‘Democratic farce’ – SNP ramps up heat ahead of bid to oust Fife Council leader

David Barratt, who is SNP councillor for Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, says the need for a two thirds majority will mean a motion to be raised at Thursday’s full council meeting is destined to be thrown out.

The motion, to be brought forward by SNP group leader Craig Walker, will call for Cllr Ross to be removed from his position with “immediate effect” over his handling of disgraced councillor David Graham, who was jailed last month after being found guilty of sexual offences against a 15 year-old girl.

Cllr Walker said the nomination of Graham for appointment to senior roles, and the delay in replacing him on committee following his arrest, represented a “serious failure of judgement and leadership”.

Cllr Barratt says changes to the required majority were voted on back in 2023 and were seconded by shamed ex-councillor Graham. Cllr said the decision was “fully democratic” - stating: “My understanding is that this proposal came from discussion at a cross party working group and is designed to ensure a degree of stability in positions of special responsibility.”

The row comes on the eve of the motion in the council chambers at Fife House.

Cllr Barrett said: “You might think a simple majority of councillors voting to oust David Ross would be sufficient, but in 2023, the Labour minority administration amended the rules to protect themselves.

“The motion in June 2023, ironically seconded by now convicted sex offender, David Graham, agreed that rather than a simple majority of councillors voting, it would require two-thirds of councillors present to support the removal of the council leader or any spokesperson.

“My group sought to keep the rules to a simple majority, but this was voted against by then Labour, Tory and LibDem councillors, one of which is now in prison, two are now Reform councillors, with another having ‘joined Reform’ but has never become a Reform councillor.

“The minority Labour administration is increasingly fragile and reliant on strange bedfellows. It will be interesting to see what Reform councillors do.

“Given how the rules were changed, abstentions from any councillor would now count as support of the Leader and Administration.”

Councillor Ross responded: “My understanding is that this proposal came from discussion at a cross party working group and is designed to ensure a degree of stability in positions of special responsibility. It would avoid frequent changes in positions possibly based on whether one or two councillors were available for a specific meeting.

“There needs to be significant cross party support for changes of this nature to be made.

“It was approved by the full Council on a simple majority vote and is therefore fully democratic.”