SCOTTISH ministers have kept councils in the dark about Brexit developments with local authorities being forced to seek assurances from Westminster, it has been claimed.
The country’s leading councillor has revealed that in the five months since the UK voted to leave the European Union he has had just one “meaningful” meeting with the Scottish Government.
Cosla leader David O’Neill said that despite councils being braced for a potential post-Brexit funding gap worth hundreds of millions of pounds, the group of advisers surrounding Nicola Sturgeon’s team is bereft of expertise in local government.
He added that “unusually” there was currently a better flow of information to councils from Westminster than from Holyrood.
Meanwhile, the leader of Aberdeen Council has revealed she is to discuss the impact of Brexit with Scottish Secretary David Mundell, having been unsuccessful in securing meetings with the Scottish Government.
Councillor Jenny Laing, who also leads the group of four Labour councils that broke away from Cosla, said Scottish ministers had been “utterly predictable in their approach to Brexit” and had “no intention of including us in any talks or providing us with the vital flow of information that we need”.
The current EU2020 strategy, essentially Europe’s 10-year plan on employment, education, social inclusion and poverty reduction, is worth more than £800 million to Scotland, with much of it spent at a local level and overseen by councils.
Although the Scottish Government has pledged to guarantee in full any lost funds agreed before the UK proposes to leave the EU, there is huge uncertainty around what comes after.
A Scottish Government spokesman said there were “no guarantees on European Union funding streams after the UK leaves the EU, leaving a number of sectors of the Scottish economy facing an uncertain future”.
He added that the Standing Council on Europe – the expert group advising Nicola Sturgeon on Brexit – included “members with a range of views, all of which will contribute to the Scottish Government’s thinking on how best to protect Scotland from a hard Brexit”.
A raft of proposals have been suggested to cushion the impact of Brexit for councils, including requirements that suppliers of school meals source food locally – so-called “use local” provisions in contracts – as well as the introduction of a local living wage for those who work in care home services.
The Herald also reveals details of the key areas causing concern to local government ranging from the impact on fuel costs and housebuilding programmes through to the impact on “community cohesion” flowing from further austerity and a rise in hate crimes.
Mr O’Neill said: “I am concerned that the First Minister’s Standing Council on Europe hasn’t got local government expert input. This is a real oversight.
“In terms of actual meaningful discussions with the Scottish Government in relation to Brexit I have had one meeting with them on the issue. I made it clear we wanted further meetings and that my diary would be cleared.
“To be fair to them it is quite unusual that Brexit is an area where our connectivity with UK Government has been better.
“Cosla is not being difficult here. We have a lot of expertise in relation to Europe that we feel can be utilised for maximum benefit and I am slightly surprised that our partners in Scottish Government have not been quicker to advocate our involvement.”
The criticisms follow a summit in Edinburgh involving the leaders of local government in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where they called for a guarantee in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement that they will receive “their full share of EU funding by 2020 to prevent flagship infrastructure projects from stalling”.
An internal Cosla report, entitled “Brexit – Initial Local Authority Concerns”, says longer-term major building projects and investments proposed by councils that would have accessed EU funds are in jeopardy, as are employment schemes, with European cash subsidising many council jobs.
Crucially, with education and other local services earmarked for reform in the years ahead, the report warns: “There is concern from within council services over the capacity needed to make the transformational changes in public services that are needed at the same time as managing all of the work created by Brexit.
“The 22 per cent devaluation of the pound since last year might have a real effect on our costs, including fuels and building materials for the new social housing targets. The value of contracts with overseas companies might also be affected.”
Ms Laing said the SNP Government’s attitude towards local government has been “incredibly disappointing” and “only serves to deepen the frustrations ordinary people feel at not being included in the decision-making process”.
“It is local government that deals with the major issues such as driving our economies, supporting business and creating the big infrastructure projects, and it is vital that in a post-Brexit world we have a defined set of new powers and responsibilities, which include great fiscal autonomy at a local level.”
A government spokesman said: “We welcome Cosla’s engagement including at today’s Standing Council round table on social protection.
“We will be very happy to continue to draw on their knowledge and expertise and note that the Standing Council chairman and Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe will receive shortly a report from Glasgow City Council giving a local authority perspective on potential impact of Brexit.”
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