Labour MP calls out Scottish Government over council funding and backs Falkirk councillors

Labour MP Brian Leishman has also hit out at the online abuse of councillors as Falkirk Council residents face the highest rise in Scotland of 15.6 per cent.

Councillor Laura Murtagh who proposed the rate, as well as dropping plans to cut some education services, has said that she has been the subject of online abuse following last Thursday's budget meeting.

Mr Leishman, who used to be a councillor in Perth before being elected to Westminster to represent Alloa and Grangemouth at last year’s general election, said politicians only wanted to serve their communities.

He said: “If you stand as a candidate to become a councillor then irrespective of what colour of rosette you wear, all you want to do is to serve your community. It is the purest form of politics in that you want to make things better for the area you live in.

“The truth is that councillors are full time politicians on part-time pay. Having served as a local representative myself, I know councillors that put their heart and soul into the job – hosting surgeries, meeting community organisations, attending parent-teacher association meetings and much more.

“They must balance the council’s books against an ever-diminishing amount of money provided by the Scottish Government. To do that and still try and provide essential public services is an enormous ask of them.

“No councillor wants to set the eye-watering increases in council tax or rents, wrestling with the awful decision of what needs to be cut.”

The MP added: “It would be accurate to say that councillors have become agents of the Scottish Government in that they are given a shoestring budget from Holyrood and are told to get on with running their communities. Councillors are the victims of an inept Scottish Government that has decimated funding to local authorities for over a decade now.

“What really is unforgivable from the SNP in Holyrood is that they were given the largest settlement ever in the history of devolution from the UK Government and they decided not to pass this on to local authorities.”

In a vote of confidence to both elected members and officials, he said: “Whenever you drive through a pothole, or despair at overgrown grass areas, this is not the fault of councillors. Neither it is the fault of hard-working council staff who are asked to do more with less. It is actually the fault of the SNP Scottish Government. They have been in charge for 18 years and local authorities have been the victims of continuous underfunding by the SNP administration.

“For years and years, the SNP have said they would abolish council tax but have not kept their word. Instead, they have tied the hands of councils and political representatives.

“I am aware that some councillors have been abused on social media, not only is that unfair, but it is also uncalled for. I appreciate residents are angry but online abuse directed at the people who want to do the best that they can for their community is wrong.”