The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the country’s Local Government Information Unit are joining forces in a move which it is claimed will give councils a stronger voice to argue for local government north of the border. COSLA President, Pat Watters, said the integration of the two organizations was a “feather in the cap” of Scottish local government.Councillor Watters said COSLA’s internal communications were crucial to its continued health and well-being. As the representative body for Scotland’s councils it was important that it put in place frameworks for communicating with all of Scotland’s 1,222 elected members. The expertise the Scottish Local Government Information Unit would bring to COSLA would be invaluable, he said, in helping it to better promote the good work it was doing for its member councils. “It is about giving COSLA an even stronger voice to argue for Scottish Local Government,” he said.  Paolo Vestri, the former Director of SLGIU said it had never been more important for Scottish local government to be represented by a strong unified association.