Susan Dalgety: And with one bound Katrina was free . . .

Katrina Faccenda abstained in the vote on who should become council leader

Her three-week suspension seems a mild rebuke for refusing to vote for her colleague Jane Meagher as council leader following the resignation of the previous incumbent, Cllr Cammy Day.

After all, she was kicked out for eight weeks in 2022 after refusing to support the deal with the Conservative and Liberal Democrats which put Labour in power.

Her behaviour last December was just as challenging, but no doubt there was a pragmatic view among the Labour leadership team that while Cllr Faccenda needed to be punished, she had to be back on side in time for the crucial budget vote.

Always assuming that she can be persuaded to vote for the budget of course. She is renowned for her left wing views and may well baulk at voting for an 8 per cent increase in the council tax.

Cllr Meagher took the same pragmatic approach towards the independent review of the council’s handling of allegations against Cllr Day. The original remit of the inquiry, to be led by former Scottish Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion, was to examine only complaints against Cllr Day.

After an SNP move to widen its scope, the Labour administration agreed to expand the review to include allegations against all councillors going back to 2003. Some would say that was a courageous decision by Cllr Meagher, others would point out that with only 11 of the city’s 63 councillors, she didn’t really have a choice.

I know Kevin Dunion. He will do a very thorough, fair report. The question is how long will it take for him to carry out a review that now stretches back more than 20 years and includes hundreds of councillors.

The original timetable was for the review to be completed in three months – that seems an impossible deadline now that its remit has been extended. Perhaps it would make sense for him to first do an interim report on how the allegations against Cllr Day were handled, then move on to the others.