THE cost of plugging Glasgow’s budget gap would be £50 a month for each household if it was to be added to council tax bills.

Susan Aitken, leader of the council, said the spending deficit just now, a week ahead of the budget, is £61 million.

Councils across the country have been arguing for more cash from the Scottish Government as they face huge cuts to services and potential job losses as they struggle with rising costs from inflation and pay rises.

Writing in the Glasgow Times, Ms Aitken outlined the cost to each household if the council tried to pass it on to citizens.

READ MORE: Susan Aitken: City council budget decisions must and will be made here

She said: “Were we to plug that gap with council tax it would need to rise by around 25%.

“That’s around an extra £50 per month for the average B and D household. A hike of that magnitude would be unacceptable, particularly in the current crisis.”

Richard Bell, the City Treasurer, will present his budget next Thursday after the other groups on the council have been invited to submit proposals.

Ms Aitken said a massive hike in council tax to plug the gap will not be pursued, although it is expected to rise.

She added: “It won’t be happening. But it does show that the consequences of this budget will be severe and far-reaching, impacting on every household in the city.

“It is not a position we want to be in. But the very least Glaswegians deserve is honesty. We cannot dress this up.”

She called on the Scottish Government to give local government a fairer deal, stating: “I fully understand the competing demands of other public services such as the NHS or the police.

“I’m not suggesting local government is funded at their expense. What I am suggesting however is that, like other public services, councils like Glasgow have the flexibility and the trust of ministers to address their local priorities especially given councillors were elected to do that very thing.”

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Aitken said almost all of the £550m announced for local government in December has to be directed at national priorities.

She said: “It did little or nothing for Glasgow’s budget gap.”

The council leader wants the city to be allowed to decide on its own priorities free from central government interference.

She said: “Glasgow City Council’s budget needs to fund all of Glasgow’s services and so - with the greatest respect to colleagues at Holyrood - the decisions about it must and will be made here in Glasgow.”