COUNCILS in Scotland face a crisis due to austerity measures from SNP-run Holyrood, Scottish Labour said yesterday as it set out its stall for local elections in May.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was accused by Scottish Labour deputy leader Alex Rowley of becoming “the nation’s minister for cuts” ahead of the latter’s campaign launch in Edinburgh today.

The SNP government announced it would slash £327 million from council services this year. Opposition parties have warned this would force councils to implement a supposedly discretionary increase in council tax of up to 3 per cent next April on top of the compulsory rise.

The SNP insisted that local authority budgets would increase when the council tax rises are included.

Local government body Cosla has already warned that more local government cuts would be “disastrous.” Unite Scotland has warned that 60,000 front-line jobs have already been lost since 2009, with more to go.

Mr Rowley said “councils are in crisis” under the SNP and accused Ms Sturgeon of failing to deliver on her promise that she would champion the poor and the working class.

He said that council services are “at the heart of people’s lives” and pledged that Scottish Labour will “invest in public services and the workers who provide them to ensure all of us have access to the good quality services we value.”

Scottish Labour is the first party to unveil a manifesto for local government. Individual Labour groups in towns and cities across Scotland will produce local manifestos in the coming months.

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