IT hasn’t taken long for Labour’s first Budget in 14 years to unravel.  

Behind headlines of growth plans and investments the devil was always lurking in the detail.   

It was a genuine relief to see some commitment to public spending within the Budget and elements of it were certainly a step in the right direction.  

But after the long and devastating years of Tory austerity the bar couldn’t have been set much lower. Limiting your ambition to being marginally better than the Tories isn’t cutting it.  

Because let’s be clear. Labour had the option to make real inroads into tackling child poverty by lifting the two-child cap but chose not to.  

They could’ve reversed their decision to scrap the Winter Fuel Allowance, which leaves three-quarters of Glasgow’s pensioners worse off. But, again, they refused to. And there wasn’t even a suggestion of how they will deliver on their promise to reduce fuel bills by £300.      

What we did see, however, was a promise by chancellor Rachel Reeves to honour the Tory pledge to tighten the disability benefits system, with new work capability assessments potentially denying financial support to hundreds of thousands of people with health conditions.   

And we saw her compound the disastrous damage of Brexit by reducing and removing the financial support put in place to compensate for the annual loss of millions in European funding.  

With a Budget that once more U-turns on so many Labour promises, it’s little wonder their support in the polls is plummeting.   

On top of this, despite Labour being warned about the impact on the public sector of their plans to increase employers’ National Insurance contributions, the Budget has created massive uncertainty for the council’s finances.  

It’s scarcely credible that a week on we still don’t yet know if this will cost us significant tens of millions of pounds. As the chancellor and Scottish secretary Ian Murray continue to tell us entirely different stories of how this will be paid for, for branch office boss Anas Sarwar to go on national television promising “a conversation” on the issue is pathetic.  

Public service providers struggling under more than 15 years of austerity-driven cuts and rising demands should’ve known long ago what raising National Insurance would mean for them.  

This isn’t just a problem for councils. There will be severe financial consequences for GP surgeries through to social landlords if this increase isn’t funded or concessions put in place. And here in Scotland alone, the voluntary sector is facing a potential financial hit of £75 million due to the changes.  

The voluntary sector is an absolutely critical partner in our efforts to address poverty and exclusion. It employs more than 130,000 people in Scotland. And right now, it is facing an existential crisis unless a resolution is delivered soon. 

Today I have written to Reeves demanding the urgent clarity the council and our public and voluntary sector partners demand on the issue of National Insurance. We cannot plan for the delivery of the services our citizens rely upon while operating in the dark. And unless we’re fully compensated for the rise in employer contributions, the Labour Government is simply taking away with one hand what it’s giving with the other.  

Combined with the pressures the council faces this year alone, our share of the monies the chancellor has promised to Scotland will be wiped away. Robbing Peter to pay Paul while leaving high-earners untouched supports neither public services nor the much-promised growth.    

The notion peddled this past week that the UK Labour Government has provided Scotland with all the resources to absorb its pressures and address its challenges is, at best, hopelessly naive.  

If Labour want to start even touching the sides of the challenges Glasgow’s communities face, then Reeves must confirm immediately that the rise on our National Insurance contributions will be fully funded.