Scottish Labour has revealed the SNP has cut an eye-watering £660 million from Edinburgh Council’s coffers over the last 12 years.
Local authorities across Scotland are currently being forced to make difficult choices to keep services afloat.
New analysis by Scottish Labour has shown that the SNP government cut a cumulative total of £7.8 billion from core Council budgets across Scotland between 2013-14 and 2025-26.
This includes an eyewatering £660 million in Edinburgh Council alone.
Scottish Labour has said these cuts have pushed Edinburgh Council to breaking point and left Scots paying the price for SNP failure.
The effect of this financial vandalism has been evident with core council services facing extreme financial pressure.
Edinburgh is also in the grips of a brutal housing crisis.
Commenting, Scottish Labour MSP for Lothian Sarah Boyack said: “Services in Edinburgh are under immense pressure because of the austerity the SNP has inflicted on Councils.
“The SNP government has short-changed Edinburgh Council year after year.
“These brutal cuts have pushed Councils across Scotland to breaking point and forced them to make impossible choices to protect lifeline services.
“Our capital is in desperate need of fair funding as the Council is struggling to deliver vital services with less and less resources.
“The Labour UK Government decisively ended the era of Tory austerity, but Scots are still being forced to pay the price for SNP failure.
“A Scottish Labour Government will put an end to SNP mismanagement and cuts and deliver fair funding for Edinburgh so working people don’t have to plug the gaps of government cuts.”
Scottish Labour Lothian MSP Foysol Choudhury added: “Years of the SNP Government underfunding our councils is hitting residents harder than ever.
“From social care, third sector services or the extortionate cost of housing the public are being forced to bear the consequences of SNP mismanagement yet again; Edinburgh and Lothian need a new direction.”
Cumulative cuts to core Council budgets, 2013-14 to 2025-26:
| Local authority | Total (£m)[FIGURE A] |
| Aberdeen City | -107.7 |
| Aberdeenshire | -51.1 |
| Angus | -132.2 |
| Argyll & Bute | -376.9 |
| Clackmannanshire | -74.1 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | -329.0 |
| Dundee City | -231.1 |
| East Ayrshire | -136.1 |
| East Dunbartonshire | -45.1 |
| East Lothian | -49.7 |
| East Renfrewshire | -59.4 |
| Edinburgh, City of | -660.9 |
| Eilean Siar | -251.2 |
| Falkirk | -184.0 |
| Fife | -303.8 |
| Glasgow City | -1,544.0 |
| Highland | -443.3 |
| Inverclyde | -200.3 |
| Midlothian | 3.6 |
| Moray | -28.8 |
| North Ayrshire | -158.7 |
| North Lanarkshire | -613.0 |
| Orkney | -92.3 |
| Perth & Kinross | -102.2 |
| Renfrewshire | -233.1 |
| Scottish Borders | -143.3 |
| Shetland | -223.6 |
| South Ayrshire | -120.1 |
| South Lanarkshire | -483.6 |
| Stirling | -100.8 |
| West Dunbartonshire | -217.0 |
| West Lothian | -88.7 |
| Total | -7,781.6 |