AS an avid reader of 'View from the Chamber' I would like to respond to Stuart McMillan MSP’s comments on council funding.

I agree with him that the current funding formula used by the Scottish Government does not give sufficient weight to deprivation and gives too much weight to population.

Council leaders and MSPs from areas of growing population will argue the exact opposite.

Decisions on distribution are ultimately for Scottish ministers, normally after consultation with COSLA.

Unfortunately, a recent change to distribution, without any consultation with COSLA, made by Mr McMillan’s colleague Shona Robison MSP, the Deputy First Minister, has resulted in Inverclyde receiving a lower grant settlement for 2024/25 than would have been the case if she had used the same approach as last year.

The fundamental issue however is not the distribution of the cake but its size.

The local government cake has been shrinking in real terms for many years when at the same time the size of the overall Scottish cake has been growing, despite what Mr McMillan calls Westminster austerity.

I do nevertheless accept that the current budget is very challenging for the Scottish Government, in part due to Tory austerity and in part due to their own failure to grow the economy and the wrong policy choices they have made.

And that is the heart of the matter. Politics is about choices and priorities.

The Scottish Government, supported by Mr McMillan, is choosing to spend £147.3m on a regressive and financially irresponsible council tax freeze, which will result in cuts to services and jobs here in Inverclyde and across Scotland, when there is a better alternative.

That alternative would be to give councils the £147.3m without conditions, which would allow us to protect more jobs and services and reduce the extent of any council tax rise to below five per cent.

To do this doesn’t require any more money from Westminster. It only requires the First Minister to trust democratically elected local councillors, including his own SNP councillors, to make the right decisions for our communities.

That’s what Mr McMillan should be lobbying for.

Councillor Stephen McCabe

Leader of the Council

Elected Member Inverclyde East (Ward 1)