LABOUR’s leadership of Edinburgh City Council has been branded “undemocratic” and "weak" with the party now making up less than a sixth of the chamber.
Cammy Day resigned as council leader on Monday after he was accused of sending sexual messages to Ukrainian refugees.
Prior to him quitting his role he had been suspended from the Labour Party following the allegations, which were revealed in the Sunday Mail over the weekend.
This now means the Labour group in Edinburgh are running the council with just 10 councillors out of 61, with two seats currently vacant.
The SNP, with 17 councillors, and the LibDems, with 13, are both larger groups while the Greens have the same number as Labour and the Tories are just behind with nine.
A Labour minority administration has long been controversial given they took over the council in 2022 following the local election despite having just 13 elected members. Labour held onto power thanks to a deal with the LibDems and the Tories.
However, their continued leadership of the council has come back under the microscope following Day’s suspension.
SNP councillor Danny Aston has said a continuation of the "discredited and weak" Labour administration is unacceptable.
He told The National: “The foremost consideration must be the complainants and a swift and thorough investigation of the allegations against Councillor Day.
“What we also need is a stable administration which can start to restore public trust in this council which has been terribly damaged. A continuation of this discredited, weak Labour administration, with now only 10 councillors out of 61, would be utterly unacceptable to the people of Edinburgh.
“The SNP can provide that stability and positive change. We’ll be speaking, in good faith, with all other progressive parties to find a way through this for our city and its residents.”
While no group has an outright majority, SNP group leader Simita Kumar said it is “undemocratic” for Labour to be leading the local authority, especially with key decisions on the budget and tourist tax on the horizon.
“Leading the capital city with only 10 councillors in very undemocratic and this has been the case since 2022.
“No group has the outright majority, however, and I am reaching out to all group leaders to have open discussions.
“We need stability in the council and strong leadership. We have important decisions coming up including the budget and deciding on tourist tax.
“Our city deserves for us to focus on these priorities.”
The council agreed to introduce a charge for visitors to the city earlier this year with a 5% levy set to be applied to tourists who stay in hotels and B&Bs or properties let out by the likes of Airbnb.
A consultation was launched over the autumn asking residents whether the charge has been set at the right level, with the final scheme set to be agreed in January.
The future leadership of the council is likely to depend on the direction the LibDems choose to take given they are now the largest Unionist party.
The SNP would still need support from another group beyond the Greens if they were to take control.
Before he quit, Day was one of Scotland’s most prominent local authority figures, occasionally appearing with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar at events.
He had been deputy leader of Edinburgh City Council when Labour were in coalition with the SNP.
Kumar said that the allegations against Day were "extremely grave".
The Edinburgh Labour group have been contacted for comment.
