Council shenanigans could rival panto for entertainment value

Could the last meeting of Edinburgh Council in 2024 rival Grant Scott and Allan Stewart at the pantomime for entertainment value? Oh yes it can says John McLellanCould the last meeting of Edinburgh Council in 2024 rival Grant Scott and Allan Stewart at the pantomime for entertainment value? Oh yes it can says John McLellan
Could the last meeting of Edinburgh Council in 2024 rival Grant Scott and Allan Stewart at the pantomime for entertainment value? Oh yes it can says John McLellan
Who would have thought the last meeting of Edinburgh City Council in 2024 could rival Grant Stott and Allan Stewart at the pantomime for entertainment value?

Okay, so they won’t be queuing out the City Chambers and down the High Street for a place in the public gallery, but the shenanigans as rival councillors vie to elect a new leader to replace Labour’s scandal-ridden Cammy Day will certainly be worth joining the webcast for the comedy, if it wasn’t so serious.

As my columnist colleague Susan Dalgety wrote in this page on Monday, with technically only nine councillors, the Labour group has no credible claim to lead the administration. New leader Jane Meagher won’t even be there, joining by video from a family holiday in Africa. With the council now dealing with the consequences of putting 700 homeless people in illegal accommodation, it was a strange time for the housing convener to take an extended break.

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Visiting far off places at awkward moments seems to be a theme for new councillors, after the debacle of the Dubai-bound Lib Dem councillor-for-a-week Louise Spence. Her party won’t step up because of well-paid jobs elsewhere – look out for “Vote Lib Dem for a permanent opposition” or “Only the Lib Dems refuse to lead here” on their next election leaflets – so all being equal the SNP’s 17 councillors should have first dibs at bidding for the leadership.

It would have been impossible to find cross-party consensus under the previously divisive senior Nationalist group, but there may be a chance now the vicious extremists have had their day and a new more open-minded intake is making its presence felt. The end of the Sturgeon era has probably helped too.

Something approaching a rainbow coalition might be possible if all parties are prepared to make concessions as well as set priorities, but of course there is the usual rubbish about left wingers barring any deal which involves the Conservative group, even though it has some of the most experienced and effective councillors.

For an idea of how an authority could work, I had the privilege of attending Dumfries & Galloway Council last week to listen to their debate about a call for a local referendum on the proposed national park for the area.

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Despite the SNP rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon ruling out such a vote, SNP councillors backed the move along with some Conservative councillors, while another Tory proposed an amendment which supported the Scottish Government’s position. In other words, they voted with what they thought was right for the region, not what they were told to do.

I’m sure it’s not always like that, but it would be unthinkable in Edinburgh for a national government position to be so openly challenged by SNP councillors, but common cause can be found without it being a validation of anything other than the matter in hand.

The matter now in hand at Edinburgh City Chambers is agreeing a stable and credible leadership which doesn’t make the authority any more of a laughing stock than it already is, and if that means some councillors sacrificing their dearly held principles on the altar of pragmatism so be it.

What matters is the price the parties can extract from any deals and that applies to the Conservative benches as much as it does to the Nationalists.

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