There was a ‘changing of the guard’ at the Town House yesterday (18 May 2022) following agreement between the Scottish Liberal Democrat and SNP councillors to form a partnership for five years to run Aberdeen City Council. This happened at the first meeting of the new Council following recent elections which saw both group gain one seat each, resulting in a majority within the chamber.

The city council has required coalitions since 2003 following the introduction of the Single Transferrable Vote system whereby you rank council candidates in order of preference. From the 1950s to 2003, the city was run by a succession of Labour majorities. However, in 2003, the Liberal Democrats ended Labour dominance. From 2003 to 2007, the Council was run by a coalition of 20 Liberal Democrats and 3 Conservatives. From 2007 to 2012, there was a Liberal Democrat / SNP coalition. From 2012 to 2022, a Labour / Conservative / Independent coalition was in charge of the city council.

Over the past two weeks the different groups have had discussions with each other to identify whether or not a deal could be struck to run the city. The 11 Labour councillors confirmed that they would not enter into a formal coalition with any other political group but they were willing to work with other groups as long as those groups were prepared to support and action the Labour manifesto. This effectively made it impossible for either Labour (with 11 councillors) or the Conservatives (with 8 councillors) to reach the required minimum of 23 councillors needed to run the city. Talks continued between the SNP and Liberal Democrat groups to establish whether or not they could agree a way forward.

Liberal Democrat member for Kingswells, Sheddocksley & Summerhill, Steve Delaney said, “Our starting point was always going to be our manifesto. We were elected on what we said we would deliver and, unless we could bring forward the bulk of what was in our manifesto we would been letting down those who had put their trust in us. In the end we came up with a policy statement which does exactly that”.

Steve, continued, “In addition to manifesto commitments I agreed to a partnership with the SNP to deliver stability for the city over the next five years. There were no other alternatives available for running the city council. At the Council meeting yesterday the Conservatives and Labour confirmed they would not revive their decade long coalition.

“It’s worth stating emphatically that I do not support Scottish independence. My three Liberal Democrat colleagues on the council share that view. The Scottish Liberal Democrats oppose independence and an independence referendum. Absolutely none of this has changed, nor will it”.

“This is a local solution for local circumstances. We have concluded an agreement with SNP councillors which focuses on investing in our crumbling infrastructure and taking forward improvements to services which are within the remit of the council. Although our policy statement is lengthy and not everything can be progressed from day one, our top priorities will be education, housing, infrastructure and the environment. Given that our position on the future of the United Kingdom is diametrically opposed to that of the SNP, both groups have agreed to disagree on this issue and to work together on maintaining and improving our local services in Aberdeen”.

Some key Liberal Democrat priorities for the city which will be taken forward include

• abolishing the Brown Bin charge;
• more curriculum choices in schools;
• improving music education;
• a new £1million road safety fund;
• Resurfacing at least 40km of roads and 40km of pavements each year so that by 2032 at least 80% of our roads and pavements are in good condition.
• investment in green transport – walking and cycling
• campaigning to reverse underfunding of our city
• addressing the climate change emergency and moving the city towards a sustainable net zero position.

Steve concluded, “After ten years of the Labour, Conservative and Independent coalition, Aberdeen voted for change. We could have stood on the sidelines and made plenty of noise or we could step up, take responsibility and deliver on the promises we made to those who put their trust in us.

“We didn’t like the terms administration – which nobody understands – or coalition, so instead we are describing ourselves as a partnership. The SNP are indeed the larger of the two groups but the deal agreed with them takes us forward as partners in the running of the city.

“Our leader Ian Yuill becomes co-leader of Aberdeen City Council, Martin Greig becomes Convenor of the Education Committee, our new member Desmond Bouse is Vice-Convenor of Planning. I am Vice-Convenor of the Licensing Committee and Depute Provost”.