Local authorities in Scotland are facing a debt crisis huge amounts of money are wasted repaying largely historic debts, to the UK Treasury and to private banks. The levels of debt Scottish Local Authorities have is double the average in England and Wales and amounts to more than £6000 per household.

To start examining this and looking at different ways of financing and spending local authority money we’ve brought together speakers from a range of organisations and want you all to come and contribute.

Please book your free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alternatives-to-the-local-council-debt-crisis-tickets-30071806583 

Speakers include:

Peter Lawson, Unite. Unte have been doing lots of work on local council debt in Scotland and Peter and his colleague Brian were the main writers and researchers for this work.

Kelly McBride, The Democratic Society. DS are currently doing work around participatory budgeting in Scotland (and in particular using digital tools to facilitate this in local councils) and how this can be used to empower citizens in financial matters.

Christine Berry Principal Director for Policy & Government, New Economics Foundation
New Economics Foundation recently published a paper calling for a national investment bank in Scotland. You can read the report in full here: http://allofusfirst.org/tasks/render/file/?fileID=3B9725EA-E444-5C6C-D28A3B3E27195B57

There will then be plenty of time for discussion and questions.