Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to reach out a “hand of reconciliation” to Aberdeen City Council as an act of good faith for the future.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said the gesture would help reinforce her vow to be first minister for the whole of Scotland, regardless of political affiliation.
The Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland claimed people in the north and north-east regarded her as a “central belt politician with central belt priorities”.
Mr Carmichael said Ms Sturgeon did nothing to stop the SNP’s centralising of services agenda and was “up to her eyes” in the move to create a single police force and fire service.
He claimed it was time for the new first minister to devolve more power to local authorities to allow them to govern their own affairs.
Earlier this year Labour-led Aberdeen City Council had a series of fall-outs with the Scottish Government, notably when Alex Salmond branded the local authority leadership “kamikaze”.
And at one point city finance convener Willie Young threatened to ban SNP ministers from council properties.
Ms Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow Southside, was last in Aberdeen on official business in August 2013.
Mr Carmichael said the SNP leader’s ascent to the office of first minister presented an opportunity to hit the “reset button” between local authorities and the Scottish Government.
“If she genuinely wants to govern for all of Scotland then reaching out a hand of reconciliation to councils like Aberdeen would be a good way of demonstrating that good faith,” he added.