IT seems that I have upset my good friend Tom Tracey with a recent letter on the council tax freeze ('MSP is defended and Labour are criticised', 1 May).

I must say I am shocked that a leading SNP activist should wish to defend an SNP MSP and attack a Labour councillor. What is the world coming to?

Tom tells us that he is a pensioner and that the council tax rise of 8.2 per cent would have used up 50 per cent of his pension increase. I find that hard to believe.

I don’t know what band of property Tom lives in but the annual increase for the highest banded property would have been £287.24.

The annual increase in the state pension for 2024 is £905.30.

As a retired maths teacher, I will allow Tom to do the arithmetic.

There are pensioners and there are pensioners Tom. Plenty of retired people in Inverclyde are living quite comfortable lives because they have private and occupational pensions, which augment their state pension.

Tom tells us that the SNP are committed to the reform of council tax. They have been saying that for 17 years and we are no further forward.

He tells us that their 2021 manifesto promised to establish a Citizens’ Assembly on Council Tax reform. We are three years into this parliamentary term and there is no sign of a Citizen’s Assembly being formed.

He tells us that a consultation on Fairer Council Tax was undertaken last summer. The proposal was to increase council tax for bands E to H (I am confident Tom lives in one of these bands) by 7.5 per cent to 22.5 per cent from April 1 this year.

This proposal was rejected by the soon to be former First Minister when he stood up at the SNP conference in October and announced a national council tax freeze.

I am confident there will be no fundamental reform of council tax in the remaining two years of this Scottish Parliament.

The SNP is a populist party. The council tax freeze is a populist policy aimed at buying votes. It is also regressive, which is why it is opposed by trade unions, anti-poverty groups and progressive politicians like me.

The only reason we have agreed to a council tax rebate this year to offset the 8.2 per cent increase is because the Scottish Government would have withheld £2.9m from us.

I would far rather have spent that £2.9m on protecting council services and providing our workforce, including Tom’s colleagues in the EIS, with a fair pay offer.

The council tax freeze is financially irresponsible at a time when councils are in a financial crisis.

I am sure that a younger Tom Tracey would have agreed with me before he joined the cult of the SNP.

Councillor Stephen McCabe

Elected Member Inverclyde East (Ward 1)

Municipal Buildings