Scottish council tax to be frozen next year, Humza Yousaf tells SNP conference

‘We know that people are filled with dread when the bills are going up and up,’ said Humza Yousaf in his first SNP conference speech as SNP leader. Photograph: Peter Summers/Getty Images

Humza Yousaf has announced that Scotland’s council taxes will be frozen next year, and millions added to health spending, as he launched a fightback against Labour’s surge in the polls.

Yousaf admitted in his first conference speech as Scottish National party leader that last month’s huge defeat at the hands of Labour in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection had been “a tough night” for the SNP.