As the saga of Argyll and Bute’s council tax increase continues to drag on, opposition councillors have made what they say is ‘a bold attempt to gain political control’.
Party (and ‘independent’) politics at the Lochgilphead-based authority have always been opaque, with control usually being held by the narrowest of margins.
But for the last 11 years the council has been run by a combination of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and independents called The Argyll, Lomond and Islands Group (TALIG).
Last month that group defied First Minister Humza Yousaf by imposing a 10% increase rather than freezing council tax bill, only to engage reverse after saying they had been offered extra millions by the Scottish Government.
TALIG says there will be a special meeting of all 36 councillors to freeze the council tax, after which new bills would be sent out to every household in Argyll and Bute with revised bills – a highly unusual occurrence.
Oddly, a special meeting of the council has been called for this Monday (March 25) – but to discuss financial reports rather than resetting the council tax, so it looks if a date for that has still not been set.
Meanwhile the ‘Strategic Opposition Partnership’ (SOP) has demanded its own special meeting of all councillors, naming April 4 as a date and accusing TALIG of ‘playing politics’, and ‘indecisive, clandestine, and weak leadership’.
This partnership, the council website explains, is ‘an informal partnership arrangement and not a formal political group’ – the website says it includes almost all the SNP councillors, plus Labour’s Fiona Howard and independent Mark Irvine.
SNP Cllr Julie McKenzie is not listed as a member of the partnership on the website – but since she sent out a press release on its behalf yesterday, it’s a fair bet that she has now joined.
So the SOP currently has 15 members – but another four would be needed for a majority if their aim of imposing a new provost and leader just after Easter is to be successful.
Who would they be? The best clues are shown in votes for and against TALIG’s 10% council tax rise at last month’s budget meeting.
The sole Green councillor, Luna Martin, and independent Jennifer Kelly voted against the council tax rise , so can be counted as likely SOP-backers, while the nine Conservatives and five Liberal Democrats are presumably equally likely to back the status quo (though the SNP said they were ‘incredibly disappointed’ when the Lib Dems didn’t join after the 2022 elections).
That leaves the opposition with 17 votes, with five unaccounted for.
- Alistair Redman was elected as an independent but since he was previously a Conservative councillor and national election candidate he would be highly unlikely to go against his former party and voted for the budget.
- Tommy MacPherson was elected as a Conservative in 2022 but then resigned from TALIG and was expelled by his local Conservative party. He has recently been highly critical of his former colleagues over the council tax increase and U-turn, but since he is now described as an ‘Independent Unionist’ it is hard to imagine him voting with the SNP – more likely that he would cast no vote, as happened at the budget meeting.
- Andrew Kain was elected as an independent but has voted with TALIG – except for one occasion last month, when he voted against the closure of Luing Primary School in his ward. Was that vote a one-off, or has he now turned against his former colleagues?
- Kieron Green was also elected as an independent but has stood unsuccessfully for Labour in the past. He voted for the budget
- Liz McCabe, the council’s depute provost, voted for the budget.
Will the opposition be able to persuade three of these five to vote with them (or fewer if other councillors are absent or abstain)?
They clearly think they have a chance – but regardless of the outcome this time, the political future for Argyll and Bute looks as murky as ever.
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