.2%.

When will the SNP at government level and local councillors own up to the facts? The SNP make choices on how the money is spent.

They have clearly chosen to underfund local councils and cause the loss of local services while choosing to spend on projects that my constituents would not consider a priority.

I hope the people of Angus and Scotland are paying attention. Councillor Bill Bowles. 22 Philip Street, Carnoustie.