LABOUR have turned on their former coalition partners in the capital by blocking the SNP from forming an administration.
Labour, led by Cammy Day, have refused to work with the largest party on Edinburgh council and have instead worked with LibDem and Tory councillors to form a minority administration.
Speaking in Edinburgh City Chambers before the vote, SNP group leader Adam McVey said the alliance between the Unionist parties was “held together by nothing else but a burning hatred of the SNP”.
Labour will need to rely on the votes from other partners with just 13 councillors out of 63 seats to the SNP’s 19.
Both parties are shy of a majority and Labour would need to rely on the votes of LibDem and Tory councillors to push through their agenda.
The SNP have reacted furiously to the deal, with McVey saying Edinburgh "could not have more strongly rejected the Tories at the council elections".
He added: "The Tories have inflicted over a decade of austerity on families across our city and are now responsible for a cost of living crisis which is crippling households across the country.
"It beggars belief that Labour would reward them for that by inviting them to share power on our council."
Day said the Labour group were not entering a coalition with “any party” which was met with laughter from opposition parties.
He pledged his administration would be focused on tackling poverty in the capital.
Two of Day's councillors abstained on the vote to put their party into power, meaning more LibDems voted Labour into power than the party itself.
McVey added: "Even some of Labour’s own councillors can’t stomach the backroom deal their party is happily making with the Tories.
“It is truly insulting to people across our city for Labour to try and hide the deal they are doing."
But the SNP group leader his “door is still” open to Labour “if they ditch their right-wing coalition”.
He told The National the group’s priorities were not known because Labour had “spent more time carving up jobs" on the council than discussing policy.
McVey added: “We’re worried this will water down to such an extent the progressive vision that so many people voted for at the election to buy Tory votes for policies.
“We’re deeply worried about the impact on poverty reduction, this has not been a priority of the Conservatives and we’re worried about that agenda being undermined by Tory influence.”
Iain Whyte, the Conservative group leader, said the SNP’s “anger and fury” about being locked out of power “smacked of entitlement”.
LibDem Robert Aldridge, one of the longest-serving councillors in the city, was elected a Lord Provost.
He was put forward by his party and backed by the SNP for the position.
Aldridge said: "I’d like to thank everyone who nominated me to take on this role, I feel really honoured.
“Most of all though, I want to acknowledge the voters who put me here, and all the folk who deliver the leaflets and knock on doors to make it possible. I always feel like we get the glory, but they do the hard work that gets us here."
