Humza Yousaf heading to Inverclyde to celebrate council tax freeze

Humza Yousaf said the SNP wants to protect household budgets (Jane Barlow/PA)

Humza Yousaf will celebrate his promise to implement a council tax freeze during a visit to Inverclyde on Saturday.

The SNP leader will be joined by Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan and the area’s MSP Stuart McMillan.

Inverclyde was the one of the last council areas in Scotland to agree to the council tax freeze, with an agreement being reached earlier this week.

Along with Argyll and Bute, the local authority initially sought to defy the Scottish Government’s bid to freeze the levy but an agreement was reached earlier this week.

Inverclyde Council leader, Labour’s Stephen McCabe, said the decision to go along with the Government’s policy was made reluctantly.

The policy of maintaining council tax at current levels was made by Mr Yousaf at the SNP conference last October.

SNP annual conference — The conference speech pledge led to negotiations with local authorities (Andrew Milligan/PA)

It led to months of negotiations between the government and councils on how much they should be compensated.

Poverty campaigners have said the freeze offers little to low-income families but the First Minister has said it will help households with the cost of living.

Ahead of the visit to Inverclyde, Mr Yousaf said: “In October last year I promised a national council tax freeze for households across Scotland and that is what the SNP is delivering.

“Despite Labour’s attempts to stop people in Inverclyde from receiving this support, I am delighted that we are succeeding in delivering it.

“Council tax bills will be effectively frozen in all 32 local authorities next year.

“Council tax bills in Scotland are already hundreds of pounds a year lower than they are in England and this fully-funded council tax freeze gives people even more relief whilst they grapple with increased costs.”

He added: “So while Westminster is forcing people to pay the price of broken Brexit Britain and economic mismanagement, the SNP is taking action where we can to protect household budgets.

“In stark contrast to the Tories and Labour Party, the SNP is tackling the cost-of-living crisis, investing in our public services and mitigating against the worst of Westminster’s cuts.”