RICHARD Leonard is being urged to ensure Labour takes action to expel nine councillors who broke party discipline to form a coalition with the Conservatives.

The call is being made by Stephen Flynn, SNP group leader on Aberdeen City Council, and comes 21 months after the councillors’ suspension by Labour in May 2017.

Flynn said the councillors, who include council co-leader Jenny Laing, had recently been campaigning alongside party activists despite being suspended.

“It’s clear their supposed suspension is little more than empty rhetoric,” Flynn told The National. “The whole situation is a complete farce and has dragged on for far too long. It is 21 months since their initial suspension and Richard Leonard appears happy to sit silent if it means that those councillors will knock doors on his behalf.”

He added: “Richard Leonard’s pledge to work ‘for the many, not the few’ clearly does not apply to Aberdeen, where Labour councillors have been openly stating their view that the Tories have been a force for good in the poorest areas of Aberdeen. If Richard Leonard wants to be seen as anything approaching a credible politician then he needs to take action and expel these councillors for good.”

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The nine councillors were suspended by former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale after they disobeyed her instructions not to go into power with the Tories. Their decision undermined Dugdale’s authority and left her more vulnerable to attacks from within her own party.

Under the coalition, the city’s Labour group teamed up with 11 Tory councillors and the Independent Alliance group, made up of three councillors, to form an administration and lock the SNP’s 19-member group and the biggest party on the council out of power.

With the Labour members suspended, the council is now run as a Conservative-independent coalition.

The suspended councillors were later referred by Labour’s National Executive Committee’s disputes panel to the party’s National Constitutional Committee to have their membership considered. But it is understood no decision has been taken on their future and no date set for a hearing.

Aberdeen City Council co-leader Jenny Laing

Following their referral to the committee last July, Laing said: “Whilst we are disappointed by the Disputes Panel’s decision today we are not surprised they have chosen to refer the matter to the National Constitutional Committee rather than overturn the SEC decision.

“We now look forward to finally being given the opportunity to present our case as we believe we have compelling evidence which proves our administration continues to work with trade unions to actively resist austerity, defend local services from cuts, protect jobs by opposing compulsory redundancies and fights to ensure local government is properly funded.

Councillor Laing added: “Anybody who has read our manifesto and administration policy document will be well aware that we are delivering exactly what was asked for by Scottish Labour.”

Flynn said the coalition administration that runs the council has come under criticism for passing a range of cuts to services in Aberdeen.

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In addition, he said they have rejected calls to put Adult Social Care services back under the control of the council, instead allowing it to remain in the hands of Bon Accord Care – an arms-length outside body with no councillor representation.

Last year, suspended Labour councillor, Gordon Graham claimed the “the Tories have done more to improve the lives of people in disadvantaged communities in Aberdeen than the SNP have ever done” – despite statistics last week showing more than 900 Aberdonians required emergency crisis funding from the Scottish Government between July and September last year thanks to major delays in reserved benefit payments from the UK Tory government.

Following the formation of the coalition with the Tories in May 2017, former Scottish Labour deputy leader Alex Rowley said: “The rules of the Labour Party are quite clear. These councillors are in breach of the rules.”

Lord Provost Barney Crockett, one of the suspended councillors, told The National: “We continue to be suspended and we await for further news. I just hope we get back into the party. We have had communication and it’s in everyone’s interests we get back as soon as possible. We have had a strong collegiate approach.” He confirmed they had been campaigning with Labour activists, adding: “We are members of the Labour Party and we would like to see a Labour government.”

A Scottish Labour Party spokesperson said: “Labour’s National Constitutional Committee is the only body with the power to expel members and is independent of the Party’s leadership who have no say over its decisions or when it hears cases.”