Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron has expressed concern after it was reported that Argyll and Bute Council is faced with the prospect of £33m less to spend on local services over the next five years.
The figures were confirmed in a briefing provided to Argyll and Bute councillors which confirmed that the local authority will need to make £2.5m of savings during 2022/23 alone.
The Scottish Conservative MSP said: “Despite huge injections of funding recently from the UK Government, it seems incredible that here in Argyll and Bute we are facing more years of cuts to vital public services.
“And this is on top of SNP Ministers' continued failure to put right the years of neglect that has led to the current crisis in our ferry service and the chronic unreliability of the A83.
“You have to ask, what does the SNP have against Argyll and Bute? The Central Belt focus of the SNP is relentless, and people here are paying the price.”
Councillor Yvonne McNeilly (Cowal), Argyll and Bute Council’s Policy Lead for Education, added: “If we had proper funding from the SNP Government we would be able to do so much more to attract businesses here, and create opportunities for our young people.
“Instead of that, we are faced with managing, as best we can, the decline of our basic public services. For people like me, who represent fragile rural communities, that is a very worrying prospect.”
