Edinburgh council future: SNP claims Labour cannot run the city with just 10 councillors

Cllr Day's suspension from the party amid a police investigation into "inappropriate behaviour" has left the Labour group - which has been in minority administration of the city since 2022 - with just 10 out of the council's 63 seats.

And SNP group leader Simita Kumar says that is not even enough to fill all the posts.

There are behind-the-scenes talks to work out who will be in control at the City Chambers | Getty Images/iStockphoto

Behind-the-scenes talks are going on among the different party groups on the council ahead of next week's full council meeting, which will be asked to appoint a new council leader to replace Cllr Day.

Labour took control of the council after the last local elections in May 2022 thanks to the votes of Lib Dem and Tory councillors, thwarting a rival power bid by an SNP-Green coalition. Some Lib Dem and Tory councillors were given "non-political" roles in return for their support.

At next Thursday's council meeting Labour will seek to hold onto power. But there is speculation about a joint SNP-Green bid to take control or the Lib Dems seeking to lead a new administration. However, no two parties have enough seats to make up a majority.

Cllr Day stepped down on Monday after it emerged at the weekend that the police were investigating claims he had sent unsolicited messages to Ukrainian refugees.

He has not commented on the allegations but said he was resigning because the publicity was detracting from the work of the council.

Cllr Kumar, whose SNP group has 17 councillors, said she was approaching all the other groups on the council.

She said: "My job as leader of the largest group on the council is to try and find a way to provide stability in the council. We have seen two and a half years of Labour trying to hold on to administration with so few councillors.

"I cannot see a way forward where they even have enough councillors to fulfil all the roles on the committees. This is really going to be difficult for officers and for the city, which has some really big decisions to be made in the next few months, not least the tourism levy and the budget that's coming up in February.

"So my job has really been to reach out to all the group leaders - I have reached out to everyone last weekend and I'm continuing to do that throughout this week. I will try to find a way to work with other groups to try and achieve the best for our city and I'll do that with absolute transparency and honesty about how finely balanced our political arrangements are right now.

"If Labour's woes are to continue that just spells more instability, more of the chaos for the city that we have seen in the last two and a half years. I do not want a repeat of that, so I will be doing everything I can to provide the city with that stability."

She said she had already had some discussions with other groups. “If there is a way I can convince others to work with me we will try and do that. I don't know if we will achieve that, but conversations are still going on, so in some ways it's still too early to determine.

“No political party has an outright majority, and the electorate need us all to come together and give them an administration that works, is committed and can do the job - and that's what I'm not convinced Labour is up to.

“I don't think they can do the job that's required of them with only 10 people. How can you run the capital city with 10 councillors? It beggars belief that they're trying to hold on. It's quite remarkable."

The council's 13-strong Lib Dem group met on Tuesday night. Afterwards leader Kevin Lang said: “After a difficult few days for the council and the resignation of Cammy Day, we now need to look to the future.

“We have big issues to grapple with, including setting a new budget and dealing with a worsening crisis in housing and homelessness.

“It is now important for the current Labour administration to set out clearly and convincingly why groups like the Liberal Democrats should continue to support them and their choice of nominee for council leader.”

Labour's Mandy Watt rejected the SNP's claims that Labour could not fill all the necessary roles to run the council, pointing out that after the 2022 council elections, when Labour had 13 councillors, three of them had not been given convener posts. "At the start of the administration we filled all the posts with 10 people."

And she said they were having conversations with all the other groups. "Our group are discussing the situation and our aim is to do what is best for the city of Edinburgh and its citizens."