The Scottish Labour group has called for an investigation into allegations of budgetary cover-ups at Liberal Democrat-run Aberdeen City Council ‘as a matter of urgency.' The demand for the Holyrood government to intervene is the latest development in the row over the council's £49.7m budgetary deficit. Labour group secretary Willie Young has sent a letter to finance secretary John Swinney to find out when he first became aware that the full extent of the cuts was nearly £50m, and not the £27m figure, which had been in the public domain for months. Council leaders have hit back, accusing Labour of trying to derail efforts to sort out the council's finance. Head of COSLA, Pat Watters, is part of the expert panel, which is meeting every two weeks to help the council make the £49.7m savings. He said: ‘There is a budget shortfall of £49.7m. That is what is important. Everything else is a sideshow. There may be time for navel gazing in the future, but now is not the time.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Aberdeen City Council faces a significant financial problem which has accumulated over a number of years. Mr Swinney believes that the first priority of all involved should now be delivering better services for the people of Aberdeen.'
