Who will lead Fife Council? Decision on new administration to go to the vote

By Claire Warrender

May 18 2022, 1:37pm

David Alexander, left, and Labour's David Ross are going head-to-head for council leadership.

The decision on who will lead Fife Council over the next five years will go right to the wire.

The region’s 75 councillors will go into Thursday’s first full council meeting of the new term with no administration in place.

And it will be up to them to decide who is in charge and who will be in opposition.

Both the SNP and Labour intend to form a minority administration.

They are the region’s two biggest parties – the SNP has 34 seats and Labour has 20.

Both need the support of the Liberal Democrats, who have refused to say if they will support either party.

Labour also need the backing of the Conservatives to take charge.

Liberal Demorat councillor Jonny Tepp said: “I’m not in a position to say what we’ll do one way or another.

“It will go right down to tomorrow.”

SNP: Notion of a Labour administration is ‘cloud cuckoo land’

However, Mr Tepp’s party and the Conservatives are widely expected to back Labour in a move branded “gerrymandering” by the SNP.

SNP leader David Alexander said: “I got a text from Mr Tepp this morning saying they’re not doing a deal with us.

“So it’s somewhat disingenuous of Labour to say they want to form a minority administration when we already know it will be a grand alliance against the SNP.”

Mr Alexander has previously said it would be “unhealthy” to have a minority administration in a region the size of Fife.

However, he says he’s been left with no choice but to try to form exactly that.

“We’ll be putting forward a motion.

“We’re putting forward a positive case for Fife.

“The notion that a minority party with 20 seats can run a council of 75 councillors is cloud cuckoo land.

“The only way it can be done is by gerrymandering.

“And if that happens, the Labour party will have lost all credibility.”

Labour: ‘SNP don’t represent majority of voters’

However, Labour leader David Ross said: “We believe a Labour minority administration that will listen and take account of the views of others, is the best way forward for Fife.

“We will be putting this to the full council on Thursday and asking all other parties to support us.”

Mr Ross said the fact no party had an overall majority meant they had to seek support from others “whether we like it or not”.

“If we gain the support of a majority of councillors then we will form the administration” he said.

“If not, we will go into opposition.

“We have talked to all other political groups represented on the council.

“There is no basis for an arrangement with the SNP as was in place for the last five years so we will simply be giving the council a choice between a Labour or an SNP minority administration.”

While the SNP has the most seats on the council, Mr Ross said: “They don’t have the majority of councillors and they only gained 36.9% of the vote so they don’t represent a majority of voters.”