Labour suspends all of its councillors in Aberdeen

Dugdale’s dramatic move after group agrees coalition deal with Tories

Labour last night suspended every one of its councillors in Aberdeen after they joined a coalition with the Conservatives.

Kezia Dugdale, the party’s leader in Scotland, made the dramatic move after stating that all nine elected representatives had breached rules by forming the administration.

A panel of the Scottish Executive Committee (SEC), the decision-making body, rejected the proposed powersharing deal on Tuesday.

It came as Labour had a deal to form a coalition with the SNP in Fife signed off by the SEC.

A senior party source said every cross-party proposal was assessed on a policy-driven, council-by-council basis and pointed out that a deal with the Nationalists had been rejected in Edinburgh as it was ruled to be likely to result in budget cuts for the capital.

Ms Dugdale said: “Labour cannot do any deal with another party if it would result in further austerity being imposed on local communities.

“Tory austerity risks hurting so many families in Aberdeen, and the Labour party simply will not stand for that.”

Labour’s councillors in Aberdeen were requested to stand down from the arrangement by 5pm last night but instead formally ratified it at the city chambers.

There are currently no councillors in Aberdeen representing the party, pending individual investigations.

The 19-member SNP won the most seats at the recent election, but were locked out of power following the Tory and Labour deal – which was dramatically bolstered when Liberal Democrat councillor Jennifer Stewart quit to join the independents.

Callum McCaig, SNP candidate for Aberdeen South, said: “This is absolutely shameful behaviour from Labour.”

Douglas Lumsden, Scottish Conservative group leader, said: “Aberdeen needs councillors to work together across party lines for the benefit of all who live here.”

Meanwhile, Ms Dugdale rejected union boss Len McCluskey’s statement that he cannot see Labour winning the general election.

The Unite leader suggested winning 200 seats – nearly 30 fewer than in 2015 – would be a “successful” result for UK leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Dugdale said she defined success as “winning the election”.

She told BBC Radio Scotland: “I think he’s wrong, I hope he’s wrong.”