Tories now the biggest party in council
Conservatives now have more councillors in Stirling Council than any political party - but not overall power.
Dunblane and Bridge of Allan ward’s by-election last Thursday saw Tory candidate Robin Kleinman elected with a sizeable majority of first choice votes - 1,832.
The SNP, amidst a backdrop of political woes nationally in recent weeks, were disappointed to lose the seat, with the SNP’S Ahsan Khan coming in second with 1,202 votes.
There were 4,498 ballots cast for a turnout of just 38.1 per cent.
A six-member Labour group took control of the council in a minority administration last year following the local government elections, although one, Ewan Dillon, is now listed as an independent councillor.
Labour had been backed by the seven Conservative councillors and in return Labour agreed to back Tory councillor Douglas Dodds as provost as well some other posts.
However, both groups stopped short of forming a coalition or joint administration.
There are now five Labour members, eight Conservatives, seven SNP, one Green and two independent councillors, the other being former SNP councillor Alasdair Macpherson.
The by-election result makes little difference to the running of the council on paper.
The SNP group have consistently refused to cooperate with the Tories, leaving the Conservatives to rely on Labour councillors to fall on their own swords and relinquish minority control if they were to take over the council’s administration.
This week, Tory group leader Councillor Neil Benny said:“the Conservatives are now on eight councillors and the largest political group on the council.
“Twelve votes are needed to get anything through.
“We will take some time over the next few weeks to look at the current arrangements for leadership at the council.
“Instead of jockeying for position, I am more interested in speeding up the woefully slow pace of economic development, getting some much needed investment into our road network and making sure council services work well for the people of Stirling.”