A KEYNOTE debate at Scottish Labour’s conference about a new parking tax has been torpedoed by one of the party’s most senior councillors.

Cammy Day, deputy leader of Edinburgh City Council, has publicly defied the Labour leadership to support the creation of a Workplace Parking Levy (WPL).

Mr Day, whose party is the junior partner in the SNP-led coalition running the Capital, said Labour councillors had “asked for” the new power because they needed the cash.

The Nationalists accused Labour of "hypocrisy".

The minority SNP government agreed to empower councils to set WPL as part of a deal with Green MSPs on the 2019/20 budget, with hospitals and NHS workers exempt.

Nottingham, the only UK authority currently running a WPL, charges employers with more than 10 bays £415 a year each, although many firms pass on the cost to employees.

Mr Day’s comments come ahead of a debate on the issues at Scottish Labour’s spring conference in Dundee on Friday.

A motion tabled by the train union Aslef will urge delegates to “strongly oppose” a WPL and urge the government to invest more in public transport.

It has been enthusiastically backed by the party leadership, with transport spokesman Colin Smyth saying on Monday that a WPL would “hit lower paid workers hardest” and do nothing to address £230m in real-terms cuts to council budgets this year.

“Labour supports more power to local government but this is a regressive tax on working people,” Mr Smyth said. “The company boss will pay the same as the company cleaner.”

READ MORE: MSPs accused of 'duplicity' over workplace parking levy

But Mr Day told the Edinburgh Evening News that Labour councillors backed a WPL.

He said: “We have argued councils need powers like the tourist tax and the workplace parking levy. What we have committed to do [in Edinburgh] is consult with the city about whether the WPL is 
appropriate for the Capital and if so how that would look.

“It’s not about targeting motorists, it’s about creating a more sustainable Edinburgh.

“This is one of the tools we should be looking at and I hope conference will accept that.

“I agree with some of what Colin Smyth says - how it should not target low-paid workers while benefitting chief executives. That’s exactly what we want to talk to the city about.”

“If conference decides to pass this motion I hope it comes with caveats that understand local government is struggling over powers to raise finance and this is one we have asked for.”

Labour councillors in Edinburgh and Glasgow stood on manifesto commitments last year to explore a WPL, while Tory councillors in Edinburgh also backed the idea in principle.

However Labour, Tory and LibDem MSPs at Holyrood oppose the proposal.

READ MORE: Labour MSP brands parking tax an 'outrage' despite his party floating it two years ago

Tommy Sheppard, the SNP MP for Edinburgh East, said: “Councillor Day is entirely right - Labour asked for these powers. Yet when the Scottish Government accept that demand, Labour cry foul and insist it should be stopped.

“Ultimately it’s for the City of Edinburgh Council to decide whether a car park levy makes sense. That’s localism in action.

“But Labour’s opportunistic and insincere opposition to giving councils more power exposes how unprincipled the party has become.”

Green MSP John Finnie added: “Perhaps Councillor Day could lend Labour MSPs a copy of his manifesto, and ask someone to read it to them, before they embarrass themselves further on this matter.”

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "Many Labour groups across Scotland have already ruled out using this tax.

"This week, delegates will democratically debate and vote on this motion in the best traditions of our party,  but Cammy Day is absolutely right to highlight the funding cuts that local councils have faced - including a £230m cut in the most recent budget."