Salmond lobbied over council cuts

Campaigners opposed to council cutbacks in Aberdeen have lobbied First Minister Alex Salmond in the city.

They said they were angry that services for the disabled and vulnerable had been targeted as part of £27m of cuts.

Aberdeen North Labour MP Frank Doran has written to the council as some affected constituents are threatening to sue the local authority. The council's chief executive said it was making every effort to ensure the well-being of its citizens.

Mr Salmond said the council had a long-standing problem which it needed to address. He said: "How the council goes forward is a matter for Aberdeen [city] council."

However, Mr Salmond - speaking at a media event at a supermarket in Aberdeen - claimed some of the financial problems stemmed from a Labour government. Aberdeen City Council has been accused of breaking the law by cutting funds to projects for disabled and vulnerable people.

The cuts include the removal of funding from the Glencraft factory for the blind and disabled. Mr Doran has written to council chief executive Douglas Paterson. The MP said the council had broken the law by restricting or cutting services for disabled people and removing funding from voluntary groups which provide care for disabled and vulnerable people.

He claimed the authority was in breach of various pieces of legislation which said it had statutory responsibilities to provide the services. Mr Doran said he would also report the matter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

He claimed: "This is an extremely serious breach of the legal responsibility of the council. A number of my constituents have asked me to write this letter and they are looking to sue the council. I have given the chief executive a deadline to get back to me."

Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg said: "Under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, Aberdeen City Council has a duty to consider the effects of their policies on disabled people, to apply their own disability equality scheme and to involve disabled people in decisions which affect their lives. The council has done none of these things. It is a dereliction of their duty and is causing a huge amount of distress to my constituents who are to lose services they think of as their lifeline."

Council chief executive Mr Paterson said: "We will of course consider the contents of Mr Doran's letter. At this point we believe that we have followed due process and, more importantly, that we are making every effort to ensure the well-being of our citizens as we work to bring budgets closer to our grant allocation and to spending patterns in other local authorities."