The SNP have today welcomed Councillor Shaukat Butt leaving the Labour Party which results in the Labour group losing their majority in Glasgow City Chambers, less than two months before the local authority elections.
Sandra White, SNP MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, said this was further evidence that the council elections on May 3rd present a great opportunity for the people of Glasgow to move their city forward.
She said: “The SNP was founded in Glasgow 78 years ago and many of our most important electoral breakthroughs happened here. Now the people of Glasgow will have the chance to add to that by electing an SNP council that will work day and night to help this great city flourish once more.
“Major infrastructure investments like the M74 extension and the new Southern General Hospital show our commitment to the city – as does the investment linked to the Commonwealth Games which will deliver a great legacy to the whole city.
“Glasgow has always been and always will be at the SNP’s heart and is central to our vision of a progressive, fairer and more democratic Scotland.”
James Dornan, SNP MSP for Cathcart, added:
“I am pleased that Councillor Butt finally took the decision to leave the Labour Party, they have nothing to offer the people who live here. Glaswegians deserve so much better.”
At a Council ward count they don’t normally allocate Council seats on an aggregate of 2 parties…. Labour + Independent, they stand and fall separately.
If this was a first past the post election you’d be right, but the council elections are STV, which means voters list candidates 1,2,3 and then 3 or 4 councillors get elected for each ward.
The worry with STV is that multi member wards tend to spread the councillors out among the parties: the cynic in me wonders whether this supposed splintering of Labour is a ploy to get more candidates elected.
In general, I’d say having more candidates from multiple parties on the ballot paper won’t help the SNP.