EAST Lothian Foodbank manager Elaine Morrison has said that an increase in council tax could have a negative impact on people being forced to use foodbanks.

Council tax in East Lothian is set to go up by seven per cent from April as councillors try and plug a £17 million gap in next year’s budget.

The increase, if approved at next week's East Lothian Council budget meeting, will bring an extra £5 million into the council for 2023 to 2024.

READ MORE: Council tax in East Lothian set to rise by seven per cent from April

Elaine said that, while she feared this increase would result in more people using the foodbank, she understood why the decision was being made.

She said: “I think any increase in cost will increase the likelihood of people needing to use the foodbank.

“This is no small increase and it might just be enough to tip people over the edge into needing help from us.

"We are seeing a lot more people who are in work coming to the foodbank, so this will impact us.

“At the same time, though, the council do a lot to support us and I know that this decision will not have been made lightly.

“The council is working within a budget and I am sure they won’t have taken this decision unless they had to.

“Our numbers remain very high in terms of people having to use the foodbank but this is a problem across the country, not just in East Lothian.”

READ MORE: Demand for East Lothian Foodbank support at ‘levels we’ve never seen’

Councillor Norman Hampshire, council leader, called for more funding to be given to East Lothian from the Scottish Government, stating that the county received the third lowest amount of revenue per head of population of all 32 local authorities in Scotland.

Elaine said this was something she agreed with but also understood that the Scottish Government might have financial struggles too.

She said: “I think everywhere is struggling at the moment.

"The council will have a stretched budget and they need to make hard decisions to fix it.

“East Lothian is often seen as an affluent area, but there are people struggling too and we need to support them.

“I think if that means more money has to come in from the Government then I support that.

“But again at the same time, the Government can only provide money if they have it, so it is a complicated issue.”