COUNCIL tax in Inverclyde will be frozen for the year ahead.

Councillors agreed to the freeze at a meeting this evening.

The local authority had planned a three per cent rise, but now this will not go ahead.

It comes after the Scottish Government recently offered up an additional £1.2m if the council agreed not to hike the charge.

Council leader Stephen McCabe of Labour branded the offer a 'pre-election bribe' but his SNP group counterpart Elizabeth Robertson later defended the deal in the Tele as she confirmed that her group would support a freeze.

Councillor McCabe has now written to both the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Kate Forbes MSP, seeking support ahead of their respective forthcoming budget announcements.

Mr McCabe said: “I am calling on both the Scottish and UK governments to recognise the unprecedented challenges facing local councils and our communities across the United Kingdom by providing further recurring funding in 2021/22 to help us meet these challenges.

“If councils don’t receive a fair funding settlement in the coming year much of the good work we have been seeing here in Inverclyde and across the country by councils will be undone and we will not be in position to play our full part in the recovery."