Edinburgh City Council leader acknowledges need to "build trust" and "set the record straight"

The leader of Edinburgh City Council says she needs to "build trust" and "set the record straight" after taking on the role two weeks ago.

Jane Meagher took over from Cammy Day, after allegations of inappropriate texts to refugees forced him to resign.

The Labour party maintained its hold on the authority, with the new Labour group leader taking on the role, following a vote at the last Council meeting before Christmas, which saw 32 councillors back her and 28 oppose.

“I don’t think the alleged actions of one individual necessarily reflect on the whole Labour group, or indeed on the whole Labour party"

Despite the circumstances of her coming into the job though, she’s insisted trust in the Labour led administration shouldn't be affected:

“I don’t think the alleged actions of one individual necessarily reflect on the whole Labour group, or indeed on the whole Labour party. You know, I’m one of a very large family and I don’t have to take responsibility for all the actions of my nine siblings so the same principle applies”

“I understand that I need to be building trust and I fully intend to do that, and part of that is actually setting the record straight about what is and isn’t happening and what has and has not happened”

“The actions of one individual, which are being thoroughly investigated by the police by the standards commission and internally within the council through the Safecall arrangements, I’m confident they can be dealt with on that basis”

Addressing criticism - particularly from the SNP and Greens - that Labour continuing to lead the administration in Edinburgh was unfair, Ms Meagher said the makeup of the council means no one party can take absolute control, meaning cross party cooperation was essential.

"as leader my ability to build consensus is exactly what this city needs”

Currently, the SNP are the largest party in the City Chambers by a large margin, followed by the Lib Dems, whilst Labour share joint third place with the Greens. Jane Meagher though, says that’s not reflective of how politics works at council level:

“The way Edinburgh‘s voting works, the way the electorate works, is that no one party could take absolute control of the council. Indeed, the way things are at the moment no two parties could and actually the way the sums stack up, no three parties could, so any arrangement that happens has to be one that’s in collaboration and cooperation with other political groups”

“By nature I’m a consensus builder and I also believe that many of the issues that affect local government are not particularly aligned to any particular political party and I think that as leader my ability to build consensus is exactly what this city needs”

Cammy Day remains a Councillor, though is suspended by the Labour Party. City of Edinburgh Council said it dealt with complaints through established processes in consultation with an independent whistleblowing service and, where appropriate, Police Scotland.

Police Scotland is investigating a report of inappropriate behaviour received on October 22nd.