Two-thirds of Scotland would back council tax rises if the money was spent on local services, according to a poll released yesterday.

Unions renewed pressure on SNP ministers to scrap their council tax freeze after Ipsos Mori reported widespread support for the move.

The survey of more than 1,000 Scots carried out for the council-backed Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy found just one in three voters resolutely opposed any increase in council tax.

Just 49 per cent thought councils currently had enough money for local services, while eight out of 10 wanted more say in how services were run.

The flagship policy has barred local authorities from increasing their tax rates since 2007 - a scheme that proved popular with voters but left councils in dismay as rising inflation eroded the real value of their tax take by 17 per cent.

Local government minister Derek Mackay had previously insisted that central government had "fully funded" the freeze by adding £70m to the grant pool each year - a rate of around 2.75 per cent.

But critics of the policy say inflation indices have routinely outstripped the top-up, with annual rates running as high as 4.5 per cent.

Council worker union Unison campaigns officer Dave Watson said the "regressive" policy put tax cuts that disproportionately favoured the well-off ahead of community needs.

In many cases cash-strapped councils turned to service charges that disproportionally stung the poor, he added.

"You'll find things like care charges in one area, school meals in another - if they have no ability to raise money then that's an important tool lost," he said.