EVERY year, Glasgow City councillors perform the same routine, having meeting after meeting with officers and heads of departments, discussions within their political groups about priorities, and they come up with budget proposals, sometimes months in advance, but still we have to wait in anticipation for whatever the Scottish Government decide to give us.

We had been preparing to set Glasgow’s budget in a week’s time. However, given the news that 100% of the total revenue allocated to the council will be decided by the Scottish Government, Glasgow City councillors are set to decide whether we should delay our budget meeting from next Thursday until March 11.

Earlier this week, headlines in this newspaper claimed that the council has received a budget “reprieve”. Instead of the £36 million in cuts expected, councillors will now only have to find £15m of cuts. The announcement is significant, but ultimately, it doesn’t even begin to touch the surface.

We’ve seen this announcement be described as a relief and presented to us as evidence that the SNP are standing up for Glasgow.

The reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

SNP councillors will no doubt say that the savings we have to find this year are just £7.9m (as if that’s still a good outcome). They would be technically right, but would ignore the additional £7mof savings from last year’s budget.

These cuts are being inflicted on our communities, and on our services. Services that have already been cut to the bone and are on the verge of being non-existent.

In a year when Glaswegians and Glasgow have suffered due to this ongoing pandemic, when we have seen how vital these essential council services are, it is a real kick in the teeth from the Scottish Government to ask local councils to not only make further cuts but spin it as a positive thing for political gain.

It’s simply more evidence that those who sit in Edinburgh don’t know and don’t care about Glasgow.

Just yesterday, Cosla, the umbrella organisation for Scotland’s local authorities, highlighted that local government has been at the heart of our country’s response to this Covid-19 crisis. They set out a demand for fair funding for our vital services: for bins; schools; roads, pavements and cycle lanes; libraries and museums; social care and many other frontline services.

That demand was for real growth in our budgets this year – to give councillors the opportunity to reinvest in those services that are under so much pressure. In Wales, where the devolved administration has fewer powers than the SNP Government in Edinburgh does, they’ve been able to guarantee a nearly 4% increase in council budgets.

Our settlement in Scotland doesn’t even come close. Glaswegians deserve better than this.

We want Glasgow, and Scotland, to be among the best places in the world to live and to work. To do that, we need to be able to invest in services to deliver for all Glaswegians.

In the coming weeks, there will be negotiations across the Scottish Parliament to get the SNP’s budget over the line. It’s time that politicians in Edinburgh, and their acolytes in Glasgow, put our city first.

We need a budget that delivers real growth and meaningful investment, to put an end to a decade of cutbacks.