Councillor attacks Labour leadership for ‘using Tory votes’
An Edinburgh city councillor suspended from the Labour group has launched an astonishing attack on colleagues, accusing the local party of using “Tory votes” to prop up an administration that was “avoiding accountability”.
Ross Mckenzie lost the party whip for the second time since entering the City Chambers in May after he broke ranks last month to vote with the SNP andgreensonabidtospeedup a review of the council’s controversial strip club ban.
After being suspended he claimed Edinburgh Labour group leaders were shutting out members who are ‘not favoured’andmakingdecisions with a ‘small inner circle’
He accused them of going to “great lengths to avoid discussion and accountability” and using “Tory votes” to prop up the minority administration. And he warned they were failing to address next year’s diffi
cult budget, claiming the group hadyettoholdanytalksonhow they will tackle a £76 million funding gap.
Responding to the allegations, leader of the council and the Labour group Cammy Day said meetings are held weekly where all members are entitled to bring forward proposals but added Mr Mckenzie “has failed to do so”.
A four-month suspension for the Sighthill/gorgie councillor was confirmed at a meeting on Thursday. This means he will sit as an independent member until March and be excluded fromgroupmeetings.speaking afterwards Mr Mckenzie said such situations “are inevitable while the Edinburgh Labour Group continues to operate as it does”.
Heattackedthegroup’sleadershipformakingimportantdecisions “with a small inner circle who go to great lengths to avoid discussionandaccountability”.
“Labourcouncillorswhodon’t have the leadership’s favour are not included in policy discussions and often only discover Labour policy at the point at which we are being told how to vote.”
His latest suspension from the group was for rebelling against the party whip at a full council meeting on October 27, where he backed an Snp-green amendment during a debate on the ‘nil cap’ on sexual entertainment licences in Edinburgh, voted for by the regulatory committee earlier this year, which will effectively ban strip clubs from April 2023.