The SNP has been accused of hypocrisy for pressing Highland Council to maintain funding for women’s aid charities while threatening a massive penalty if it dared to end the council tax freeze.
Three north MPs last week wrote to council leader Margaret Davidson urging her to prioritise women’s groups.
Nationalists, Drew Hendry, Ian Blackford and Paul Monaghan highlighted “the exponential pressure that these services face due to the social security changes from the UK Government.”
The council has until February 25 to agree £50million of savings in its 2016-17 budget and has reviewed all areas of expenditure to identify where cuts will be made. It was threatened with an £18million penalty if it increased the level of council tax.
Fears were raised that grants for women’s aid charities currently paid by the council could be slashed by tens of thousands of pounds.
While supportive of the organisations, Inverness Liberal Democrat councillor Carolyn Caddick was incensed by the MPs’ intervention.
She said: “The council and the people of the Highlands face stark choices and the council’s being strangled by the Scottish Government which has cut the annual settlement.
“The council has no option but to make hundreds of employees redundant and cut services.
“Sadly, part of these cuts will inevitably fall on organisations that help some of the most vulnerable in society, among them Inverness Women’s Aid.”
Councillor Caddick said the MPs’ “hypocrisy” was “staggering” after the charity’s chairwoman – SNP councillor Glynis Sinclair – voiced disgust there may be cuts to the grant, which was echoed by Mr Hendry’s wife and former SNP candidate Jackie.
Mr Hendry, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP, said: “The proposed welfare changes to housing allowance put the ability to maintain women’s refuges in real danger and this is the reason there’s an urgent need to work together to make sure that women and children, often frightened and with nowhere else to turn, have somewhere to go.”
Ms Sinclair added: “What Carolyn Cadick doesn’t realise is that for every £1 invested in a women’s aid organisation, it saves the public purse £6.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “We don’t tolerate violence against women and children, and anyone who experiences domestic abuse should be able to access the support services they require wherever they live in Scotland.
“We expect local authorities, when making decisions about their services, to take the needs of those who use them into account.”