A breakaway group of Labour-run councils is threatening to take the Scottish Government to court if ministers continue to freeze them out of funding talks.

Aberdeen, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire councils, under the banner of the Scottish Local Government Partnership (SLGP), want to be brought into negotiations on the cash handed out to local authorities by the Scottish Government.

The government will only negotiate with local government body the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) on the final funding settlement and the SLGP, which broke away from Cosla last year, wants equal recognition.

Now, the SLGP has issued an ultimatum that if the government refuses to back down, the partnership will take it to court to challenge the decision.

The partnership said it had taken legal advice and believes it has grounds for a judicial review in the Court of Session.

Aberdeen Council leader Jenny Laing, the SGLP's convener, has written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warning her of the legal threat.

She said: "The Scottish Government gathers more power from Westminster but will not even discuss with the partnership, which includes two of Scotland's three biggest cities, the fundamental bread and butter issues which matter to the lives of ordinary people."

She said it would be "unseemly to drag this matter through the courts" but accused the government of acting in an "unacceptable" manner and said if there was no satisfactory response within 14 days the option of legal action would be "seriously considered".

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Scottish ministers will always talk to individual councils on matters that concern them. Indeed, ministers and officials have regular and extensive dialogue with a full range of stakeholders from local government as part of and alongside our formal partnership arrangements with Cosla.

"We will only negotiate on the final settlement with Cosla, the representative body for Scotland's local authorities. However, we have a statutory responsibility to consult all 32 councils on the terms of the local government finance settlement."