An unacceptable state of affairs

Spent 6 hours today in a meeting discussing pour budget proposals. Its a weird experience as its unlikely our proposals will be passed, but its crucial that we offer a real alternative to the administration who have already shown with their devastating cuts to the vulnerable and excluded that the few principles they have are of the right wing variety.

What was really frustrating was the fact that it was only today that we got the final figures for the budget settlement from the Scottish Government. The Council Budget is around £1.2b and we have the figures we need with only 8 weeks to go. Give the administration their due, they gave the figures to us only a day or so after they got them, but it is unacceptable that the Scottish Government treats local government with such disrespect that it expects it to produce a coherent budget under such circumstances.