SCOTTISH Labour’s Executive Committee has voted for councillors who were suspended after forming a coalition with the Tories to be allowed back into the party.
The so-called “Aberdeen Nine” were dropped by Labour in 2017 when they teamed up with the Conservatives following the council elections.
Former Scottish Labour leaders have taken a hard line against the group, but when Anas Sarwar was elected party chief earlier this year the suspended members expressed that they felt hopeful.
Jenny Laing, a member of the group and co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, said she felt the team was a “great advert for what Scottish Labour is all about”.
READ MORE: SNP conference LIVE: All the news and updates from Saturday
Sarwar told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland ahead May’s election that he wanted the Aberdeen Nine “back in”.
“I believe they are Labour councillors who are working on the frontline delivering Labour policies in Aberdeen, a Labour manifesto in Aberdeen, making progress in Aberdeen and actually won the UK council of the year,” he said.
Now Scottish Labour’s Executive Committee has voted to allow the group back into the party – the Daily Record reports the vote was 16 in favour, six against and two abstentions. The issue will now be formalised by the National Executive Committee.
If it is accepted there, the nine members will be allowed to stand for re-election at next year’s council vote under the Scottish Labour banner.
The SNP have condemned the decision, with the party’s MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Jackie Dunbar (below), accusing Labour of again being “open to the idea of handing the keys of power to the Tories … and making the people of the city suffer another toxic coalition”.
“Labour keeping the door wide open to another Tory coalition goes to show that we still cannot trust Labour not to jump into bed with the Tories and betray the trust of the people of Aberdeen City – they have done it before and there is nothing to suggest they would not do it again,” she argued.
“Aberdeen City deserves better than a Labour party that will openly back a Tory party that is ignorant to the challenges facing folk in our city – as they plough on cutting Universal Credit support, hiking National Insurance and plunging the North East into chaos with their Brexit obsession.
“Only the SNP can stand up for the people of Aberdeen City and deliver for hard working people and businesses in the area, instead of enabling the Tories and allowing them into power through the back door.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Labour said: “The Scottish Executive Committee has considered the position of the Aberdeen Labour group and have determined that members in Aberdeen should have the right to decide who their Scottish Labour candidates are for the council elections next year.”
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