Edinburgh's Lord Provost facing disciplinary reaction after failing to vote for council budget

Frank Ross faces disciplinary action for failing to back the budget

EDINBURGH’S Lord Provost is set to be disciplined by his SNP colleagues at the City Chambers after they were left “furious” when he abstained in the vote on the Capital’s budget because it did not include a commitment of cash for a community centre in his ward.

Frank Ross broke the party whip by failing to vote for the spending package proposed by the Capital’s SNP-Labour administration and approved at Thursday’s council meeting.

Councillor Ross wants the council to help fund the £2,264,000 rebuild of Corstorphine Community Centre after its base was gutted by fire in 2013. The community centre already has £1.4m and is asking the council for £750,000.

But the administration’s view is that any decision needs to await a report due next month on community centres and the needs of different areas across the city.

One council source claimed: “The SNP is furious with Frank for not supporting the budget.” The source said the SNP group could suspend Cllr Ross for abstaining or even try to force him to step down as Lord Provost, but others said disciplinary action would be limited to a written warning.

Labour backbencher Gordon Munro also abstained on the budget vote, saying he could not support the cuts involved, and will also face disciplinary action.

But Cllr Ross’s refusal to back his party is being seen as a more serious breach of discipline because of his position.

A senior SNP source said: “Everyone is expected to vote for the position the group agrees - we have a strong ethos of collective responsibility. We depend on each other to get our budget through. We have to work as a team. ”

It is understood Cllr Ross told the SNP leadership the night before the vote of his intention to abstain but it took many people by surprise.

Cllr Ross, SNP councillor for Corstorphine/Murrayfield since 2012, claims previous assurances from the council leadership led locals to believe they would get funding for the new community centre. And in December he wrote in the Evening News that the council’s refusal to commit cash was telling the areas residents: “You don’t matter, you’re not important.”

Last year there was speculation that Cllr Ross was considering quitting the SNP after he joined all the other directors of Marketing Edinburgh in resigning in protest at the council’s refusal to fund the organisation’s future plans.

He also resigned as a director of three other public bodies - Capital City Partnership, CEC Holdings and the Bio Quarter advisory board - on which he represented the council.

Cllr Ross, who was a businessman before entering politics, was leader of the SNP group for a year up to May 2017 council elections but was ousted immediately after the council elections and was then elected Lord Provost.

Cllr Ross did not respond to requests for a comment.

SNP group leader Adam McVey said: “The SNP group relies on collective responsibility to make progress on the issues we care about.”