Deputy First Minister Shona Robison has welcomed confirmation council tax bills will be frozen in Argyll and Bute and across Scotland.

Ms Robison spoke out after Argyll and Bute Council, which had originally voted in favour a 10 per cent hike in council tax charges for 2024-25, agreed that the levy would remain unchanged.

Council leader Jim Lynch said additional cash from the Government meant the authority was now able to both freeze the council tax and protect local services.

The authority had initially been set to defy First Minister Humza Yousaf, who had angered local government leaders when he announced the freeze at the SNP conference last October without consulting them.

In February the local authority's ruling administration of Conservative, Liberal Democrat and independent councillors backed a huge 10 per cent rise in bills.

But with a new coalition of SNP, Labour and independent councillors having taken over control of Argyll and Bute earlier this month following two cuts of the cards, the freeze  was confirmed at a special meeting of the council on Monday.

Councillors had also been asked ahead of Monday's meeting to agree, in principle, to a 7 per cent rise in bills in 2025-26 to compensate for the freeze this year, but that proposal by officials was rejected.

The move was welcomed by Ms Robison, with the Deputy First Minister stating: “We know many households continue to struggle with the impact of rising prices, and this council tax freeze, funded by the Scottish Government, is just one of many ways that we’re offering support.

“Council tax is already lower in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK, and over two million households will now benefit from this freeze.”

Ms Robison, also the finance secretary at Holyrood, added: “We deeply value the role local authorities play in Scotland’s communities, which is why, in the face of a profoundly challenging financial situation, we have made available record funding of more than £14 billion to councils in 2024-25, a real-terms increase of 2.5 per cent compared with the previous year.”

Argyll and Bute will receive an additional £6.26 million being made available to the local authority for agreeing to keep council tax bills at the same level as last year.

Cllr Lynch said: “We are now in a position to freeze council tax this year and also save local services from cuts.

“People need council services to live well in their communities.

“They also need day-to-day costs to be kept down wherever possible.

“Today’s decision passes on the benefits of this new funding to our communities, council tax is frozen and council services continue to be available.”

He added: “Updated council tax bills will be issued to households setting out payments with 0% increase on last year.

“Payments for the remainder of the year will be reduced to take account of payments already made at the higher rate set in February.”

A report prepared ahead of Monday's meeting revealed that scrapping the increase and recalculating households' bills for the rest of 2024-25 would cost the authority £80,000.