Monday January 26th 2026
This View has been written by Colin Beattie, MSP, Midlothian North & Musselburgh
Midlothian View asked Colin Beattie to respond to the View article from last week, Midlothian to pay £3.6m of its Council Tax to depopulating councils
There has been reports that Midlothian Council will face a budget reduction due to its contribution to local authorities facing depopulation. I would like to set out how this works and what it means for Midlothian.
COSLA hold responsibility for local authority funding formulas, and the Scottish Government then agree to any changes. This includes consideration for local authorities experiencing population growth like Midlothian or others facing decline.
To support areas facing depopulation, the decision was taken for the distribution to all local authorities to include a minimum grant “floor” to ensure councils did not experience large variations in funding.
In previous years I intervened to encourage the Scottish Government and COSLA to revisit the allocation formula which was then disadvantageous to rapidly growing expanding councils such as Midlothian. I believe all parties recognise the issue and progress was made, hence the past couple of years allocation has proven better for Midlothian. However, it now seems the allocation formula has again disadvantaged Midlothian.
It is clear that our local authorities need support, especially at a time when our services are under pressure.
In light of this I have written to the Scottish Government and COSLA asking how we can better balance the support to local authorities either facing depopulation or growth.
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