THE Scottish Government is stalling in handing over the £155 million it has received via the Barnett Formula for emergency funding for councils during the Covid-19 crisis.

It says it is "consulting" COSLA but who knows what that means.

What is absolutely clear is that councils are in the red as never before. The Scottish Government has a deplorable track record in trousering the local government funding it gets from Westminster for its own ends.

Over the last 10 years, Scottish councils have lost 7% of their funding despite rising demand. As a result they have drained their reserves, and now find themselves in a nightmarish situation where revenue is nosediving with people defaulting on rent and Council Tax just as demand for their services is hitting an all-time high.

Unlike charities and businesses, councils cannot furlough their staff but have to bear all the costs of the lockdown themselves.

All this means that the people councils serve are not only facing more hardship than ever before but far more than they need to. We see that, for example, in the thousands of businesses who have yet to receive their emergency grants, or the countless children who lack the support and equipment to be able to benefit from home schooling.

Councils are the frontline when it comes to helping people through this crisis, and deserve much better treatment from this Goverment. Just imagine the outcry from nationalists if the Westminster Government behaved in the same way towards the Scottish Government or indeed Scottish councils.

LINDA HOLT, (Independent Councillor for East Neuk & Landward),

Dreel House,

Pittenweem.