Councils have enough cash to fix potholes - Swinney

First Minister John Swinney has insisted Scottish councils are "adequately" funded to fix potholes.

His comments came after the UK government announced an extra £500m for road maintenance in England.

Swinney said his administration was providing an additional £1bn in funding for councils in the 2025-26 budget.

Drivers from Glasgow to Cape Wrath in the Highlands have protested about potholes last year.

Under plans announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, councils in England will be ranked according to their pothole fixing progress.

Swinney told BBC Scotland News: "We fulfilled the request of local government for a real-terms increase in their core funding, so they could tackle issues such as potholes and other issues.

"The Scottish government has adequately and fully funded local government to make sure these issues, such as potholes, can be tackled in our local communities so that we can invest in our public infrastructure and meet the needs of the public."

Cash-strapped councils, struggling to meet the costs of delivering public services, have faced more vocal complaints about the state of roads in recent years.

Campaigners in Caithness claimed the problem was so bad people were leaving the area.

Council umbrella body Cosla said local authorities were committed to keeping roads for which they were responsible safe and carried out critical maintenance "where necessary".

A spokesperson added: "Council finances are under intense pressure, and while the £54m cut to councils' capital budget in 2024/25 was reversed in 25/26 there is only a further increase of £11m, this has had an impact on local authorities' capital programmes.

"This means that the capital grant to meet the high standards and efficiency for essential services, including road maintenance, stands at only £777m to support and maintain assets worth an estimated £55bn."

Scottish Conservative shadow transport secretary Sue Webber said: "John Swinney is living on a different planet if he thinks he's giving Scotland's councils the funds needed to fix our pothole-scarred roads.

"Motorists can see the appalling state of our roads, after years of savage SNP government cuts to councils - and the investment now needed to put it right."

Swinney also raised concerns about the UK government Spring Statement on Wednesday, in which Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce further spending cuts.

He said that "essential" funding for public services in Scotland might be cut, warning that would be a "serious threat" to efforts to tackle poverty and invest in the NHS.

The Labour administration has already announced plans to cut the welfare budget by £5bn a year, largely from slashing support for disabled people and on incapacity benefits.

Swinney said: "I literally cannot believe that a Labour government is going to punish some of the most vulnerable people in our society."

Reeves has defended her plans as she faces a challenge to stay within her self-imposed spending rules.

The chancellor said there was "real growth" in spending for each of the next few years but not at the same levels of previous Labour governments.

She told the BBC: "We can't tax and spend our way to higher living standards and better public services.

"That's not available in the world we live in today."

A UK government spokesperson said the Treasury was providing a record financial settlement for Holyrood.

They added: "It is for the Scottish government to allocate this across its own public sector and meet the priorities of people in Scotland."