GLASGOW has been hit almost twice as hard by austerity compared to other cities in Scotland, a new report has claimed.

An analysis found spending had fallen by £638 per head since 2009, equivalent to a drop of 23 per cent.

Campaigners say this has led to filthy streets, pot-holed roads and slashed frontline services which have left communities across the city worse off.

They point the finger of blame at city leaders’ inability to find creative solutions to budget black holes, but also criticised declining funds from the Scottish Government and the over-arching policy of belt-tightening introduced by the Conservatives at Westminster.

Glasgow City Council has disputed the figures, saying they do not take into account key budgets such as education spending or services which generate money.

The figures are contained in this year’s report by the Centre for Cities, a think tank which aims to help UK cities “realise their economic potential”.

They reveal that cities across the UK have borne the brunt of the policy of austerity spending, introduced by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition to reduce the deficit in government spending.

Glasgow was ranked 9th out of all UK cities for the severity of the cuts to public spending.

Years of declining budgets have seen millions slashed from public services in Glasgow - in 2017 alone £53million of savings had to be made, with the axe falling on social work departments, roads funding, libraries, sports centres and elderly people’s services.

Last year, leaked draft budget proposals suggested another crunch was in the works, with proposals to close swimming pools, libraries and golf courses being mooted along with an end to free bulk uplift services and pest control.

Bin collections could also be altered while council bosses have considered cancelling the city’s multi-cultural Mela celebration.

Gary Smith, Scotland Secretary of the GMB union said the scale of the cuts affected Glasgow was apparent in every sector.

He said: “You can see austerity shame everywhere you look in Glasgow; filthy streets, pot holed roads and iconic buildings in disrepair. It’s not going to get any better anytime soon. This year the city council is set to cut even more from our front line services. “

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “There can be little doubt that, despite driving the country’s economic growth, cities face distinct funding challenges. However, we just don’t recognise these figures or, frankly, understand how they have been calculated.

“What we can see is that they disregard education spending, which is one of the biggest areas of expenditure for any local authority in Scotland – along with any service that generates income or is supported by project funding. These aren’t valid comparisons – either over time or geographies