South of Scotland councils agree tax freeze deals

Councillors in the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway have agreed in principle to a Scottish government deal which would see council tax frozen.

The offer would limit budget cuts for the authorities to 2.6%.

That translates to about £6m in the Scottish Borders and a little short of £15m in neighbouring Dumfries and Galloway.

Failure to agree the Holyrood deal could have seen funding to the councils reduced by 6.4%

As well as agreeing to the tax freeze, the authorities had to commit to protecting police numbers, continuing free personal and nursing care for the elderly and protecting teacher posts.