THE leader of East Dunbartonshire Council’s SNP group insists they were right to quit the administration — which faces weeks with no replacement.
A temporary cross-party group has been put in place to work on the budget after the minority administration stood down in December.
The seven-member team had been unable to prevent the Tory and Lib Dem opposition groups, which have six councillors each, from combining to force through changes to redundancy packages for council staff.
Now officers at the local authority have had to put special arrangements in place to handle council business after neither the Tories nor Lib Dems put forward nominations to take the leadership at a special meeting last Thursday.
With the budget meeting due in February, the next opportunity to settle the leadership will not come until March. Labour councillor Alan Moir said the administration row had “taken the authority to an all-time low”, while Lib Dem group leader Vaughan Moody said his side was “saddened to see the SNP group abandon the administration”.
He told the Kirkintilloch Herald: “In the absence of their leadership, we took the initiative to propose an all-party working group to oversee the budget which would ensure that vital council business is able to continue.
“We look forward to working constructively with representatives from all parties and none towards a successful budget.”
However, SNP group leader Gordan Low told The National the redundancy vote, which imposed a reduction in terms for workers who agree to leave their post voluntarily, had “crossed a red line”.
“There is a real chance we will face industrial action. Whoever the administration is has to answer for that. How can we do that when we do not agree with the change on principle?”
Low added: “Throughout the period of the SNP administration, these two groups worked hand in glove to frustrate council business and push through their right wing agenda.
“Yet having effectively made the council ungovernable, it turns out they were unprepared for the consequences. To engineer this outcome with no plans for what to do next is completely irresponsible.”
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