Fife Council Liberal Democrat councillors have broke ranks with the Labour administration for the first time since 2022 - and voted against them twice in one day.

In one instance, even the Fife Conservative group also joined them when it came to a vote.

Labour, led by Councillor David Ross has only has 20 out of 75 seats on the local authority, compared to the SNP’s 34s, but took control in May 2022 with support from both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. Since then, the three parties have almost always voted together to secure a Labour victory.

However, on Thursday that arrangement was temporarily turned upside down.

David Ross saw his minority Labour administration defeated twice at the same meeting at Fife House (Picas: Fife Free Press)

placeholder image — David Ross saw his minority Labour administration defeated twice at the same meeting at Fife House (Picas: Fife Free Press)

An SNP motion demanding that the UK Government’s planned alcohol duty increases be reversed gained the support of both Lib-Dem and Conservative councillors. A second SNP motion requesting Westminster to fully reimburse all employer National Insurance increases for local authorities and public service sectors also gained the support of Lib-Dems.

The Labour proposals were defeated both times, and a third defeat was only narrowly avoided after a last minute party leader discussion restored the normal order ahead of a third vote.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Ross said he was not totally surprised by the outcome: “It’s their [Lib-Dem] national policy. We thought we might lose.”

When asked if he expected to see the Lib-Dems break ranks more often in the future, he speculated that they very well may choose to do so.

“We’ve always said that [it’s a possibility],” Cllr Ross said. “On these kinds of things there will be differences, and as a minority administration, we have to get support from everyone and it’s not automatic.”

He continued: “The important thing will be getting support for our budget in February.”

When it comes to the budget, Cllr Ross is still expecting to have Lib-Dem and Conservative support, and he said he is hoping to reach a compromise with the SNP group as well.

“I think we’ll have [Lib-Dem and Conservative] support for the budget, and I’ll be doing my best to get the SNP on board as well because the council needs a stable financial settlement,” Cllr Ross said.