A CLYDEBANK councillor has called for a guaranteed £10-an-hour minimum wage for all key workers instead of weekly clapping sessions.

Labour’s Danny Lennie, who represents Clydebank Waterfront, said many residents who had kept the town and country running since the pandemic struck needed a real reward.

But SNP MSP Gil Paterson accused Cllr Lennie of making “political capital” out of the pandemic.

Cllr Lennie told the Post: “How much will clapping put on the tables of our heroes? It is mainly working heroes who get paid so little they need food banks to survive. They don’t need a clap, they need a real living wage. Governments need to set the living wage to at least £10 per hour, and from the age of 18, not 21.

“The £500 from the Scottish Goverment is pro rata and taxed, something the government could have avoided, meaning only a few will receive it in full.

“I would rather see a silent protest in support of a fair living wage for our heroes, than a pointless clap that only serves to give politicians a photo opportunity.

“If this pandemic has proved anything it is this: those we dismiss as not being valuable or needed have turned out to be the most vital. And without them, this country would fold.”

But Gil Paterson MSP said: “It is disappointing that Labour’s Cllr Lennie is trying to make political capital from the devastating escalation of the coronavirus pandemic which now has three times as many infections in West Dunbartonshire as there were a month ago.

“Cllr Lennie is well aware that the Scottish Government has been denied employment powers so that necessary changes can be made to wage levels which have been put in place by an obstinate UK Government.

“Without these powers the Scottish Government cannot order private employers and companies to pay the real living wage.”

The MSP said Cllr Lennie should separate the two issues.

He said: “If the public wish to show their appreciation for their fellow citizens in the front line by clapping, most people would see that as a positive thing.

“It is a bit galling for a Labour councillor to demand we do something about this when Labour refused employment powers to the Scottish Government and to prove what we can do when we have the powers.

“The Scottish Government have already introduced the real living wage everywhere they have authority to do so, and they have changed income tax bands to help the lowest paid, but without devolved employment and borrowing powers, further advances are not within their gift.”

In response to Gil Paterson's comments, Cllr Danny Lennie said: "My comments were not about "political capital", they were in support of hard-working men and women who deserve a fair living wage. They don't deserve to be forced in to food banks for risking their health, and lives, as well as that of their family.

" Like myself, MSP Gil Paterson should be vocally angry about our front-line workers being forced in to food banks."