Shona Robison warns local authorities not to raise council tax as struggling town halls set budgets

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Shona Robison has warned local authorities they will not receive money to cover a council tax freeze if they choose to hike rates.Town halls across Scotland are struggling to balance their books with public services like libraries and leisure centres threatened with closure as a result.Many local authorities had been planning to hike council tax by as much as 10 per cent this year until Humza Yousaf announced the levy would be frozen.The First Minister used his SNP conference speech in October to unveil the council tax freeze - infuriating many local leaders in the process.One local authority leader said relations between councils and Holyrood was now at an all time low.Robison, the Finance Secretary, has since announced the Scottish Government will share £147 million between 32 local authorities this year to cover the cost of a five per cent council tax rise.But some town halls have still threatened to hike rates anyway.The SNP minister said today: "We have provided £147 million to councils to fund a council tax freeze equivalent to five per cent, to help households when the cost-of-living crisis is still there, bills are high, and it is an area people can have certainty over that the bills are not going to rise."We’ve also provided £145 million to maintain teacher numbers and, of course, we know to close the poverty related attainment gap and to improve education, teachers are an important part of that."But, ultimately, it is for councils to decide but they can’t then have the money for those purposes if they decide to do otherwise.”Her comments come as councils around the country are poised to set budgets.Robison insisted the budget settlement for councils was "fair" in the context of what she described as a “real