LABOUR’s top man in Dundee, Kevin Keenan, came in for criticism on Wednesday, after he ditched the cold misery of a city council budget meeting to soak up some vitamin D somewhere in the Med.

Not only is Councillor Keenan, the head of the Labour group in Dundee, but he also sits on local government umbrella group COSLA as the finance spokesman and has been a staunch critic of the Scottish Government.

Just last week he attacked “the devastating cuts that the SNP administration have administered to Dundee on behalf of the nationalist government over recent years.”

Despite that, and rather than vote against the SNP, he went on what one colleague described as a “long-standing family commitment”.

Reports suggested the commitment was on a beach somewhere in sunny Spain, although that could not be confirmed.

There was, however, little sunshine for the councillor’s constituents, after the authority passed on an across-the-board rise of 2.5 per cent to all council tax bills.