Tories Reject Aberdeenshire Election Result

NO POLITICAL BALANCE IN CoSLA REPRESENTATION IN COUNCIL CARVE-UP

Aberdeenshire Council’s new Tory-led administration threw consensus politics away today when they ditched the council’s previously long-held commitment to fairness in allocating committee places.  With 5 seats on CoSLA to be allocated among the political groups, the SNP with 41% of Aberdeenshire’s councillors was denied fair representation and will now only have 1 seat (20%) of Aberdeenshire’s CoSLA places.

The move was voted through by the Tories with support from the Liberals, Labour and most Independents.

Commenting, SNP Group Leader and Leader of the Opposition Cllr Joanna Strathdee said:

“With more than double the number of seats as the next nearest party, the SNP had a clear mandate from the voters to lead the new administration on Aberdeenshire Council.

“Unfortunately, we have seen a repeat of what appears to be happening the length and breadth of the country with Tory, Liberal and Labour coalitions being formed to stop the SNP.  It’s disappointing for the people who put their trust in us based on our manifesto pledges, but we will still try to get as much of our programme implemented as possible.

“At the end of the day, the SNP in Aberdeenshire will support good ideas which make life better for our citizens regardless of which party proposes them, and I hope the other parties will view our suggestions in the same light.”

However, Cllr Strathdee had some strong words for the Tory-led administration, which voted to give the SNP only 20% of Aberdeenshire’s seats on CoSLA in spite of the party having 41% of the councillors.  She said:

“This move was anti-democratic and simply beggars belief.  It’s nothing short of a power-grab by the Tory-led coalition.

“In Aberdeenshire previously, while the opposition and administration parties had their disagreements, they were always good-natured and based on policy and whichever party was in power, committee places were always allocated very fairly and based on party numbers.

“That did not happen today and I really hope that this is not the start of something more sinister creeping into Aberdeenshire politics.”