Aberdeen Labour councillors face disciplinary action over Tory coalition deal

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has said disciplinary action will be taken against the party's Aberdeen City Council group after it formed a coalition with the Conservatives.

Ms Dugdale said a proposal by the nine-member group to do a deal with the Tories and independents in the city had been rejected by Labour's executive committee on Tuesday.

However, the group proceeded with the move by putting forward a signed coalition agreement at Wednesday's council meeting.

The deal sees the Labour group team up with 11 Tory councillors and the Independent Alliance Group, made up of three councillors, to form an administration and lock the SNP's 19-member group out of power.

Scottish Labour said any councillor who does not stand down from the agreement may be suspended from the party.

Speaking in Glasgow, where she was delivering a General Election campaign speech, Ms Dugdale said: “It is the case that they (the Labour group) put together a bid, a proposal, to do a deal with the Tories and with the independents in Aberdeen.

“That deal was considered by a sub-group of the Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) last night and it was rejected.

“It was rejected because they didn't believe there was enough evidence within the proposals put forward that there would be no compulsory redundancies and there would be no end to austerity. That's why it was rejected.

“What will happen later today is if they choose to proceed with a deal with the Tories and independents, we will be writing to the Labour group in Aberdeen making clear they are in breach of the Labour Party rulebook and we will take the associated, necessary disciplinary action alongside that.”

She added: “I stand firmly behind this idea, this lived reality, that the Tories are a party of austerity and we shouldn't be dealing with any party that is going to impose cuts on the poorest communities in this country.

“That was the clear and unanimous position of the SEC when it last met.”

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “The Conservatives are a pro-austerity party and the SEC panel did not accept that working families in Aberdeen would be protected from further cuts as the result of the proposed deal with the Tories.

“As a result, any Labour councillor who does not stand down from this multi-party arrangement will be in breach of Labour Party rules and may be suspended from the party.”

The SNP's Callum McCaig, a former leader of Aberdeen City Council, said the coalition deal was “absolutely shameful behaviour from Labour”.

“They can no longer call themselves a party that supports public services given this anti-democratic pact with a right-wing Tory party obsessed with austerity and cuts,” he said.

“People across Aberdeen and the rest of Scotland now know where Labour's priorities lie - they put jumping into bed with the Tories ahead of any principle.

“The SNP won this local election in Aberdeen decisively yet we face being locked out of office by a Labour Party that is now committed to cutting public services rather than engaging with our progressive programme to improve people's lives across Aberdeen.”

Commenting on Ms Dugdale, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said: “She says she'll 'discipline' members who even think about working with pro-UK colleagues like the Conservatives, despite Labour and Conservatives having formed the Aberdeen city administration for almost all of her time as leader.

“She really is lost. No wonder Scottish Labour is continuing its death spiral.”