5 SNP MSPs representing South Lanarkshire Constituencies, have written a joint letter to the leader of South Lanarkshire Council, Councillor (Cllr) Joe Fagan, in their role as constituency MSPs.
The five SNP MSPs, and their constituencies, are as follows:
- Christina McKelvie MSP, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse
- Clare Haughey MSP, Rutherglen
- Mairi McAllan MSP, Clydesdale
- Collette Stevenson MSP, East Kilbride
- Stephanie Callaghan MSP, Uddingston and Bellshill
Their letter, which was sent on 6th February 2023, was in response to a letter sent by Cllr Joe Fagan on 1st February, in which he expressed his desire for South Lanarkshire’s constituency MSPs to work closely with the council after the Scottish Government’s Budget statement, which remains in its draft stage.
The 5 MSPs noted in their letter that settlements from the UK Government to Scotland have suffered a decade of austerity with average real terms cuts of over 5%, equating to a loss of £18 billion.
Despite this, the SNP Scottish Government has listened to councils and is increasing the resources available to local government to support local services by more than £570 million. This is a real-terms increase of £160.6 million, or 1.3%.
The 5 MSPs stated their commitment to working closely with South Lanarkshire Council, writing:
“[As] SNP MSPs representing South Lanarkshire, [we] recognise the crucial role councils and their employees play in our communities across Scotland.
“We, as SNP MSPs representing constituencies in South Lanarkshire, want to work closely with local government, to build on the Covid Recovery Strategy.
“To do so, we must agree an urgent approach which improves the delivery of sustainable public services.”
Here are some stats and facts:
Over a ten year period (comparing 2023-24 to 2013-14), local government's provisional revenue settlement has increased by 4.3% in real terms.
Local government revenue settlement amounts to 31.7% of the total Scottish Government revenue budget (plus NDR income) in 2023-24.
There is a significant 17.8% increase to the total capital allocation going to local government in 2023-24 compared to Budget 2022-23.
South Lanarkshire has the fifth highest provisional revenue allocation for 2023-2024 out of all 32 Council regions.