Power struggle at the council

The Tories are the largest political group, with 16 out of the 43 elected members serving the region.
However, they were unable to get their budget plans approved for the year ahead – suffering a defeat to their rival SNP opposition (whose financial plans were also backed by Labour).
This now leaves question marks over which political group is in charge of running the council.
It is also unclear if the Conservatives are content to oversee the implementation of SNP council spending plans and policies for another 12 months.
Conservatives Councillor Malcolm Johnstone, group deputy leader and convener of the council said: “There’s not been a definitive decision yet. But I expect we’ll be discussing it today (Mon).
“The fact that we actually got a competent motion in the end (at the budget meeting) that the council agreed on was very positive.”
Asked if he believed that the Conservatives could continue running the council, presiding over their rivals’ financial plans for the year ahead, Mr Johnstone replied: “It would be possible.”
He added: “I don’t like the budget process where you all show your cards on the day. It’s not really constructive – but it’s up to the council if there’s a wish to change that process.”
After the recent budget meeting, Councillor Stephen Thompson, leader of the SNP group, said: “The Conservatives are in administration, however once again they cannot pass their own budget.
“The people of Dumfries and Galloway deserve better.”
Lochar Councillor Linda Dorward, Labour Group’s budget deputy lead, said: “The Tories and SNP can continue to waste time over their tiresome arguments and grandstanding about who runs the council, or on frivolous discussion as to what is the proper definition of the term ‘recess’, which wasted 30 minutes of valuable time at the budget debate.”
The headline policy in the budget is that council tax will rise by nine percent for Dumfries and Galloway resident from April onwards.
This move will generate £7.685m and eat into the council’s £12m budget deficit for the year ahead.