Funding for strike deal to be cut from elsewhere says FM as critics say pay offer should have come sooner

Funding used to break the deadlock in council staff pay talks will have to be cut from elsewhere in the Scottish Government's budget, Nicola Sturgeon said, as she hinted at "really tough decisions" to be made as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

Unions agreed to suspend planned strike action in non-teaching education roles and waste services in councils across Scotland after a new offer was made.

Unison's Johanna Baxter said the new deal, which was made on Friday to Unison, Unite and GMB, pushed the overall pay envelope to £600 million, despite assertions by the First Minister previously that there would be no extra funding forthcoming.

Ms Sturgeon chaired marathon talks on Thursday, which resulted in the new offer.

Speaking after the suspension of the strikes, a result she said she was "very pleased" about, the First Minister said: "What we've said all along is true, there is no unallocated pot of money.

"So what we were able to do yesterday, because we know how important it is not have strike disruption and to give workers the best deal possible, will require us making decisions to take money from elsewhere in the budget.

"These will not be easy decisions and the deputy first minister will set out detail of that to Parliament in the coming days."

The First Minister went on to say that difficult spending choices will be the "hallmark of the next period" for government.

She added: "As we try our best within a fixed, finite budget that is not rising with the rate of inflation, as we try our best to help people who need it most, we're going to have to take really tough decisions.

"So there is no bottomless pit of money, we're going to have to make choices about how we target our resources to help people who need it most."

Ms Sturgeon urged the UK Government to "do its job" by freezing energy bills, providing more funding for struggling people and giving "devolved governments more wherewithal within our budgets to protect public services and public sector workers".

Ahead of the new Prime Minister taking office on Tuesday, she said: "My very clear message to the incoming prime minister next week is get to work quickly and start taking the decisions that people across the UK desperately need to be taken."

When asked if the increased offer could set a precedent for other unions looking to increase members' pay, she said: "I want to give every public sector workforce the fairest possible deal we can."

"I'm not like the Tory Government who thinks it's a good thing to try to avoid giving workers fair pay rises.

"I want to give workers fair pay rises - they need them and they deserve them.

"Within the finite resources we've got, we will seek to negotiate fairly with all public sector workforces.

"It's not always the Scottish Government that's in the lead position but we will do our best to deliver fair pay deals.

"Because that's good for workers, but actually having a public sector that is working properly, delivering services, is good for the whole country."

Opposition parties say strikes "should have been stopped a lot sooner"

Opposition parties have said the end to the looming threat of council worker strikes would see Scots breathe a sigh of relief but that a deal should have been reached sooner.

Strikes due to go ahead north of the border next week have been suspended after unions received a new pay offer from local authority leaders.

Scottish Labour said people across the country had "suffered weeks of disruption and disarray due to the intransigence of this SNP government" while the Conservatives said the strikes "could and should have been stopped a lot sooner".

The original deal offered by council umbrella body Cosla was 2% but under the latest offer put out to union members the lowest-paid council workers will see their pay packets go up by around 10%.

Roz Foyer, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, said "unions work".

"This offer could not have been possible without the solidarity of our collective movement. As it should be, it's now up to the members whether to accept this proposal," she said.

The deal was reached after marathon talks between First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Cosla and the unions on Thursday.

Craig Hoy, chairman of the Scottish Conservatives, said the First Minister "was missing in action for weeks".

"While she was schmoozing around the Edinburgh Fringe with celebrity chums - rather than intervening in a dispute her government was responsible for - litter piled up on the streets outside," he said.

"This row stemmed from years of systematic underfunding of local authorities by the SNP government, which left Scotland's councils unable to meet the pay demands of workers grappling with the rising cost of living."

Mark Griffin, Scottish Labour's local government spokesman, said the resolution would "come as a relief to millions of Scots and our hard-pressed council workers - but the blame for these weeks of chaos lies squarely with this SNP government".

"It is simply not good enough that it took weeks of industrial action to embarrass the SNP government into action," the MSP said.

"This will not be the last industrial dispute of the year. With sector after sector balloting for action, the SNP government must realise that it cannot continue to approach industrial relations in this slapdash and damaging fashion."

Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said it was a source of "huge frustration to residents in Edinburgh and across Scotland that Nicola Sturgeon put five festival appearances and a flight to Copenhagen ahead of clean streets and a proper pay deal for workers".

"The First Minister only turned up to negotiate when it was clear that a deal was about to be done," he said.

"Now she needs to come to parliament next week and announce a proper funding package that will reverse her decade of cuts to local government."

Dougie Reid, SNP Cosla group leader, said he was "delighted" a deal had been reached and that "council employees deserve to have their hard work properly valued".

"The deal brokered and proposed by the SNP focuses particularly on the needs and interests of our lower-paid employees," he said.

"Given the financial challenges facing budgets in Scotland, I am grateful for the way the Scottish Government and Cosla have stepped up so that the funding and flexibilities needed have been provided."

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