A LABOUR councillor who chose not to vote for his party’s budget this week has revealed his reasons why.

Colin McCulloch opted to abstain from voting on Renfrewshire Council’s spending plans for the next financial year, despite the fact his own party's group presented a budget to rival the SNP administration’s.

The Bridge of Weir, Bishopton and Langbank councillor said he could not support Labour’s proposal for a council tax freeze as funding is such a major issue for local authorities.

Councillor McCulloch added: “I just did not think a freeze on council tax was sustainable.

“There were good things about both budgets, but funding is an issue. The council is screaming for money.

“The rise is reasonable and some councils have gone higher. I don’t think any council has applied a freeze and this is not national Labour policy.

“A lot of the council’s funding is ring-fenced now, mainly for education and social services, and yet the Scottish Government is asking councils to do more and more with less.

“If we want roads to be in a decent condition then there needs to be a better settlement going forward. The year-on-year settlement cannot go on either, there needs to be a longer-term settlement.”

Members voted for the administration’s budget by 21 votes to 15 on Monday, with independent councillor Paul Mack joining Councillor McCulloch in abstaining.

Three Conservative councillors – Alistair Mackay, Tom Begg and Scott Kerr – were also absent from the special meeting and, as Andy Doig and Eileen McCartin chose to back the administration, Councillor McCulloch’s vote made little difference to the result.

But, while he was aware this would probably be the case, he said he would still never have backed his party’s proposal.

He added: “I did not think my vote would change things, but I could not get behind the council tax freeze and I would’ve stood by that no matter what.

“There were good things about Labour’s budget though, particularly the money proposed to focus on homelessness.”

Alongside a council tax freeze, the Labour group pledged to inject £210,000 over three years into employing two health and homelessness coordinators, who could provide support to the most vulnerable people in Renfrewshire as part of their budget.

The group additionally vowed to pump almost half a million pounds into parks and green spaces, £200,000 into upgrading community centres and £600,000 into providing mental health support for primary school pupils.

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