SNP and Greens to open talks on Holyrood-style deal to run Glasgow council

THE SNP and the Greens are due to begin talks in the coming days about the prospect of forming a joint administration to run Scotland’s largest local authority.

Susan Aitken, Glasgow City Council’s SNP group leader, and Ricky Bell, who was treasurer in the 2017-22 Snp-run council, will be in charge of negotiations for their party.

Thursday’s poll saw the SNP re-elected as the largest party in

Glasgow, winning 37 seats

(down two on 2017), with Labour taking 36 (up five), the Greens 10 (up three) and the Tories two (down six).

Mr Bell told the The Herald various arrangements could be discussed, including a full coalition, a Holyrood style co-operation style agreement where some policies are excluded by the parties as areas of difference, or a confidence and supply deal where the Greens could agree to support the SNP on the budget and on confidence motions.

“We are hoping to start talks very soon with the Greens,”

Mr Bell said.

“We need to look at the respective manifestos and see where they combine, where they don’t, and some of that work is ongoing at the moment.

“We have to reach out to the Greens and find out what their newly elected councillors want to do.”

He added: “During the previous five years, although we never had any formal agreement or co-operation deal with the Greens, they are the party we worked closely with.

“Four of our five budgets in the last term were passed as joint budgets between us and the

Greens, so we have a very good relationship with the Greens and worked very constructively with them.

“So I am fairly confident we will find a sensible and mature way to do this so we will get an agreement that both parties are happy to sign up to.”

Jon Molyneux, Scottish Greens co-leader on Glasgow council, said he was open to “any conversations” to see how the party could deliver its manifesto.

He said they would be speaking to the SNP in the first instance as the largest group in the council but was open to speaking to Labour.

“We believe the party that elected the largest number of councillors has the right to have first go and form an administration,” he said. “So we will proceed on that basis with our SNP colleagues first. If we are unable to make process in those conversations we are not ruling out talking to other parties.

“We respect the result of the election. But the result of the election is people do want change and I think it means there does need to be a change in approach.”

Labour has ruled out any formal coalitions with any other party, with leader Anas Sarwar underlining that commitment at the weekend.