IT is not often Stephen McCabe and I agree but I do agree with him the people of Inverclyde are not daft.

However, sorry but apart from that he will not be surprised to read that I don’t agree with most of the rest of his recent letter.

He starts by saying when an SNP first minister says jump, Stuart McMillan simply says how high. That is rich coming from a member of Scottish Labour. They are the party that said they were against the two child limit, the rape clause, Waspi women not getting compensation, child benefit cap and lack of free school meals but when their master in London Keir Starmer changed his mind and said he wasn’t too bothered about these things, suddenly this same party went very silent here in Scotland.

Also, if Stephen McCabe believes so much in everything he says about the council tax freeze and cuts, why did he do a u-turn and reluctantly accept the freeze and the money from the Scottish Government? Perhaps he is just following in the steps of his London leader Keir Starmer in terms of u-turns.

It is also beneath contempt for Stephen to imply Stuart McMillan is not thought highly enough to be given a ministerial post. Did he never think perhaps Stuart, along with many other MSPs from all parties including Labour, is quite happy to remain a constituency MSP serving their constituents to the best of his ability? Sometimes people do that, for example, teachers who want to teach their students and decide to remain in the classroom, sometimes for 32 years.

To turn to the people of Inverclyde not being daft, he is correct. The people of Inverclyde know when Stephen McCabe and his colleagues proposed opposing the Scottish Government’s fully funded council tax freeze and imposing an 8.2 per cent increase here in Inverclyde this was indeed a political stunt aimed at opposing the SNP government in Holyrood. Nothing more nothing less.

Stephen talks about the households in Inverclyde which wouldn’t have paid any more council tax under an 8.2 per cent increase.

Unfortunately, Stephen I do not live in one of those households. As a pensioner I would have lost approximately 50 per cent of my pension increase if the 8.2 per cent increase had gone ahead. I presume Stephen is not going to say pensioners are part of the rich elite given our pensions are the second lowest in Europe.

Wait for it, I am going to agree with Stephen on something else!

I agree the council tax is not a progressive form of taxation I would wish to continue for much longer. That is why the Scottish Government have committed to reform.

This is mentioned in the manifesto on which the SNP were elected to government in 2021. The manifesto stated the SNP would 'reform council tax to make it fairer' and they would run a Citizens’ Assembly on council tax reform. Some work has already been done on this including a consultation on Fairer Council Tax. An analysis of the consultation responses has already been published and the Scottish Government will provide a further response in due course.

There is also a proposal for reform in the Bute House Agreement which has underpinned the Scottish Government’s policy programme since 2021. There is currently a joint working group on this and their work can be found online.

As I said this commitment for reform will culminate in a Citizens’ Assembly and the Deputy First Minister, Shona Robison, reiterated the Scottish Government’s support for this work on reform during her speech as part of the Budget (Scotland) 2024-25 Stage 3 process.

Like many others I would have liked to see this process of reform happening quicker but at least there is now work being done and the people of Scotland will have a say in this work through the Citizens’ Assembly. In their time in government at Holyrood I don’t seem to remember the Labour party putting forward concrete proposals on reform of council tax. All the opposition parties seem to do now is snipe at the SNP without again putting forward concrete proposals for reform that the Scottish people can then comment on.

Tom Tracey

Greenock