Problems at the end of Day - John McLellan
The bins should still be emptied, the schools won’t close and the potholes will still be unfilled, so maybe the public won’t notice. But politically, it’s hard to minimise the impact of crisis now facing Edinburgh Council after Cammy Day’s resignation as leader.
With Day suspended, the Labour group is now down to ten out of 63, so it’s surely not credible for the party to continue to lead the administration. The Conservative group is only one behind so has almost as much claim as Labour, but there’s more chance of Arthur’s Seat erupting than the other groups agreeing to that.
A coalition of some sort is needed, but even a partnership between the SNP (17 councillors) and the Greens (10), would be five short of a majority. As the second biggest group, the 13 Lib Dem councillors should be in pole position to head a moderate bloc, but personal outside work commitments are causing a difficulty.
The real problem comes at budget time in February when some sort of agreement will need to be found, and the answer surely lies in some sort of all-party agreement. Not everyone will be happy, but it could be an opportunity for an administration driven by consensus and common sense, which has largely been reached this term by backroom horse-trading.
There was a previous proposal for a Coalition of All the Talents, and although the last bit is somewhat presumptuous, the principle of taking party politics out of delivering effective local services is surely worth a go.