A trio of Dumfries and Galloway councillors have formed a breakaway political group called the Democratic Alliance.
Councillors Dougie Campbell (Dee and Glenkens), Iain Howie (Castle Douglas and Crocketford), and Willie Scobie (Stranraer and the Rhins) have resigned from the previous Independent Group following what they describe as “farcical” political games.
The men insist that they will not be aligned with any of the big three political parties and will be “true independent voices” for the people of Dumfries and Galloway.
The group was formed following a messy special council meeting on Tuesday where the Conservatives took control of the council administration following the collapse of the SNP/Labour/Independents coalition.
Meanwhile, Independent Group councillors Richard Brodie (Lib Dems) and Jim Dempster (formerly Labour) retained their paid positions as chairmen of the education and planning committees by siding with the Tories.
Councillor Campbell said: “That’s a matter entirely for them, however this has resulted in the establishment of a new group of like-minded and truly independent councillors.
“We’ll always put our constituents first and won’t be aligned to any individual political party.
“There’s no doubt that party politics can harm local democracy, and I’ve witnessed this first hand in recent months.”
Councillor Iain Howie said: “The reason for establishing the new group is that we felt our credibility as independent councillors was compromised by close association with any political party.
“We learnt to our cost that party politics will always take precedence over local issues which would prevent us acting in the best interests of our constituents.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance councillors have blamed the Labour Group for the fall of the previous rainbow coalition, which had seemingly been working well for seven months until Scottish Labour Party leader Anas Sarwar insisted that Labour should not be involved in coalitions with the SNP.
Councillor Willie Scobie said: “Once again we witnessed a number of games being played and a lot of political gesturing by the Labour Group.
“It was incumbent on the Tory Group to take up the position as the administration group on the council and it begs belief how Labour could ever think it could become the ‘leader’ of the council or to populate the committee chairs etc.”
He added: “I look forward to working with Dougie Campbell and Iain Howie at holding the Tory administration to account, but also in providing the other political groups with direction by continually bringing forward motions for consideration by full council.”
