A FORMER Inverclyde councillor is calling on the local authority to back a freeze in council tax despite a 'bombshell' declaration that such a move will not be recommended.

Alba Party general secretary Chris McEleny issued the plea in response to comments on social media by council leader Stephen McCabe that he was not minded to support council tax being held at its current level.

Mr McEleny insisted that the council should 'play its part' in helping people with the cost of living crisis by agreeing a freeze on levies. 

Labour man Mr McCabe has already said that he will not be recommending such a move at the upcoming local authority budget meeting.

Mr McEleny said: "This is a bombshell revelation by the Labour Party in Inverclyde that they want to add to the cost of living crisis by adding a hike to council tax to every other bill that’s going up.

"It does seem though that Councillor McCabe is being rather hypocritical as he spent substantial time this year at the Rutherglen by-election delivering leaflets telling people that Labour was opposed to the SNPs council tax increase proposals.

"How can it be the case that the leader of Inverclyde Council is happy to campaign against hikes to council tax in one part of Scotland during an election but will be supporting council tax increases in his own back yard?

“People need certainty and Inverclyde Council must set out its intentions and tell people just how much they propose increasing the council tax by.”

Mr McEleny was responding to a social media post by Mr McCabe, which stated: "We budgeted for a cash cut of £0.5m, which would obviously be significantly greater when you take into account inflation, pay awards.

"Our actual cut is four times that at £2m. On the basis of this cut I simply cannot recommend to the council we freeze council tax."