Councils in debt

According to the Scottish Greens Scotland's 32 councils owe £11.5bn between them. The money is owed to banks and a scheme set up by the UK Treasury. In the last financial year, Scottish councils spent almost £1bn on repayments to the Public Works Loan Board of the UK Treasury and still owe the board a total of almost £9bn. 

A typical council spends the equivalent of 42% of its council tax money servicing the debts. Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire councils all spent at least half of their council tax revenue servicing debt.

 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) spends more servicing its debts than it raises in council tax locally.