Edinburgh's Christmas market could be brought into public ownership, after it was claimed the chaos surrounding this year's event could leave the city up to £3 million worse-off.
The collapse of a £5.5m three-year contract between the authority and Angel Event Experience (AEE) to run stalls and amusements in the city centre cast doubt on this year's 'Edinburgh's Christmas' events - until plans were salvaged earlier this month.
At a council meeting today Council leader Cammy Day again apologised for the problems and promised a full review of what happened, but insisted it was down to a contractor 'walking off the job'.
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Former council leader, the SNPs Adam McVey, said the problems were a "serious breach of responsibility" that could cost the council £3m in lost revenue.
And in a move supported by the administration he called on the council to explore a 'joint venture' model for future events, giving them greater control.
This years events will now be run by Unique Assembly, a consortium formed in the wake of the fiasco, which stepped in and is set to deliver 'core' elements of the Christmas programme but without some new attractions included in the previous agreement.
And while council chiefs claimed "differences of opinion" about what could be delivered led to the deal falling through, councillors say questions remain over why they only found out at the last minute and how long members of the administration knew.
SNP group leader Adam McVey claimed the financial impact of the debacle "is around £3 million".
"Essentially, the entire amount that was due to come to the council is now not coming to the council," he added. "With the profit share and everything else we'll see what happens but I suspect the council will be in a position where the public purse is £3m worse off."
The ex-council leader accused the Labour administration of a "serious breach of responsibility which is not cost free".
"In June the SNP also put forward an amendment saying we wanted to be kept updated on progress, that was ignored by the administration," he said. "The plot has thickened since then, because that in itself is quite a serious governance breach."
Mr McVey quizzed council leader Cammy Day about when he was first made aware of problems surrounding the contract with AEE.
Cllr Day said he found out on September 22, however the SNP leader said his answer "contradicts" previous accounts given.
"Already we're seeing Labour really caught in this, they are not being entirely open," Cllr McVey added. "The punchline to all this is we need to re-look at how we deliver it. We knew there was a problem with contract management, it's why we insisted in June that councillors were kept updated on progress."
He is calling on the council to explore a shift to a 'joint venture' model for the Christmas market, which could see the winter festival brought under partial or full public ownership - a move supported by the administration.
Cllr McVey explained: "It's essentially a partnership model, so the council would go out to tender not on a contract but seeking a partner and then what they would do is create a company which was 50 per cent public owned, 50 per cent owned by creative industries.
"That would enhance the public control of what's happening within the company, it would also enhance the return if there were profits to be made.
"An organisation can collapse at any time or contract can collapse at any time and the organisation can try and hold themselves within the delivery of that as has happened in this case. This has all come about through contract management on behalf of the administration."
A Labour amendment to an SNP motion on the subject said the administration has offered a "sincere apology" for the way events have unfolded, adding administration councillors "regret that elected members were not kept fully informed when serious issues began to arise".
Cllr Day has said there will be a "full review into why this happened".
Speaking during a City Chambers debate about the Christmas market on Thursday (October 22), he added: "I would like to sincerely apologise for the lack of updates provided to members as agreed at committee earlier this year.
"But lets be clear what's happened here; the contractor let us down, they walked off the job despite tremendous efforts of our officers."
Mandy Watt, finance convener, also apologised for the administration's failure to re-establish the council's festival and events all-party oversight group (APOG) after the election, which opposition councillors said exacerbated confusion about the contract.
She said: "I want to take the opportunity to say absolutely no contempt whatsoever was intended, it was overlooked and I sincerely apologise for that.
"It was deeply disappointing that managed to come top in the process we have let us and the city down and we absolutely moving forward have to do everything we possibly can to make sure that never happens again."
The Conservatives' Phil Doggart said it was "déjà vu all over again".
"We're way beyond the stage of lessons learned," he added. "This happens all the time, it's happened in the past around Christmas and Hogmanay. We do not need to learn any more lessons - we need to fix it."
Cllr Doggart said when councillors were presented with the contract proposals in June they "were not provided with all the facts".
"I think we need to have a bit of humility from officers, accepting responsibility they have in terms of what was presented to elected members."
Asked by Cllr McVey if he would apologise for "potentially costing the city millions" the council leader said officers and politicians had successfully "saved the Christmas market" and "all Hogmanay celebrations will go ahead as planned".
He added: "Rather than bicker in the chamber I hope we can all come together and get the best Christmas the city can have ever."
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