THE leader of Glasgow City Council has written to Glasgow's Labour MSPs expressing his outrage at the Scottish Government plans to give additional cash to councils in the north east.

Steven Purcell has sent a letter to the nine MSP representing every city constituency, except Govan, calling on them to demand a fairer share for the city.

Mr Purcell has accused Alex Salmond and his government of offering a "bribe" to voters in areas the SNP has support, and is clearly preparing for a battle between Scotland's biggest city and the country's ruling administration, as public funds become even more scarce.

Mr Salmond's own Holyrood constituency of Gordon is in the Aberdeenshire council area as is his transport minister Stewart Stevenson in Banff and Buchan.

Mr Salmond is also MP for Banff and Buchan, and the party won more than 100,000 votes on the regional list in the area at the last election.

The Glasgow MSPs are now being asked to table an amendment to the Budget as it goes through Parliament seeking a Metropolitan allocation for Glasgow, similar to that which Edinburgh enjoyed last year and Aberdeen is set to get this year.

Mr Purcell said in his letter that the north east allocation was a "worrying development" which would be detrimental to Glasgow's "financial health.

Recognising the support for the Evening Times Ripped Off Glasgow campaign, Mr Purcell said: "We have already fought for a level playing field with Edinburgh as regards their Capital City Allowance.

"Now we must work together to secure a Metropolitan Allocation for Glasgow because Scotland's largest city is being left behind."

He said the cash for Aberdeen was a reward for failure, while councils which had worked to achieve savings and increase efficiency were being punished to allow the Government to pursue "political advantage".

To get his Budget through Mr Salmond and Mr Swinney need the support of at least 65 MSPs. Much political horse trading will be done in the coming months as the bill passes through Holyrood, but the final vote late this year will be crucial.

Unless Labour back the budget, with only 47 SNP MSPs, the government needs the support of either the LibDems or the Tories and even then would be two short of a majority, making independent MSP Margo MacDonald and the Greens important.

Last year the Tories got commitments on police numbers and the Town Centre Regeneration Fund in return for support.

Eventually the LibDems agreed to support it if Mr Salmond made a submission to the Calman Commission, and Labour were belatedly also able to claim credit for the regeneration fund.

This year the Government will be keen to ensure all party support for the budget and will need to make concessions along the way.

Mr Purcell is now asking Labour MSPs to make a commitment to Glasgow a 'deal breaking' condition of their support.

He ended his letter with a rallying all to his Glasgow Labour Colleagues stating: "We must step up this fight." Our fight for a fair funding deal has gone on for months Scotland's biggest city loses out as the capital cashes in

By Sarah Swain WE launched our Ripped of Glasgow campaign in January after revealing the glaring differences in funding between the city and Scotland's capital, Edinburgh.

City council leader Steven Purcell said Glasgow is operating with "one hand tied behind its back", after an additional £3.5million in government cash was secured for Edinburgh.

However, despite being Scotland's biggest city, Glasgow got no extra cash.

One area where a lack of money hits Glasgow in the pocket is museums funding.

Edinburgh's museums get £41m in government cash while Glasgow has to rely on its council budget to find the £14m it spends on museums, despite having Scotland's most popular attraction at Kelvingrove Art Gallery.

We also revealed that the government pledged £12.5m towards securing Titian's £50m masterpiece Diana and Actaeon for Edinburgh while Glasgow got next to no help for its internationally renowned institutions such as the Burrell Collection - which has a leaky roof.

When Scotland's Culture Minister Michael Russell visited the Burrell he admitted there was a problem and convened a meeting of top museum directors to thrash out a solution.

Scotland's new art gallery boss was the next to back our campaign in May.

Ben Thomson, chairman of the National Galleries, said he wanted more of the collection to be displayed in Glasgow.

The next month Liz Cameron, chairwoman of Culture and Sport Glasgow, lobbied the culture minister for national recognition and additional support for Glasgow's collections.

But it's not just our museums which are short changed.

In February we highlighted the fact that Glasgow picks up the tab for maintaining roads used by commuters who don't pay into the city's coffers.

Then in June, pressure from the Evening Times led to the Scottish Government allowing city areas to apply for cash from its £60m Town Centre Regeneration Fund.

Originally the huge cash fund was earmarked only for small towns across Scotland.

Govan, Maryhill and Bridgeton were victorious in their applications, sharing more than £5m in regeneration cash.