Next week, Glasgow’s councillors will set the hardest budget the city has ever known. But set it we must.

There is a legal requirement, incumbent on all councillors, to set a competent budget, no matter how hard that is. The consequence of not doing so is to hand the decision-making over entirely to unelected officials.

As I write this, my group is still working flat out on different options. We’ll likely keep going right up to Budget day, leaving no stone unturned in trying to find ways to make a positive difference.

We have worked hard to avoid cuts to staff and vital services. That’s not what our citizens need in a cost of living crisis. But the level of Council Tax increase that would take would be unconscionable.

Council Leader Susan Aitken said in these pages earlier in the week it would be a 25% rise. In truth, a no cuts budget would mean addressing social care budget pressures which are taken ‘off the books’, meaning a potential tax rise closer to 40%.

Whatever decision we finally reach collectively will have been the product of hard work, deep consideration, and working through our disagreements where they arise. That’s our job. It’s what we were elected to do. It’s what we are paid to do, no matter how fraught the situation.

So imagine what it felt like when our Labour colleagues – the Council’s official opposition, allegedly – announced with a whole week to go, that they couldn’t be bothered anymore. That they’ve given up even trying to make a difference. What a riddy.

Of course, Glasgow Labour’s leader George Redmond is perfectly within his rights to do exactly as he’s told by his Head Office.

I’d have more respect for that position if his national party bosses had lifted a finger to try and change the situation. But when Scottish income tax plans were put to the vote on Thursday, Labour MSPs sat on their hands – abandoning their local government colleagues, even in Labour-run councils.

It’s not like they hadn’t been given options by friends in the trade union movement. The STUC had outlined changes to income tax that could have yielded £800m more for public services. Labour ignored them.

In the end, Green MSPs secured changes that generated an extra £500m more, by making the richest pay a bit more.

I won’t lie. I wish they had secured more – a lot more – and diverted those extra funds to local councils. The extreme difficulties Glasgow is now facing could have been avoided, or vastly reduced, had different choices been made.

Nevertheless, I’m pleased that Greens have delivered the most progressive system for raising tax revenues in the UK. It’s a hugely important step.

But, as I’ve said in these pages before, I think we should measure whether something is progressive by the difference it makes, and if the result is still cuts to local services and council tax hikes, then I don’t think that’s good enough.

We need to have an honest conversation about tax. If we want better public services, boosted by investment, not decimated by cuts, then we need to be prepared to pay more for them.

Greens believe more of the funds needed for local services should be raised locally, and that councils should be able to make decisions in the best interests of their citizens.

Regrettably, we have an SNP-led government nationally that doesn’t trust councils and wants to call the shots.

So whatever budget is ultimately voted through on Thursday, councillors must still come together to demand the powers that we need and the respect we deserve.