Following our AGM last evening, the SNP Group on South Lanarkshire Council elected the following leadership team. Leader - @maureenchalmers.bsky.social Depute Leader - @rossclarksnp.bsky.social Business Manager - Councillor David Shearer (re-elected)

📣 Thanks to the SNP ScotGov four schools in South Lanarkshire will benefit from a free school meals pilot for S1-3 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. 🧒 A crucial step in our mission to eradicate child poverty, the SNP are delivering for children and investing in our future.

We have submitted an urgent business request to discuss Labour’s cuts to school transport at the Executive Committee meeting this morning. We demand that Councillors have a chance to scrutinise the final details of the cuts before they are introduced - this may be the last opportunity.

It's disappointing to see Labour and the Tories team-up again to deny Hamilton community groups funding they need+deserve. £0000s sitting unused specifically for this purpose. We call on Labour+coalition partners to end their austerity agenda and invest in the people & places of South Lanarkshire.

The antithesis to Reform in Scotland is independence. Their predecessor, UKIP, wanted to abolish the Scottish Parliament. Scots want hope - better jobs, affordable homes, and a better quality of life, powered by Scotland’s resources. The SNP is perfectly placed to counter them.

Bizarrely they got Jackie Baillie to comment on this and she spouted her usual Scotland is shite and Nicola Sturgeon lives in my mind crap. I replied with several rebuttals. If journalists won’t fact check we have to. As always thanks to Talking up Scotland for quick access to details👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

COSLA’s Community Wellbeing Spokesperson, @maureenchalmers.bsky.social has shared words of condolence today following the sad news that Christina McKelvie MSP, Minister for Drug and Alcohol Policy, has died.

Today we're launching a new campaign - #BreakingTheSilence With almost a third of Scots struggling to cover bills, food & necessities, we want to encourage people to: 🗨️Talk about financial struggles rather than turning to loan sharks 📱Report loan sharks ➡️ stopillegallending.co.uk/breaking-the...

Immigration officers arrested a Columbia University graduate — who is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. — for helping lead campus protests against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. President Trump said the case was “the first arrest of many to come.”

“There’s much to celebrate on International Women’s Day but greater equality and safety of Councillors must remain a priority” On #InternationalWomensDay read the statement and by our President, Councillor @morayshona.bsky.social and Chief Executive, @msjaneod.bsky.social: bit.ly/3Fd605X #IWD2025

The Labour party under Keir Starmer has strayed so far from its founding principles that it is light years away from anything its founders would recognise. It's now a party of big business and corporate interests.

The work of the team featured in 'Scotland Tonight: Dealing with Dangerous Debt' on STV yesterday- the program includes the story of a woman who had a heart attack after suffering harassment at the hands of a loan shark she thought was a friend Watch now➡️ player.stv.tv/episode/4pgt...

No leader should face intimidation and harassment for carrying out their role. The past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for many of our women council leaders who have had to deal with an unacceptable level of abuse. We all need to call this behaviour out. #internationalwomensday

Our SNP Government is giving a helping hand when you need it most. The Job Start Payment supports 16-24-year-olds with the costs of starting work. Real action. Real support. Progress for Scotland.

Unions on alert as Labour prepares to unveil ‘Trumpian’ plan for civil service

Our budget will provide £90k towards the upcoming Rutherglen 900 Celebrations. This will enable the council, working with the Rutherglen 900 Committee, to ensure Ruglonians can both celebrate the rich 900-year history of their town and enjoy the lasting legacy of such a high-profile event.

The associated responsibilities for a community organisation that come with managing and maintaining a facility can be overwhelming. To help ensure success, we propose £0.2m funding to employ two dedicated post-CAT Support Officers, to provide ongoing support as required.

Our budget includes a £500k investment to develop a culture strategy working closely with communities and stakeholders to ensure all voices are heard and recognised. The strategy would include a plan for transforming and enhancing the role of our libraries in each community.

Our budget includes a £2.285m investment in Social Care. £2m will go towards increasing capacity thus easing pressure on our NHS. £285k will enable extensive community engagement towards ideas for a hub and spoke model for formal and informal care in Clydesdale.

We recognise that potholes are a persistent concern of South Lanarkshire residents. Our budget will therefore establish a £2m ‘Pothole Pot’ to invest in fixing our roads including new pothole repair technologies.

Our budget includes an investment of £2.850m for the improvement of our pavements, paths and parks. This will be subject to an online Participatory Budgeting exercise, enabling communities to prioritise where the additional expenditure in their area is targeted.

Our budget also includes funding towards community engagement for plans regarding a new leisure centre for Blantyre and a refurbishment of the John Wright Sports Centre in East Kilbride. It also requests an assessment of the condition of Hamilton Water Palace

It is vital that Larkhall receives a replacement leisure centre that is fit for the future and meets the needs of the community and surrounding areas. Our budget therefore proposes an additional £4m towards the project, bringing the total project budget to £27.9m.

We believe in supporting our vital third sector organisations and that’s why our budget proposals include the reinstatement of previous funding for some key local organisations such as local Citizens Advice Bureaus and an additional 6% uplift.

Our budget includes a Galas and Festivals Fund of over £300k to support our communities in organising galas, festivals and other community events. This fund provides an opportunity to recognise the importance of these events and ensures a more equitable funding model for our diverse communities.

As well as being forced to raise Council Tax due to Labour’s tax on jobs our budget will provide SLLC with £650k to offset the rise in Employers’ National Insurance Contributions. This will minimise the impact on SLLC facility and sports pricing.

Our budget includes over £2m to help drive down homelessness in South Lanarkshire. 🏡 £1.9m Rapid Rehousing Accelerator Fund in addition to Scottish Government funding for Rapid Rehousing Transition. 🧑‍💼£180k to recruit 3 additional Homelessness Support Officers.

Our budget rejects any cuts to education and instead proposes a £2m Enhancing Education fund to: 📚 Increase devolved school budgets by 10.3% 🥣 Invest £625k in healthy and high quality school meals and to counter rising costs ✏️ Invest £1m in Community Learning and Development

The £2.35m Place and Planet fund will also: 🪴 Reverse Labour’s policy of charging £45 for garden waste uplifts ♻️ Reintroduce one free bulk uplift per year for every household

Our budget includes a £2.35m Place and Planet Fund to do the following: 🌎 Invest an extra £1m to tackle climate change and nature loss 🗑️ Invest an extra £500k in litter picking, bin emptying and mechanical sweeping to focus on cleaning up our town centres.

A balanced budget with no Council Tax increase may have been feasible. Unfortunately, as a result of increased Employers’ National Insurance Contributions in the recent UK Labour Government budget we have proposed a 4.75% rise to cover this.

We will be presenting our alternative budget today for South Lanarkshire. It focusses on keeping council tax low, avoiding cuts to services and provides additional investment in key areas. See our budget details in the thread below and watch live from 12:30pm 👇 www.youtube.com/live/uQkZ37M...

Watch on South Lanarkshire's YouTube channel as we present our budget on Wednesday 26th Feb at 12.30pm. A budget with communities at its heart 💛🖤

On Wednesday the SNP Group will present an alternative budget for South Lanarkshire. Our budget will focus on keeping council tax low, avoiding cuts to services and provide additional investment in key council areas such as Education, Roads, Social Care, Housing and Climate Sustainability.

This is the start of CyberScotland Week! There's a huge variety of events taking place across the country and online to help you stay safe online and avoid scams/fraud Find out more👇 #CyberScotlandWeek www.cyberscotland.com/cyberscotlan...

“The chances of coming first are slim” - as Scottish Labour conference begins, I’ve spoken to insiders and experts about the party’s Holyrood challenge www.holyrood.com/inside-polit...

Anas Sarwar is so independent he CHOSE to deliver a conference speech following Starmer on nuclear energy, regional mayors, more private sector in NHS Scotland & cutting bueaucracy. He ignored Grangemouth, Waspi women & trades unions but mentioned business 14 times. He can keep his "new direction."

Ukraine solidarity events this today in Dundee and Edinburgh - on Monday in Glasgow and St Andrews

Scotland’s top trade unionist has warned Anas Sarwar over an “absence of ambition” as he tries to topple the SNP.

‘We have a rule when we hear the sirens: if you’ve started operating, you don’t stop’: 24 hours with doctors on the Ukrainian frontline

Delighted to have a first meeting between our Sport and Physical Activity co-chair, Councillor @maureenchalmers.bsky.social, and Sportscotland Chair, Maureen Campbell. A super discussion on how our organisations can work closely on shared interests on sport.

COSLA hosted the 2nd meeting of the Sport and Physical Activity Special Interest Group this week. Presentations from Public Health Scotland and sportscotland helped inform discussions and we were delighted to be joined by sportscotland's CEO Forbes Dunlop. @maureenchalmers.bsky.social

In 1967, Hamilton by-election SNP song contained the lines: Now don't believe the Labour lies, Swing to the SNP, They're just Tories in disguise, Swing to the SNP. Nearly 58 years later it's still true! www.electricscotland.com/culture/feat...

Quite emotional getting a look around the Thistle safer drug consumption facility this afternoon. It's been such a long journey to get to this point - I'm grateful for everyone whose support, dedication and campaigning helped make this happen. I'm sure it will make a difference.

Such terrible if not unexpected news. Farewell the great Johnnie Walker. My all-time favourite radio presenter. The ultimate friend-behind-the microphone.

If you don’t have a library card go get one. Even if you don’t plan on using it right away, go get one. Keep our libraries alive.

Application process now open for Permanent Secretary Scottish Government www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg...

Scottish Labour is clearly working to articulate a clear position which does not alienate Waspi women and their families. But it can’t buy itself time - and an election is coming www.holyrood.com/comment/view...

Met with Ayrshire WASPI women this morning- the fight to resolve this financial injustice continues 💜