THE Scottish Tories have been accused of being "utterly confused" over the local elections, after Ruth Davidson and the party’s most senior councillor disagreed about deals with the SNP.

The Tory leader hinted strongly yesterday that her party, which is currently in coalition with the SNP in just one of Scotland’s 32 councils, would not form any such alliances after May.

However Jim Gifford, the Conservative group leader on the council umbrella group Cosla, said Ms Davidson’s comment were “a surprise” to him, and he expected councillors to work with whichever parties they chose.

Read more: Ruth Davidson - Press proposals threaten ability to hold politicians to account

With the Conservatives expected to make significant gains in the elections at Labour’s expense, Ms Davidson was asked on BBC Radio Scotland about possible town hall alliances.

She said: “I think you'll find that we're not doing very many deals with the SNP and you may want to listen to our party conference in March to hear a little bit more on what our views on that are. "Let's make the announcement when we make the announcement.

“But I can't imagine there's going to be terribly much appetite to empower the SNP."

However Mr Gifford, leader of the Tories in Aberdeenshire, said his party did not go in for SNP-style centralisation.

He told the Herald: “That was a little bit of a surprise from Ruth. I always thought we were open to negotiation with anybody to form coalitions, and it was up to every individual council to come up with what they thought was the best deal for their own area.

“We did that in 2012 in Aberdeenshire... and I would be expecting to do that again come the Friday after the elections in May.”

Read more: Ruth Davidson - Press proposals threaten ability to hold politicians to account

Cllr Gifford also said there had been no direction from Tory HQ about coalitions.

“I had always been under the impression we understood entirely what local government meant, and we were the exact opposite of the SNP, who are desperate to keep everything as centralised as possible and enforce everything from the centre outwards.”

But he added that if the SNP “kept banging on about the options for a second referendum” it would make it “very difficult” for Unionist parties to form stable coalitions with the Nationalists.

The Tories and SNP currently run East Ayrshire together, but a Tory surge would make far more deals possible in theory.

Scottish Labour will set out its "vision for local government" in Edinburgh today, publishing a “national framework” for the elections, ahead of detailed manifestos in the spring.

Deputy leader Alex Rowley, who is heading Labour’s campaign, identified £327m of cuts faced by councils as a key issue, and called Nicola Sturgeon the “nation's minister for cuts".

He said: "Our councils are in crisis. Scottish Labour wants to invest in public services and the workers who provide them, to ensure all of us have access to good quality services we value."

Read more: Ruth Davidson - Press proposals threaten ability to hold politicians to account

An SNP spokesman said: “The Tories are utterly confused and it’s clear that Ruth Davidson is making up policy on the hoof – upsetting some of her most senior local government lieutenants in the process.

“Of course, Labour have already privately admitted that their focus in this election will be to cling to power in areas where they can prop up the Tories - and so it is potential Labour voters who should be weighing up whether they want their vote to help put Tories into power."

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “The stark differences between ourselves and the SNP are well-documented.

“But if SNP councillors, or anyone else for that matter, want to support a Scottish Conservative agenda, they are entirely free to do so.”