INVERCLYDE Council leader Stephen McCabe will take the Scottish Secretary to task over the controversial tax credit changes at crunch talks today.

Conservative minister David Mundell is coming to Inverclyde to update the council on the Scotland Bill.

But council leader Mr McCabe plans to take him up on a number of issues, including the impact of welfare reforms and the trade union bill.

The talks - which will also include local authority chief executive John Mundell - will centre around the new powers to be introduced in Sccotland following the Smith Commission.

But Councillor McCabe said: “I have put working tax credits on the agenda.

“This is something that will impact on many, many families in Inverclyde.

“In the last two years the welfare reforms has had a huge impact on our services and we have a regular update at our policy and resources committee.

“If people in Inverclyde are going to be made poorer by this then it is going to have a huge impact on what we as a council are trying to achieve with regards to tackling inequalities.” The UK Government are proposing to reduce the threshold at which families can get working tax credits while also increasing the national minimum wage.

But independent experts say that households could be up to £1,300 worse off as a result.

Councillor McCabe will also air his concerns about the trade union legislation, which he fears would have a detrimental impact on the way the council works.

And in relation to the Scotland Bill, the council leader is set to argue that more powers should be devolved to local authorities so that they have greater control over their own budgets.