Holyrood calls have been made for North East councils and NHS Grampian to receive fairer funding from the Scottish Government.
MSPs heard Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are the second and fourth lowest funded councils per head of population this year.
NHS Grampian is £45 million over budget, and there is a widening gap in health and social care deficits, a burden shared between local authorities and the health board.
Aberdeenshire West MSP Alexander Burnett used a member’s business debate at Holyrood to discuss the “unwinnable scenario” that years of structural inequality have created for public services, minor injury units, teacher numbers, GPs and much more.
The Scottish Conservatives said “rurality is not understood” by the current government.
Councils umbrella body Cosla said local authorities will be short of social care funding by about £750 million in this tax year, a budget the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said has fallen in real terms.
Mr Burnett said: “Politics is about spending choices, and this SNP Government is choosing to defund and destroy our rural communities…
“Our councils are underfunded. Education standards are slipping.
“Rural nurseries and primary schools are closing.
“Our roads are full of potholes, our bridges are crumbling and our NHS is at breaking point.
“Yet Scotland is the highest-taxed part of the UK and we need a government that will focus on Scotland’s priorities.”
North East MSP Liam Kerr added: “Service delivery in the North East carries costs and demands that differ from more densely populated areas.
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“The consistent failure by government to address this, by making appropriate funding and investment decisions again displays the latent unfairness and central belt bias we are all too familiar with.
“This should not be a zero-sum game fostering cut-throat regional competition.
“All we want is a fair share for the North East.”
