Tag: calls for resignation

Calls for Council leader Cammy Day to resign following ‘serious allegations’

The leader of Edinburgh City Council, Labour’s Cammy Day, is being investigated by police over an allegation of inappropriate behaviour.

The Sunday Mail reported this morning that Forth councillor Day “bombarded Ukrainian refugees” with messages of a sexual nature.

The newspaper alleges he asked them sexually explicit questions, tried to meet them for wine dates and complimented them on their looks.

The Sunday Mail spoke to two Ukrainians who say Mr Day had been messaging them. They said they felt unable to ignore his unsolicited approaches due to his position within the council.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh City Council said: “All matters raised with the chief executive and monitoring officer have been progressed through our established processes in consultation [with] our independent whistleblowing service, Safecall, and, where appropriate, Police Scotland.”

A Scottish Labour spokeswoman said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously. They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.”

Labour’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar confirmed this morning that Mr Day has been suspended from the party pending the outcome of any investigation, but Mr Sarwar refused to comment further while investigations are ongoing.

A Police Scotland spokesman confirmed: “On Tuesday 22 October, we received a report of inappropriate behaviour. Inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

Labour is the only the third biggest party on Edinburgh Council but Mr Day has led the local authority since May 2022 with support from the Lib Dems and the Scottish Conservatives. Both of these groups are now calling for his resignation.

Lib-Dem group leader Kevin Lang said this morning: “I have this morning written formally to Cllr Cammy Day to call on him to step down immediately as Leader of Edinburgh Council.

“The Liberal Democrat group has also tabled an emergency motion for Tuesday’s Policy Committee to agree he must now resign.”

Conservative councillor Iain Whyte said last night: “If Cammy Day has been suspended by Labour he can’t have their support to remain as Council Leader.

“He must step aside immediately. The Council as a whole can then decide a way forward.”

The SNP, the largest opposition party in Edinburgh, have also called for Cllr Day’s immediate resignation.

Cllr Simita Kumar, who leads the SNP group, said Mr Day should resign without delay.

She said on Twitter: “This is beyond shocking, I’m almost lost for words. @cllrcammyday needs to resign as Council Leader immediately.”

She later added: “Serious allegations have been made against Council Leader – Councillor Cammy Day.

“I have written to Paul Lawrence, Chief Executive of City of Edinburgh Council, to take immediate actions to safeguard the public, protect staff, and offer support to anyone impacted.”

The Scottish Green group have also called for Cammy Day’s ‘immediate resignation’:

Councillor Cammy Day has made no comment but his position is looking increasingly untenable.

Edinburgh approves Lib Dem budget

EDINBURGH councillors have passed a budget focused on ‘getting the basics right’ and making Edinburgh a ‘cleaner and greener city’. However that budget was not the one put forward by by the ruling Labour administration – council rejected that, and instead eventually backed a Liberal Democrat budget.

This means a Labour-led council will now be promoting and implementing a budget put forward by the Liberal Democrats, the council’s third biggest party.

Trade unions are concerned about elements within the budget passed by the council – particularly over compulsory redundancies and outsourcing- and some senior Labour figures believe Council Leader Cammy Day’s position is now untenable.

There are calls for him to resign: both from the SNP – the biggest group on the council – and, perhaps of more concern, from within the city’s own Labour group.

The humiliating budget defeat shows the fragility of Labour’s leadership position within the council.

With thirteen councillors Labour needs the support of other parties to run the city.

Labour chose to break their ‘Capital Coalition’ agreement with the SNP and instead joined forces with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats following last May’s local government elections, despite assurances from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar that there would be ‘no deals’.

With 18 councilllors the SNP is the biggest group on the city council by some way. Labour (13) is second followed by the Lib Dems (12), Greens (10) and Tories (9).

Lib Dems, doubtless boosted by their Budget coup, are bullish about their chances of increasing their representation in the City Chambers following a by-election in Corstorphine/Murrayfield on 9 March.

SNP Group leader (and leader of the former ruling ‘Capital Coalition’) said: “What Labour actually voted for: -£600k saving by ending no compulsory redundancy policy NOW. -£500k saving THIS YEAR by privatising waste & cleansing services.

“You can’t trust a word from Labour on this.”

He also tweeted: “Labour “administration” budget defeated – Labour instead backed the LibDem budget in full. If my budget had been voted down as Council Leader I’d have had the integrity to resign.”

Following a series of votes on Thursday (23 February), the Liberal Democrats’ spending proposals for 2023/24 were agreed, as was the Administration’s  Housing Budget Strategy.

While rejecting a series of savings proposals in education and speech and language therapy, councillors agreed to allocate substantial additional money to improve roads, paths and pavements and carry out additional resurfacing works for the long term.

Additional funding will also be made available for the city’s parks and greenspaces, tackling fly tipping, graffiti removal and street sweeping, and additional resource for flood defences and gully cleaning in light of the increasing impacts of climate change.

The Climate and Sustainability Team will also be bolstered, enabling a greater focus on the city’s ambition of becoming net zero by 2030 and the King’s Theatre will also benefit from funding to secure its future, with £3m set aside – a move supported across the council.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Kevin Lang said: “I’m delighted that our budget got support from councillors – and that, in the midst of the cost of living crisis, we’ve been able to limit the rise in council tax to 5% for Edinburgh’s residents.

“This is a Council budget that delivers. A budget that stops £5 million of education cuts, injects £11 million extra to tackle our broken roads and pavements, more investment for parks and new money for climate change action.

“Despite continued funding cuts from the Scottish Government, residents still rightly expect high quality local services in return for the increasing amounts of council tax they pay each year, which requires a budget which focuses on essential core services, delivered well.”

Council Leader Cammy Day said: “Despite the unique demands of a Capital city, Edinburgh continues to receive the worst grant funding of any local authority in Scotland. Years of local government cuts have now come to a head, forcing us to find close to £80m of savings this year – on top of the hundreds of millions we’ve made already.

“It’s a position none of us wanted to be in and our residents deserve better. Despite this, we presented a positive, fair and responsible set of proposals, aimed at protecting vital frontline services on which our communities and residents rightly depend.

“So, I was deeply disappointed we didn’t secure the backing from other groups, particularly in the manner in which it came about. But, for all that, I remain absolutely committed to leading this council and to working with all other groups to deliver the best for the people of Edinburgh.”

Council Tax Bands

A            £965.13

B            £1,125.98

C            £1,286.84

D            £1,447.69

E            £1,902.10

F            £2,352.50

G            £2,835.06

H            £3,546.84