Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Deadlock ends as SNP and Labour agree joint leadership of Fife Council

Post Thumbnail

The SNP and Labour have struck a power-sharing deal to run Fife Council, The Courier understands.

After a two-week deadlock, the region’s two biggest parties have reached an agreement to form a joint administration for the next five years.

No official announcement will be made until after Thursday’s full council meeting as the deal had to be agreed by both parties’ HQs on Wednesday night.

But it is likely that SNP leader David Alexander and Labour head David Ross will become joint administration leaders.

A senior Labour source confirmed the party’s ruling body, the Scottish Executive Council, has approved a submission by the Kingdom’s branch to form the group.

They stressed that every cross-party coalition proposal was assessed on a policy-driven council-by-council basis, following controversies in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

The deal to bring the former political adversaries together is a first for Fife and comes despite some dissent in both camps.

It follows the local election on May 4 which saw the SNP become the biggest party with 29 councillors but fail to secure a majority.

Labour secured 24 seats, while the Conservatives have 15 and Liberal Democrats seven.

Both the SNP and Labour immediately ruled out a deal with the Tories.

Mr Ross said dialogue was continuing with the SNP and that details would be made available on Thursday.

Previously, he said there remained very real differences between the two groups on national issues, particularly the question of Scottish independence and the performance of the Scottish Government.

He added: “We recognise the council is about working together on local issues and we need to focus on where we agree rather than where we disagree.”

Meanwhile, the council’s Conservative leader Dave Dempsey has called on all parties to work together to end political division in Fife.

He said: “The council has sat in a kind of limbo for nearly a fortnight waiting to see whether some combination of parties can put together a deal to take political control.

“It’s still unclear whether that’s going to happen and even less clear whether such a deal can last, particularly given the history of antagonism between he main players.”

Mr Dempsey has tabled a motion for Thursday’s meeting urging the council to take the chance to devise a structure of policy-making that commands the majority support of all members.

But he said that if the two largest parties had indeed agreed to work together, he would have to “see what scraps there are falling off the table”.