4 POLITICSCouncil now in sessionPoliticians thrash it out at the City ChambersOut and about inthe LothiansBy JEREMY BALFOURCllr Cammy DayBy PHYLLIS STEPHENTHE CITY OF Edinburgh Council has taken ona new look with a freshly formed administrationmade up of the councillors who will run the cityfor the next five years now agreed.A minority Labour administration withLabour Cllr Cammy Day as Council Leader willnow be in charge of the capital.In the run up to the first full council meeting avariety of parties tried to forge alliances of thevarious combinations which might run the city.One such proposal was the proposal by SNPand Greens to run the council as a minoritycoalition of 29 councillors. That looked likely tobe successful.The other alternative was a plan by theEdinburgh Labour group to run the council withtheir 13 elected members as a minorityadministration, with some kind of cooperationamong the opposition parties of the LiberalDemocrats and Conservatives. This is widelyregarded by critics as Labour putting Tories intopower in Edinburgh, but the reality is that theLabour Group only required assistance from theopposition on the day of the administrationbeing established. Moving forward they will hveto look to all other parties for support. Whetheror not that kind of new politics is achieved willbecome evident in the days and weeks ahead.The Labour plan was widely denounced onthe eve of the council meeting by SNP MPs andMSPs representing Edinburgh who wrote a letterto Cllr Cammy Day, leader of the EdinburghLabour Group saying that such a pact with theTories was “unthinkable”. But it is not clearwhether there is much of a pact, and it certainlyappears to short of a formal coalition.The local politicians - Angus Robertson MSP,Cllr Adam McVeyCllr Kevin LangAsh Regan MSP, Ben Macpherson MSP, GordonMacdonald MSP, Deidre Brock MP, TommySheppard MP and Joanna Cherry, QC, MP- pointed out that the electorate “resoundinglyrejected” the Tories in the election at thebeginning of this month. Conservative numberswere reduced from 18 elected councillors tonine, with some elected members such as CllrsCameron Rose and Mark Brown losing whatthey might have regarded as safe seats.Cllr Cammy Day new Council Leader said: “Iam really proud to be Leader. We have made acommitment that our manifesto will be at theforefront, but that we will work with every partyacross the chamber to deliver the best we can forthe city.“We are clear that there are similarities in allparties’ manifestos and it is up to others to comeand work with us on a joint programme. I thinkit is an opportunity for a progressive group tolead the council here in Edinburgh.”Cllr Adam McVey the Council Leader for thelast five years said: “I am very disappointed forThe Rt Hon Lord ProvostRobert Aldridgethe people of Edinburgh. They voted forprogressive politics overwhelmingly. What wehave is a coalition deal between Labour, LibDems and the Tories after 40 years of losingelections in the city and recording their worstelection result ever. Labour have put the Toriesinto power and I don’t think that is acceptable.”McVey did confirm that the SNP will workacross the chamber to implement the progressivepolicies they stood on, but warned that thesepolicies are not shared by the parties that hebelieves Labour now have to rely on.Cllr Kevin Lang became leader of theEdinburgh Liberal Democrats as Cllr RobertAldridge became Lord Provost. He said: “We willcontinue to sit as a constructive but robustopposition party. We voted to put Labour inplace, but we are very clear that where we agreewe will vote with them and where we disagreewe will say so and vote accordingly. They cannottake us for granted, but I think it a good thingthat Labour will have to reach out and engagewith other political parties.”THERE ARE MANY aspects of being theMSP for Lothian region that I love, fromworking through issues with constituentsto holding the Scottish Government toaccount in the Parliament Chamber.However, my favourite part of the job istravelling around the region and meetingwith businesses, charities, and othergroups to learn about the work thatthey are doing in our communities.The conversations that I get with thesepeople and organisations provide awindow into the innerworkings ofmany of the institutions that makeour city flourish.I have often found myself in thesemeetings wishing that that there was away I could provide this kind of access tomy constituents. A way for the people ofthe Lothians the get a betterunderstanding these institutions, someof which they rely on in their every daylives and others that they interact withoccasionally for pleasure and leisure.It is for this reason, I have started mypodcast, Out and About in the Lothians.Over the course of this session ofParliament, I will be travelling around theLothians bringing you in onconversations with people who workhard to make our communities better.From Charities to local businesses, I willbe seeking out a wide range of people togive you a broad view of what is going onin our area.So far, we have had excellentconversations with a range oforganisations. Dale MacPhee from theWaldorf Astoria (The Caledonian Hotel)gave us a peak behind the curtain onhow one of the largest hotels inEdinburgh operated during thePandemic. Ann Leslie gave an interestingexplanation of how LAR Housing Trustprovides midmarket housing for those inneed in Edinburgh. And finally, in themost recent episode David Field gives usan engaging look at the running ofEdinburgh Zoo and how they are makingthe Zoo more accessible for everyonein Lothian.Episodes will be released every twoweek and will last between 10 and 25mins, making them the perfect length forlistening on part of a commute or duringa lunch break.You can find the Podcast on most majorplayers, including Spotify and AmazonMusic. You can also find it at the podcastswebsite: outandaboutinthelothians.buzzsprout.com
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