FIFE LibDem councillors broke ranks with the Labour administration for the first time since 2022 on Thursday, and voted against the council leader David Ross not once, but twice in one day.
In one instance, even the Fife Conservative group also broke ranks.
Councillor Ross’ Labour group only has 20 out of 75 seats on the local authority, compared to the SNP’s 34 members, but they took control in May 2022 with support from both the LibDems and the Conservatives.
Since then, the three parties have almost always voted together to secure a Labour victory.
However, on Thursday that arrangement was temporarily turned upside down.
An SNP motion demanding that the UK Government’s planned alcohol duty increases be reversed gained the support of both LibDem and Conservative councillors.
A second SNP motion requesting Westminster to fully reimburse all employer National Insurance increases for local authorities and public service sectors also gained the support of LibDems.
The Labour proposals were defeated both times, and a third defeat was only narrowly avoided after a last minute party leader discussion restored the normal order ahead of a third vote.
Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Ross said he was not totally surprised by the outcome on Thursday.
“It’s their [LibDem] national policy. We thought we might lose,” he said.
When asked if he expected to see the LibDems break ranks more often in the future, he speculated that they very well may choose to do so.
“We’ve always said that [it’s a possibility],” Councillor Ross said. “On these kinds of things there will be differences, and as a minority administration, we have to get support from everyone and it’s not automatic.”
He continued: “The important thing will be getting support for our budget in February.”
When it comes to the budget, Councillor Ross is still expecting to have LibDem and Conservative support, and he said he is hoping to reach a compromise with the SNP group as well.
“I think we’ll have [LibDem and Conservative] support for the budget, and I’ll be doing my best to get the SNP on board as well because the council needs a stable financial settlement,” Councillor Ross said.
