Potential Aberdeen council kingmaker Ian Yuill says a decision on whether to go into coalition with the SNP will be taken locally – without pressure from Lib Dem HQ.
Members of his four-strong Liberal Democrat group met with Aberdeen SNP chiefs yesterday, sounding each other out on a possible partnership to take control at the Town House.
The SNP’s 20 councillors make up the largest single group on the council but are three short of the majority they sought at the polls.
Together, they and the Lib Dems have been in opposition for a decade – and have grown closer on local policy in the last five.
Last night, the SNP published a statement after a second, more formal, round of talks between the pair.
Initial discussions are understood to have taken place on Sunday.
A spokesman said: “Representatives of the SNP and Liberal Democrat groups met today to discuss the future of Aberdeen City Council over the next five years.
“We plan to meet again later this week to continue these discussions.”
Lib Dem/SNP deal ruled out elsewhere – but not so in Aberdeen
The first formal coalition talks in Aberdeen came as Mr Yuill’s Edinburgh counterparts publicly ruled out any deal with the nationalists in the capital.
Taking to Twitter, the group said it was because they wanted to “work constructively in the interest of the city we serve and explore options on how the council can change for the better”.
We've today ruled out any arrangement with the SNP in the running of Edinburgh Council.
We want to work constructively in the interest of the city we serve & explore options on how the Council can change for the better. https://t.co/gHVWOtQ5j4
— Edinburgh Lib Dems 🔶 (@EdinburghLibDem) May 8, 2022
But at last month’s local election manifesto launch, Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton gave his blessing for coalitions with parties of any colour.
The Herald quoted the Edinburgh MSP: “The Scottish Liberal Democrats are quite unique in this in that the national leader does not tell our council group leaders what to do – and we trust them.”
It comes after five years of turmoil in the Granite City for Labour, whose 2017 cohort of councillors – the Aberdeen Nine – were exiled for going into coalition with the Conservatives.
No Liberal Democrat Aberdeen Four as follow-up act to Labour’s Aberdeen Nine
Last night, the leader of the Aberdeen Liberal Democrat council group Mr Yuill said the same wouldn’t happen in his party, telling us: “It’s for the Liberal Democrats in Aberdeen to decide what the Liberal Democrats in Aberdeen do.”
But it is understood that – while the SNP may be in the driving seat in negotiations – group leader Alex Nicoll is not Mr Yuill’s only suitor.
Already the Liberal Democrats have been approached by both Aberdeen Labour and the Conservatives, with a suggestion of face-to-face talks later this week.
There was a red resurgence in the Granite City in Thursday’s vote, as Labour reclaimed two seats to become the council’s second largest group again.
Following the national trend, the Conservatives lost in three city wards.
Councillors will meet on a week tomorrow to vote in a new council leader, assign powerful committee convener posts and elect a lord provost.