West Dunbartonshire Council in limbo as Labour leave office in bitter war of words

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Labour are no longer in control of West Dunbartonshire Council, with two former party members accused of putting “personal advancement above the greater good.”Outgoing council leader Martin Rooney made the bombshell announcement at the end of last week’s full meeting of the authority at Church Street.It comes following the resignation of two Clydebank Labour councillors after a disagreement over who the next provost should be, and leaves the remaining members to form an SNP, Community Party and independent coalition.A bitter war of words has now opened up within the party following the collapse of their administration.Earlier in the meeting, Labour’s pick for Provost, veteran Bonhill member John Millar, lost a vote to SNP group leader, Dumbarton councillor Karen Murray Conaghan.Councillors June McKay and Danny Lennie, who had quit Labour during the week, both voted in favour of Councillor Murray Conaghan.Labour went on to lose a further vote over a discussion on Christmas holiday working.Speaking at the end of the meeting, Councillor Rooney said: “It’s clear that the Labour administration no longer has a sufficient number of votes to be able to get a budget through.“As a result the Labour group of councillors will resign their leadership and senior council positions with immediate effect.“It will now be for the 12 opposition councillors to form an administration.”In a stinging statement released just minutes after the meeting had concluded, Councillor Douglas McAllister - elected as an MP in July - slammed the two Clydebank members, saying that they “put personal ambition before those that they serve.”The outgoing provost, who will step down as a councillor and trigger a by-election in Kilpatrick later this year, said: