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‘Years of hurt’ forecast after Highland budget

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A leading opposition councillor has claimed the Highlands’ most vulnerable will suffer for years to come as a result of multimillion-pound council budget cuts approved yesterday.

Liberal Democrat group leader Alasdair Christie issued the warning despite the authority agreeing a hasty rethink involving a £1.4million chunk of cuts totalling £50million in the year ahead.

Twelve late changes, proposed by the opposition SNP group, will safeguard funding for a year for a host of organisations including women’s aid, the Blythswood and Newstart charities, and help deprived area funding and the Gaelic arts.

A Liberal Democrat package of alternative budget proposals was rejected in its entirety.

The group had tried to convince the independent-led, 80-member council that a £1million anti-poverty fund, aimed at “closing the health and equality gap”, should feature in the £556million spending plan.

A separate Lib Dem proposal to scrap remuneration for some senior councillors to benefit low-ability school pupils was also dismissed.

Speaking after a five-hour debate, Councillor Christie said he and his colleagues “did the right thing” by challenging fundamental areas of the budget and proposing significant alternative measures.

He said: “We’ve done the right and honourable thing by fighting for services in Highland.

“We’re sticking up for vulnerable people, for those with mental health disabilities, for young people, old people, those in fuel poverty, for those on benefits and low wages.

“For the most vulnerable, it will take years for them to recover from the damage that will be caused by some elements of this budget. It really has damning implications for people in Highland.”

Labour group leader Jimmy Gray blamed both the Edinburgh and London governments for the council’s budget crisis.

He said: “Instead of fighting austerity, which was the hallmark of the SNP, they’ve taken what the Tories have done in London, they’ve wrapped it up with a Saltire and actually increased it.”

SNP group leader Maxine Smith said: “I really would have liked a lot more of the cuts to be removed but we did a lot of work over the last few weeks and we were told we had to find alternative savings. It was a struggle. We put a lot of thought into how we’d do it.

“The focus was to remove the savings that were detrimental to areas of poverty and deprivation and services that people really needed – and protecting the vulnerable.”

Skye councillor Drew Millar, education chairman and a member of the council’s five-man Highland Alliance group, said: “None of us are happy with the cuts that have been imposed but when you’re penalised by both the Scottish and UK governments, we had no options but do what we did today. It was the lesser of evils.

“I’m glad the council protected education as much as it possibly could but it’s been a horrible day, to be honest. It wasn’t helped by political parties making political statements.”

A ninth year of council tax freeze will hold band D bills at £1,163.

Independent group and council leader Margaret Davidson said: “It was huge piece of work but there can’t be anyone in that chamber today who was pleased to make some of the cuts that we had to make.”

Budget leader Bill Fernie, who drafted the document with senior figures including finance director Derek Yule, said: “It went well at the end of the day. We got what we expected out of it. People got their say if they wanted to.

“I don’t think anyone will deny that there is damage to services. That’s the nature of making these massive cuts.”