Edinburgh Council's ruling SNP group is playing politics despite the coronavirus crisis – John McLellan

It is unfair to exclude the Epic group of councillors from the committee that will run Edinburgh during the lockdown, writes John McLellan

Is Edinburgh Council leader Adam McVey playing politics with the make-up of the committee that will run the city? (Picture: Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament)

It all sounds so reasonable. To maintain local democratic accountability during lockdown, oversight of Edinburgh Council for at least the next four months will go to a 17-strong cross-party group of councillors.

The Policy and Sustainability Committee, a box-office title if ever there wasn’t one, already exists and includes the main party leaders, so what could be simpler than giving it responsibility for the small number of policy decisions needed to keep the city ticking over till normality returns?

That’s the theory anyway, but it’s not so straightforward. First of all, the decisions are not necessarily just basic housekeeping, as the approval of the city centre transformation scheme by three councillors to two earlier this month ably demonstrated. The same group is being asked to approve this decision today.

The plan is for council leader Adam McVey to continue chairing the committee, so the only public scrutiny for months will be controlled by someone who works hand in glove with senior officers. It is like Nicola Sturgeon choosing who asks what at First Minister’s Questions.

Cllr McVey is not beyond closing down questions he doesn’t like, which he did in this committee earlier this year when I was asking about legal action the council had taken against the Scottish Government, and which it subsequently lost.

The administration argues there should be political consensus at a time of national crisis and we should all be working together, which is fine if consensus can be reached and there is faith in the leadership. Unfortunately that’s far from the case in Edinburgh where the actions of the administration since 2017 have demonstrated an aggressive dismissal of any views which differ from those of the controlling cabal.

Take the treatment of the three-strong Edinburgh Party of Independent Councillors (Epic), all of whom left the SNP. They were shut out of council committees in a cosy stitch-up by administration councillors and their Green Party sleeping partners, and now face being barred from council discussions altogether for at least a third of the year.

The response from inside the ruling group to an Evening News enquiry was instructive: “If Epic members wanted a voice, perhaps they should have remained members of the political parties that they stood for... instead of resigning and taking the huff.

“Instead we see the same moaning and griping of self-importance rather than concentrating on the real issues that we are all trying to cope with during this national emergency.”

So a reasonable request for representation which reflects the make-up of the council is “the griping of self-importance”? From councillors who say consensus is important? The tone is remarkably similar to the councillor who said the principled resignation of Marketing Edinburgh’s board last year was a “hissy fit”.

Then we have today’s sinister move to keep non-sensitive finance papers secret, until yesterday including party finance spokespeople, just because they reveal the amount of revenue the council is losing.

The Conservative group proposes that the new fortnightly meetings go up to 18 and be chaired by the Lord Provost Frank Ross, which would be a better representation of the normal business of the full council which it replaces. Epic could have one member, the Greens would keep two and the SNP group would still have five.

Councillor Ross commands the respect of most parties, with the exception of the inner circle of SNP councillors who deposed him as leader, but his fairness as a convener has never been in doubt. He is still an SNP member and although he abstained in the recent budget debate has never voted against his party.

But to insist the P&S committee remains unchanged indicates that even at a time of national crisis, party politicking has not been suspended but ratcheted up, and consensus is only when all parties kow-tow to the administration.

And if the administration insists only Cllr McVey can convene the committee, there will be no better demonstration of self-importance.

Council minds made up on City Mobility Plan?

The explanation from council leader Adam McVey for suspending public consultation on Edinburgh’s Christmas Market and Hogmanay is enlightening, but not necessarily in a way he meant.

“It’s impossible for us to gather views in a meaningful and accessible way at this time,” he told the Evening News, which may be so even if it holds up the new tendering process for the 2022 event which could take a year. But if it is impossible to consult on Hogmanay, then what about the City Mobility Plan consultation with which the administration wants to press ahead? Surely not because minds are already made up?

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