ALEX Cole-Hamilton is suggesting a LibDem-Tory alliance could oust the SNP from Edinburgh City Council.
The LibDem party leader said “no” when asked if he would refuse to work with the Tories.
He added that he would be open to working with them if the Tories could overcome what he described as some of their “vehement” views.
He said: “The Tories are not in administration in the city of Edinburgh council. If we can lay aside some of their, I think, more vehement and unhelpful views around the environment and transport, things like that, then if we can find enough common ground, and my group leaders felt compelled to forge such an alliance then, you know, I would support that. I would be in favour of that.”
If Cole-Hamilton's suggestion became a reality, then the Tories would be in control of Edinburgh’s local government for the first time in decades.
He also asserted that there was no prospect of the LibDems working in coalition with the SNP in Edinburgh's council as it gave him “real anxiety” and that they had taken the city “for granted”.
He said: "There is no chance we would be propping up failing administrations, by which I mean look at Glasgow, look at Edinburgh, SNP-led administrations. There is no way we would keep those parties in power to continue their record of failure.”
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Cole-Hamilton also said that while there was no scope for a LibDem-SNP coalition in Holyrood, his councillors could use their judgement to support deals on an ad hoc basis with the SNP.
He said: “I can quite categorically rule out any coalition between the LibDems and the SNP, for example, at a national level. But it’s up to my group leaders and I trust them to make the right decisions for their communities.”
When specifically asked how he felt about LibDem council leaders backing deals with the SNP, he replied: “I would be relaxed if they could make the case to me as to why that would be the best outcome for their communities.”
An SNP spokesperson said: “Alex Cole-Hamilton must be the only politician in the country who looks at the Conservative Party - with its law-breaking leader and complete lack of action on the cost of living crisis - and thinks: Yes, there’s a party I can join forces with.
“People in Scotland have neither forgotten nor forgiven the LibDems for playing handmaiden to Tory austerity, their brutal cuts to social security and their broken promises on tuition fees. After they slumped to a last-place finish in last year's election, Alex Cole-Hamilton now seems determined to lead his party to complete extinction.
“The country has the chance to send a message to Boris Johnson - and his LibDem admirers - by voting for the SNP on May 5."
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