INVERCLYDE is to receive an extra £2.4 million from the Scottish Government — but £8m worth of cuts still have to be made.

SNP finance secretary Derek Mackay pledged an additional £170m for local authorities as part of a deal with the Greens to gain enough support for the first phase of the budget to be passed at Holyrood.

The announcement means Inverclyde Council’s grant for 2018/19 will rise to £162.1m — up from the initial £158.7m included in Mr Mackay’s draft budget in December.

But local authority leader Stephen McCabe says the additional £2.4m means £8m still has to be saved between now and 2020 — down slightly on the original figure of £10m.

Councillor McCabe said: “The budget deal between the SNP and Greens still leaves Inverclyde with an estimated budget gap of around £8m over the next two years.

“The revised local government settlement falls far short of what councils said we needed just to stand still never mind being in a position to meet the pay expectations of our employees.

“Councils across Scotland, including here in Inverclyde, will face many tough decisions this year and in years to come as a result of this deal.

“This is a missed opportunity on the part of the Greens.

“They could have secured a better deal for councils had they held their nerve.

“It seems they were more concerned about losing their seats in a snap Scottish election than forcing the SNP to provide the funding required to protect local services.”

But Councillor Chris McEleny, leader of the council SNP group, says Inverclyde has received a fair deal from the government.

The extra cash for local authorities comes hot on the heels of an announcement earlier this week from Deputy First Minister John Swinney that 28 Inverclyde schools will share an additional £2.4m to help close the attainment gap.

Mr McEleny said: “It’s time to park the criticism of the Scottish Government and get on with using the resources we will have available to get on with the job people in Inverclyde gave us — making Inverclyde a better and fairer place for us all.

“This is a budget that delivers for Scotland’s NHS, sees the pay cap in the public sector lifted, continues to support the millions of pounds extra going straight to education and importantly will allow us to protect vital council services and go even further to enhance them.”