An SNP no-confidence motion to oust Stirling Council’s minority Labour administration was defeated 12-11, as the Conservatives sided with Labour.
In a heated special meeting of the Council on Monday, June 23, councillors debated the SNP confidence motion, which rested on the administration’s ‘failure to produce’ certain financial documents.
These documents included the year-end accounts for 2024/25 and the revenue and capital accounts for the year-to-date.
SNP, Independent, Conservative, and Green Councillors
The hybrid meeting allowed councillors to appear in person or on Teams, and intermittent fire alarms and WiFi troubles were peppered throughout.
To start, SNP Cllr Susan McGill said that it was ‘impossible to ignore’ the administration’s ‘incompetence’, and that it was ‘ridiculous’ to have a Council led by four members.
SNP Cllr Gerry McLaughlan followed this by suggesting that while those leading the council were ‘doing their best’, they were just four people.
He also suggested that the City Region Deal was costing millions of pounds because of ‘a lack of leadership’.
Independent Cllr Alasdair MacPherson began by listing out councillors elected in 2022, and negativities associated with them to highlight the ‘calibre’ of candidates.
Lord Provost Cllr Elaine Watterson stopped him while he was discussing Labour Cllr Gerry McGarvey’s ‘threatening behaviour’ towards a female councillor, and suggested that he should address the motion.
He rebutted, saying that he was laying out his reasons for voting in favour of the motion, and suggested that the Lord Provost had benefited from McGarvey’s wage increase decisions, and that was why she was ‘taking it so personal’.
Conservative Cllr Rachel Nunn followed with her view that the Council was not the Conservatives ‘propping up Labour’, rather, it was councillors working together to deliver for Stirling.
Green Cllr Alasdair Tollemache agreed with Cllr Nunn that all councillors should work together, but stressed that this should’ve been the case ‘at the beginning’.
Conservative Cllr Neil Benny took a wider view on Scottish local politics, saying that the national SNP and Labour parties block proper cooperation and coalition in councils.
He branded the no-confidence motion ‘opportunistic politicking’, and said he would not vote for it.
Labour’s response
Council Leader Cllr Gerry McGarvey spoke for the Labour administration and started by agreeing that the Council’s future lay in cross-party cooperation.
McGarvey said that, upon hearing that the financial papers were delayed, he spoke to the Chief Operating Officer, Brian Roberts, to express his concerns.
At this point in the meeting, Cllr MacPherson requested a point of order on the basis that Cllr McGarvey had gone ‘off on a tangent’ and was not addressing the motion, despite the motion being explicitly concerned with the publication of financial documents.
McGarvey was allowed to continue, and he said that an Audit Committee meeting on June 24 will consider a report which concerns the delay of the unaudited annual statement for 2024/25, and that Group leaders will have ‘appropriate and regular oversight’ of the matter.
The meeting concluded with closing remarks from Cllr McGill, who suggested that despite talk of cooperation, Labour and the Conservatives had excluded the SNP from meetings at the start of the administration.
Result and aftermath
Councillors voted 12-11 against the no-confidence motion, with eight Conservatives and four Labour councillors against, and nine SNP, one Green, and one Independent councillor in favour.
Brig reached out to SNP Group leader Cllr McGill for a statement but did not receive a response.
Politics Editor
Journalism and Politics 4th Year
Stockport
