South Lanarkshire's Labour group criticise cross-party council budget

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The South Lanarkshire Labour Group have moved against the council budget for the upcoming financial year.The budget was agreed on Wednesday and brought forward by the cross party budget group - formed of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Independents.Labour were involved in initial talks with the group, but dropped out after four meetings - thereafter, the group created its own budget and presented it to the full council.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android Leader of the group, Joe Fagan, said: “This week SNP budget lets down every community crying out for investment."SNP and Tory councillors have voted against decisive action on the cost of living crisis and shown how out of touch they are with the people they are supposed to represent.“This budget fails the fairness test – it does not help enough with living costs.

It fails the frontline test – it does not deliver the cash boost local services need. It fails the transparency test – it does nothing to improve scrutiny of how budget decisions are made.”In Labour’s budget an increase of 2.2 per cent in council tax was proposed, whereas the cross budget party proposed a 2.5 per cent surge.Both are an improvement to the original budget paper’s proposal of 3.5 per cent.The Labour group also proposed to invest in frontline services, by