Political balance
Having scanned through the list of new Councillors, I see that Labour have the most votes inside the Comhairle, compared to the SNP having 18 for the past 4 years. That should make the election of Chairs extremely painful for some.
Let me just clarify the previous paragraph. At the start of the last Council, the SNP could manage a maximum of 17-19 votes compared to 11-13 for Labour. That placed me in a wonderful position of being able to make statements knowing that I had the support of the majority of Councillors, but also having to be careful not to take that support for granted.
That voting bloc disappeared two years ago after one very simple event: Angus MacNeil was elected and opposed the windfarms, but refused to discuss the issue with the Comhairle. That totally undermined my postion, and that of the majority of SNP supporting Councillors, who gradually, but steadily moved away from the Party. Perhaps the most symbolic thing that he did was to refuse, repeatedly, to meet with the Vice-Convener and Chief Executive to discuss renewable energy.
This became public knowledge very quickly, as the frustration that the Comhairle felt was not kept quiet. In the end, the Chief Executive had to demand that Angus MacNeil come in to try to resolve the issues after about half a dozen meetings were cancelled or delayed for various reasons. No-one was under any illusion that our MP was just scared of meeting the Vice-Convener to try to discuss his position, as he knew it was opportunistic. It was made very clear to me that the senior management in the Comhairle had absolutely no confidence in the abilities of our MP, as he simply refused to visit the Comhairle, and my position became weaker and weaker.
I (and the Comhairle) had simply given up on Mr MacNeil for his failure to have any meetings with the Comhairle about any significant issues, and on his last visit I understand that he appeared at short notice with a non-SNP Councillor and avoided letting the SNP Group know about his appearance.
Just to continue the pattern, when Alasdair Allan attended the debate on windfarms, he arrived with MWT activists and ignored not just the SNP Group, but all Councillors.
Let me just clarify the previous paragraph. At the start of the last Council, the SNP could manage a maximum of 17-19 votes compared to 11-13 for Labour. That placed me in a wonderful position of being able to make statements knowing that I had the support of the majority of Councillors, but also having to be careful not to take that support for granted.
That voting bloc disappeared two years ago after one very simple event: Angus MacNeil was elected and opposed the windfarms, but refused to discuss the issue with the Comhairle. That totally undermined my postion, and that of the majority of SNP supporting Councillors, who gradually, but steadily moved away from the Party. Perhaps the most symbolic thing that he did was to refuse, repeatedly, to meet with the Vice-Convener and Chief Executive to discuss renewable energy.
This became public knowledge very quickly, as the frustration that the Comhairle felt was not kept quiet. In the end, the Chief Executive had to demand that Angus MacNeil come in to try to resolve the issues after about half a dozen meetings were cancelled or delayed for various reasons. No-one was under any illusion that our MP was just scared of meeting the Vice-Convener to try to discuss his position, as he knew it was opportunistic. It was made very clear to me that the senior management in the Comhairle had absolutely no confidence in the abilities of our MP, as he simply refused to visit the Comhairle, and my position became weaker and weaker.
I (and the Comhairle) had simply given up on Mr MacNeil for his failure to have any meetings with the Comhairle about any significant issues, and on his last visit I understand that he appeared at short notice with a non-SNP Councillor and avoided letting the SNP Group know about his appearance.
Just to continue the pattern, when Alasdair Allan attended the debate on windfarms, he arrived with MWT activists and ignored not just the SNP Group, but all Councillors.
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