Scottish council elections: Labour confident of holding on to Glasgow

IT WAS a former Glasgow MP, George Galloway, who delivered a blow to Ed Miliband last month, when he trounced Labour in the Bradford West by-election. This week, the question is whether Mr Miliband and Scottish party leader Johann Lamont will be hammered by Glasgow itself.

With bookmakers last night throwing in the towel in London, where Boris Johnson’s victory over Ken Livingstone looks assured, all eyes were turning to Scotland’s largest city for the key battle in tomorrow’s local government elections. Labour last night insisted that it remained hopeful of maintaining control of Scotland’s largest local authority, keeping a grip on the city that goes back more than four decades.

But the SNP and the Greens last night both talked up the possibility of a loose coalition pact with one another if the numbers stack up, in a move which could freeze Labour out of power. Green Party candidates in Glasgow – who may end up holding the balance of power after voting – told The Scotsman they would prefer the Nationalists over Labour as potential allies, in a bid to enforce a change of political control on the city.

The comments reflect concerns expressed within the Labour fold that the smaller parties and any independents who may hold the balance of power come Friday will prefer to align themselves with the SNP, rather than Labour.

But Labour figures last night sought to hand an olive branch to those other parties, saying its clear-out of a host of “old-school” councillors would push forward a crop of new younger candidates who would be more accommodating to other parties.

With the SNP tipped to become the largest party at Edinburgh City Council as well, victory in Glasgow would cement the SNP’s supremacy over Labour in parts of the country once off limits for the Nationalists, while also giving the SNP control of the city during the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

On the flip side, with expectations for an SNP victory in Glasgow raised, a good performance by Labour would allow both Mr Miliband and Mrs Lamont to show it was back on the road against the Nationalists ahead of the independence referendum.

Tomorrow’s local government elections are the first since devolution to take place with no other voting to distract attention away. There are warnings that, as a result, turn-out could be well under 40 per cent in many areas.

All 32 local authorities are holding elections. Local government elections are also taking place across England, alongside the London mayoral count.

There are also a series of refedenda across England on moves to create directly elected mayors in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester.

Politically, the results in London and Glasgow are the most eagerly awaited, offering a test both north and south of the Border on the national mood.

The Glasgow result is expected to be particularly close, with only a few seats likely to separate the SNP and Labour.

The Green Party – which is tipped to perform well in the election – said last night that whichever party won, it would have the right to try first to form an administration. But Glasgow Council Green candidate Kieran Wild told The Scotsman that he thought it was time for a “change” on Scotland’s biggest council as Labour had been in power for “too long.”

Mr Wild said the Greens could back a “confidence and supply” deal with the SNP, staying outside the administration, but voting for the ruling party in return for a number of priorities, such as improved recycling.

He added: “We need to see what the numbers are like after the election. There’s been an internal discussion, but personally I’d like to see a change as Labour’s been in power for too long. It’s more likely to be a confidence and supply situation rather than a coalition, as we don’t want to be seen making cuts in the way that the Lib Dems have done elsewhere.”

Scottish Green co-convener Patrick Harvie said: “The largest party should have the right to form an administration. We’d sit down and look at what the common ground was with whoever is the largest party.

“We’d need to look at how our councillors get on with their councillors. If there’s going to be a change in the administration, then there has to be a process of careful negotiation.”

SNP Glasgow Council candidate Graeme Hendry, widely tipped as the man most likely to run the SNP group after tomorrow’s election, said he was “open minded” about a deal with the Scottish Greens.

“We’ve already worked with other parties on the budget this year and we have to continue to work together as Glasgow needs more than one party to take on the challenges facing the city,” he said.

However, a spokesman for Labour said any talk of coalition deals was premature until after the voters had had their say.