A row has erupted between the Labour and SNP groups over the allocation of money to fix roads.

The SNP group welcomed £213,000 funding from the Scottish government for the council’s roads department, while claiming “poor decisions” by the Labour administration had been making the road workers’ jobs harder.

They added that the Labour administration had cut money for roads in 2017/18.

The Labour group hit back saying the SNP should ‘’apologise” for “downright lies”.

Labour added the “additional” funding is a fifth of what was actually spent and is instead of “bellwin” where local authorities can make a claim for funding to cover additional costs.

SNP Shadow Member for Place Cllr Tony Gurney said: “The prolonged bad weather has created the worst possible conditions for the road surfaces and I pay tribute to our hard working council teams who have worked unceasingly to try and keep North Ayrshire’s roads in good repair.

“This task has been made much harder by the series of increasingly poor decisions taken by the Labour administration who prioritise eye catching announcements over good governance and, in doing so, cut the roads budget for 17/18.

"This lack of forward planning created a road repair vacuum that led directly to the current appalling state of our roads.

“It was this lack of foresight that prompted the SNP opposition to increase the roads budget in our own proposals for this year, a proposal that was fortunately passed at Council despite not being voted for by Labour. Indeed this administration have been notable for their absence and complete failure to address this problem.”

Labour Councillor Robert Foster said: “The SNP Group have reached a new low by making downright lies. The roads budget was not cut in 2017/18 – it was increased by £1million by Labour. Not only that but in the recent capital budget Labour more than doubled the roads investment programme to £33million.

“We are used to these appalling tactics by North Ayrshire SNP but they should be held to account and made to apologise for trying to mislead local people.

“The ‘additional’ funding for winter maintenance is a fifth of what the Council actually spent. Rather than welcoming more spin they should be joining us in asking the SNP Government to cover the true costs of this years winter maintenance spend. That’s what our Leader Joe Cullinane did at COSLA whilst SNP council leaders did what local SNP Group do time and time again – stand up for the SNP not our local area.

“I look forward to the SNP’s apology.”