Bob Doris, SNP MSP and Deputy Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Local Government Committee, has today hit out at Labour for what he has described as "secrecy" over a planned council tax bombshell.

Leader of Labour in Scotland, Iain Gray, has committed the Labour Party to council tax rises from next year but has refused to say by how much. Scottish Labour have opposed previous council tax freezes by voting against Scottish Government budgets in Parliament. The SNP Government has fully funded the council tax freeze for three consecutive years, which amounts to a £420m saving to the Scottish taxpayer. If Ian Gray and Glasgow's Labour MSPs get their way, Glasgow residents would see council tax bills soar to pay for Labour's botched job of running the economy.

Glasgow MSP Bob Doris said: "The SNP have fully funded the council tax freeze for the last three years. Figures show that had Labour got its way, council tax bills in Glasgow would have been £286 more for a band C property.

"I'm not entirely sure how much extra Labour think people in Glasgow can afford to pay. It's time for them to come clean about their secret tax bombshell for hard-working families. It was Labour's botched handling of the economy that created the debt and it was Labour who ushered in a Tory government with a severe cuts agenda after refusing to work with the SNP and others.

"Labour's economic disaster has to be funded somehow, but whacking an extra burden on everyone through exorbitant council tax is not the answer.

"The council tax is a hated and unfair system which the SNP wanted to scrap and to replace with a fair local income tax. Having opposed this policy, Labour now want to hike these unfair bills to record highs.

"I fully accept that council tax increases are a matter for councils to decide on but Glasgow's Labour politicians should tell us how much extra they think we should all pay in Council Tax - in pounds and pence."