I HAVE one question for the councillors who voted through a ruinous council tax increase at our budget meeting two weeks ago: What is £2.9m take away £2.9m? The answer is zero.

This – zero money coming into our area – is the true cost to the people and place of Inverclyde of the decision made on our budget day.

My Labour colleagues rejected money from the Scottish Government that would benefit everyone in Inverclyde.

On February 29, two budgets were presented: the SNP budget, with minimal cuts and an acceptance of the council tax freeze, and the Labour budget, supported by Councillor Tommy McVey and Provost McKenzie, also with minimal cuts, but with an 8.2 per cent increase in council tax.

The £2.9m that would be raised from increasing council tax was entirely equivalent to the money being offered to Inverclyde Council from the Scottish Government.

In my last column I highlighted that the choice was between the same amount of money coming from the pockets of the people of Inverclyde, or from the Scottish Government.

I made it clear which I would prefer, and my team emphasised this resolutely in the chamber on the day.

During the budget meeting, Cllr Lynne Quinn proposed an amendment to delay the decision about our budget and come back to the chamber once the UK Government’s Spring Statement had been announced.

We, as a team, whilst standing squarely behind the content and principles of our budget, were nonetheless happy to stand it down, in favour of Cllr Quinn’s amendment: we were prepared to take whatever action possible to ensure that there was no un-necessary council tax rise in Inverclyde.

The debate continued and it can still be seen via YouTube links to council meetings.

A point that remains unfathomable to me is that, by raising the council tax by 8.2 per cent - as was eventually decided by the votes of the nine Labour councillors, Cllr McVey, Provost McKenzie, and the abstentions of councillors Brooks and Wilson – Inverclyde now has the second highest Band D council tax rate in Scotland.

Given the profile of our area and our population, this truly is unfathomable to me.

And so, the decision was made, and Inverclyde’s council tax will rise by 8.2 per cent.

There are still means by which this decision could be changed – our colleagues can still change their minds on this, and we urge them to do so.

Why take the same amount of money from people’s pockets that was on offer from the Scottish Government? It is not too late to change this decision.

The SNP group in council continue to fight for this change to be made. It is simply unacceptable to us that Inverclyde has the second highest council tax rate in Scotland, following a rise that was entirely unnecessary.

Changing the decision – accepting the freeze – would double the benefit financially to Inverclyde: £2.9m stays in your pockets (or more accurately, does something productive in the local economy) and the £2.9m from the Scottish Government does its work within the council budget.

Currently, we have removed £2.9m from the local economy, for use in the council budget instead, and the Scottish Government funding is not available to us as a result of the decision that has been made.

We can still change this. It may take some genuine reflection and humility to get there – it is seldom easy to change your mind on a firmly held opinion or on a decision that has been made – but we can still change this, it is not too late