The SNP's Chris McEleny has insisted that his Labour councillor rival is in fact a "dick" - after he was urged to apologise for calling him one.

McEleny, the leader of the opposition group on Inverclyde council, called Labour council leader Stephen McCabe a "dick" on Twitter.

McCabe said he hoped that McEleny would say sorry for the name calling, but said he was “not sure he has it in his character to apologise”.

The exchange took place after a public spat over the upcoming budget vote on the council.

McEleny claimed that the council had been provided with the SNP's alternative plan to what McCabe, the council leader, was setting out.

McCabe stated that McEleny “wants us to ignore the views of our residents and our staff and just get on and agree £ms of cuts…” at which point the SNP councillor asked “Do you go out of your way to come across as a dick at all times or is it natural?"

McCabe, affronted at the very thought of being called a dick, then spoke to The Herald newspaper and told them he was "very disappointed" such language was used.

Defending his position, McEleny stated that McCabe’s behaviour was the definition of being a dick.

He said: “I think the guy has sent me something like over 100 messages late at night over the past while on Twitter. It’s certainly the sort of behaviour that the colloquialism implied.

“However it’s really not an issue I’ll be giving any further thought to when I’m in the process of trying to set our councils budget for the coming year.

"If I was offering any advice to Stephen, he perhaps should be spending more time concentrating on that late at night instead of this weird obsession he has of contacting me to somehow relate everything that’s gone wrong in the world to the SNP and me.”