ANAS SARWAR has called on the SNP to act to avoid a “summer of discontent” after council workers voted to reject a pay offer.

Unison members voted overwhelmingly against the 2 per cent offer, with 88 per cent against the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) deal and 74 per cent backing industrial action up to and including strikes.

The Scottish Labour leader said the offer failed to recognise the rising cost of living.

Mr Sarwar said: “The SNP’s chronic underfunding of local government has put our vital services at risk and stalls our communities’ recovery.

“The SNP cuts to council budgets have been more brutal than even the Tories at Westminster.

“These workers have gone above and beyond on the front lines of this crisis: their pay offer should reflect that.

Cuts to councils’ non-ringfenced budgets have seen a loss of almost £1 billion from local services since 2014.

SNP finance secretary Kate Forbes said: “The SNP have protected councils from the kind of draconian cuts implemented by the Tories in a decade of Westminster austerity, which the Labour Party did nothing to stop.”