Holyrood ministers will be told centralising power in Edinburgh will only lead to a rise in inequality.

David O'Neill, president of the local government umbrella body Cosla, will tell the Scottish Government later on Thursday that its efforts to make the country fairer "will not be achieved by a top-down approach".

Mr O'Neill will use his opening address to Cosla's annual conference to criticise the "fallback position" of SNP ministers that "centralisation is the only answer" when money is tight.

The conference comes at a time when council leaders have been left angered by Scottish Government plans to use the extra £100m which could be raised through council tax reforms to fund education.

Local authority leaders fear an erosion of local accountability.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will also speak at the conference in Crieff, Perthshire, this afternoon.

In his opening address, Mr O'Neill will stress politicians at all levels are elected by their communities and the mark on the ballot paper to elect councillors "is no bigger or smaller than the one that elects the First Minister or her deputy".

He will also insist: "In any Western democracy where there are powerful national institutions, there have to be powerful local institutions that act as checks and balances concerning how the centre is able to operate."

The inequality that exists in Scotland is a "scar on the face of the Scottish political world", he will add.

Mr O'Neill will tell the conference: "If we want to reduce inequalities, if we want to make Scotland fairer, if we want to make Scotland a healthier and wealthier place, this will not be achieved by a top-down approach.

"Local government, local services and the ability to galvanise local initiative are solutions to these problems."

Mr O'Neill will go on to say "financial starvation and a move to the centre as we all know can only lead to one thing - the growth of inequality".

He will say: "There seems to be in Scotland a national view from both government and parliament of a fall-back position that when money is tight or when we wish to direct services to be effective and efficient, centralisation is the only answer.

"We cannot allow that to happen in education. Centralisation is the enemy of everything we stand for in local government.

"It does not lead to efficiency and effectiveness, it leads to increased cost, inflexibility, an inability to respond to local requirements and lesser outcomes for communities."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We are decentralising power to schools by making teachers and parents the key decision makers in the life of their schools.

"We are doing this because we believe that decisions about children's learning and school life should be taken at school level, supported by parents and the local community.

"This is a vision of empowerment and devolution and our reforms will be based on evidence of what works.

"Our school governance review will seek views on how best to achieve this, focusing on improving education and closing the attainment gap in schools across Scotland."