Monday 12 October 2026

Councils shortchanged by £2 billion since 2014 

Michael Marra will push for an end to Holyrood’s centralisation culture, which has seen the SNP government “hoard money and power for themselves at the expense of Scottish communities”.

The party published analysis revealing the SNP had short-changed councils in Scotland, including West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute, by over £2 billion since 2014.

Had funding for local authorities kept pace with the Scottish block grant, Glasgow City Council’s budget would be £357 million higher, Edinburgh would be £147 million higher, Aberdeen would be £36 million higher, Dundee would be £70 million higher, and Highland Council would be a staggering £117 million higher.

Marra has made more regional devolution a priority for Scottish Labour and said more money and power should be pushed out of Holyrood and into local communities and regional economies.

More power and money to cack-handed West Dunbartonshire Council  is not something that would be generally welcomed in West Dunbartonshire, where the local authority has an appalling record for its failure to get things done.

Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said:  “The promise of devolution was a promise to empower local communities and open up politics and decision-making to communities across Scotland.

“But instead, power and money have increasingly been hoarded at the centre while local services face cuts, and the government’s public service reform agenda is increasingly confused – risking a decade of distraction.

“A decade of short-changing communities to the tune of £2 billion has meant less funding for schools, social care and local roads and housing.

“We should be investing in local services and high streets, not short-changing them.

Dumbarton High Street, where more investment is badly needed.

The block grant grew by 20.3% in real terms between 2013/14 and 2025/26. This figure uses the total Departmental Expenditure Limit measure of the block grant, before adjustment for tax and welfare devolution, as this is the most comparable measure. It is based on data from HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) (multiple editions) and from the 2025 Spending Review.

Data on allocations from the Scottish Government to local authorities can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre’s briefing Local government finance: Budget 2025-26 and provisional allocations to local authorities. The table below compares the amount that each authority was allocated in 2025/26 with an amount 20.3% higher in real terms than the 2013/14 allocation.

Source: Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Local government finance: Budget 2025-26 and provisional allocations to local authorities, 20 December 2024; notional allocations calculated using HM Treasury, Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) (multiple editions) and OBR, Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2026, 3 March 2026