THIS Thursday, Glasgow’s 85 councillors will meet virtually to set the budget for the coming financial year.

Despite a record level of funding from the UK Government to the Scottish Government, councillors will have to find savings, efficiencies, charges and tax rises to bridge a £19 million gap in funding as the Scottish Government is cutting Glasgow’s budget for yet another year in real terms.

Susan Aitken at one point in the budget process had seemed to find her voice to exceptionally criticise the SNP’s cuts to Glasgow. Unsurprisingly, after Kate Forbes promising to cut a little bit less, Aitken has returned to her natural supine relationship with her bosses in Edinburgh with our city forced to bridge the gap instead.

Each of the political groups will have their opportunity to showcase their priorities for the year ahead on Thursday and we have done our best to put together a budget against a difficult backdrop to show there is another way forward.

But before I get into the proposals themselves, I want to take this opportunity to thank the dedicated finance officer team who have been assisting us and my colleague, councillor Kyle Thornton, who has taken the lead for my group and attended meetings after meetings while drafting up our budget. Kyle is stepping down from Glasgow City Council this May and I know he will be a huge loss, not just to me and the Conservative Group, but to his constituents in Newlands/Auldburn and the city’s political scene more widely.

For the Glasgow Conservative and Unionist Group our priorities will be clear to see. We are proposing a real alternative to the other parties with a budget that will protect household budgets, support families, and sort out the waste crisis.

I will announce some of the specific proposals we have in the days to come but can reveal today that the Glasgow Conservative Group will be proposing a council tax freeze on families’ bills this year. For too long people have had to pay more and get less back. Our budget proposals will seek to rebalance this.

This freeze alongside specific proposals to help support children and young people in foster and kinship care and the elderly to heat their homes show that we are on your side. We’ll also be reversing SNP cleansing cuts and investing for the future.

To make these changes though will involve difficult decisions but we won’t duck the hard choices as we believe true leadership is being willing to prioritise what Glaswegians want to see from their council.

Of course – let us not forget we only need to be making many of those difficult choices because of continuing SNP cuts to the city. The way in which SNP politicians in Holyrood have treated this city is despicable and every SNP councillor who “welcomes” this budget settlement should be utterly ashamed.

The Scottish Conservatives have our own proposals to sort the council funding crisis. If we were in government, we would immediately enshrine into law a “Fair Funding Deal” for Scotland’s Councils, ensuring that like the Barnett Formula our local authorities would see a block grant each year. That’s fairness.

However, as Nicola Sturgeon is still First Minister, I won’t be holding my breath for the fairness to come any time soon. In May, Glasgow can send a message to Sturgeon and her Nationalist pals, we’ve had enough. Back the Scottish Conservative and Unionists and we’ll stand up for your family and prioritise the needs of everyday Glaswegians rather than be cheerleaders for an arrogant and out of touch Scottish Government.