THE SNP Scottish government and councils face a “stinking summer” unless they deliver improved pay to their lowest-paid workers, unions have warned.

One week after the largest trade union in Scottish local government, Unison, rejected the latest Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) pay offer, Unite and GMB have formally followed suit, raising the spectre of a return to the refuse collection strikes seen two years ago during the Edinburgh Festival.

Cllr Katie Hagmann, resources spokeswoman at Cosla, said she was disappointed that the unions had rejected their latest offer, amounting to 3.2 per cent, but insisted that it was “at the very limit of affordability” for councils and beyond the SNP Scottish government’s 2 per cent public-sector pay policy.