| Dear Voornaam, It may be Valentine's Day, but there is certainly not an awful lot of love for the Scottish Government from Scotland's council leaders. The Scotsman splashed on Saturday with the news that councils were demanding the ability to treat the council tax freeze as voluntary and to be allowed to hike bills by up to 5 per cent. Today we got a very clear answer from Finance Secretary Shona Robison - no freeze, no extra cash. Local authority umbrella body Cosla says it is in fundamental dispute with ministers, with relations between some councils and the government rarely so strained. Why does this all matter? Council leaders have already warned they have been unable to set budgets because of funding uncertainty. They will all be meeting in the coming weeks and will have to weigh up going ahead with big tax rises anyway - or even more severe cuts to services. And that impacts everyone. This is a story which is going to run and run. Alan | 
