Scotland’s councils in £16bn of debt

Local authorities in Scotland are currently under a collective debt of almost £16 billion.

Shock new figures have revealed that the borrowing undertaken by councils has increased by more than 10 per cent since 2011.

The annual audit of local government finance also saw councils report an overall revenue surplus of £69.4million for 2014/15, compared with an overall deficit of £54.8 million in 2013-14.

Spend on services also increased by 1 per cent to £10.5billion in 2014-15, with the highest spend going to education.

Local government finance has been under increased scrutiny after the SNP passed a budget with a reduced settlement for councils.

But deputy first minister John Swinney said the figures published yesterday suggested councils had been treated “very fairly”.