COUNCIL chiefs are moving to capitalise on the Scottish Government's budget crisis, with opposition leaders lobbied over cash to local authorities.
The umbrella body representing the vast majority of the country's councils are understood to have already had a number of meetings with senior figures in each of the opposition parties.
Sources say Cosla has had conversations with Labour's number two Alex Rowley, leader of the LibDems Willie Rennie, Patrick Harvie of the Greens and Murdo Fraser, the Tory finance spokesman.
Read more: North Lanarkshire Council's SNP group faces purge
One senior local government figure said Cosla was optimistic the conversations, with the SNP government failing to secure enough votes for its budget, could secure it a better financial deal for councils.
It comes as local authority leaders meet for the first time in 2017 in Edinburgh on Friday, with Cosla expected to announce it will intensify its campaign over what it insists is a major cut to its finances.
The body said the Budget Reality campaign "will highlight the cut in the quantum of resources coming to councils and point out to the public the damage such a severe level of cut to our funding by Scottish Government will do to the public services people rely on".
The Scottish Government has repeatedly said it wants to work in partnership with local government and has treated councils fairly.
As part of its social media campaign, Cosla has said that of the £107m to deal with the issue of bed blocking, £100m has been designated to contribute towards the additional costs of paying the living wage, £5m to increase war veteran allowances and £2m for implementation of the new Carers’ Act.
Read more: North Lanarkshire Council's SNP group faces purge
It has also claimed that local government revenue funding as a share of Scottish Government cash has decreased by 3.7 per cent, the equivalent of £1bn, between 2010/11 and 2017/18.
Council funding became one of the biggest rows of last November's draft budget with Mr Mackay claiming councils would receive £240m more in 2017-18.
But local authorities, and later Holyrood’s independent information service, said the funding package would actually be the equivalent of a £327m a real terms cut for council budgets.
Cosla president David O'Neill said: "This information campaign will cover vital council services such as health and social care, education and flag up the realities other services such as parks, libraries and leisure facilities are facing. The public have a right to know the full impact on both communities and services that another £350 million cut will have.
“The government cannot simply bat this away by claiming that they are treating local government ‘fairly’ and ‘providing enough cash’.
”The financial facts are straightforward on this matter."
Read more: North Lanarkshire Council's SNP group faces purge
Jim Logue, leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: "There is an increasing recognition that the Government is responsible for a catastrophic dereliction of responsibility for local services. That the minister (finance secretary Derek Mackay) demanded we sign up to a settlement before he had passed his budget suggests he's either delusional or arrogant. He is part of a minority government."
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