A spokeswoman said the level of local government funding had been maintained in recent years despite “significant cuts” in the cash given to Holyrood by Westminster and said it was up to councils to manage their own budgets accordingly.

The council y voted on Wednesday to fight more than £17million of budget cuts proposals -- including closing schools and libraries, cutting free school milk and axing more than 160 council jobs -- by asking the Scottish Government for a three per cent budget increase and the ability to raise council tax without financial penalties.

In a robust response to the council demands, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Despite the significant cuts to the Scottish Budget imposed by the UK Government the Scottish Government has maintained the level of local government funding over the four years from 2012-16 with extra money for new responsibilities including the extended pre-school entitlement and free school meals.

“The local government finance settlement now amounts to almost £10.8 billion in 2014-15 and, with extra money for additional responsibilities this will increase to almost £10.85 billion in 2015-16.

She added: “This year 2014-15 West Dunbartonshire Council is receiving its fair share of over £201 million and it will continue to receive its fair share in 2015-16.

“The Scottish Government has fully funded the council tax freeze for the last seven years and is fully committed to continuing this freeze for the lifetime of this parliament.

“As the council tax freeze has been fully funded this should have had no impact on the funding of essential services.

“It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.”