Helping the most vulnerable families navigate the cost of living crisis will be a key priority for the newly elected West Dunbartonshire administration.
Stunning results declared on Friday saw the Labour group take back control of the local authority as a majority council with all 12 candidates elected in 12 of the 22 seats available.
The SNP saw nine councillors elected, a decrease of one, while both Tory councillors lost their seats. West Dunbartonshire Community Party candidate Jim Bollan, who has been a councillor for more than 30 years has also kept his seat.
READ MORE: West Dunbartonshire Council Election 2022: Polls quiet as candidates push for final votes
Following the result, Labour leader Martin Rooney told the local democracy reporting service that it was time to help families suffering as a result of the increase in price of food, gas and electricity.
The group is now promising to give £1000 a week to food banks, as the number of donations to these organisations is dropping.
Councillor Rooney said: “Labour has already declared its vision for the next five years and will work to reduce the £14 million budget gap while helping families dealing with the cost of living crisis.
“We cannot leave it until February to address the budget gap, we need to start looking at it now and focus on the cost of living crisis and see what we can do to help local families.
“There have been more price increases since October and with inflation going up this is putting a burden on local families and we need to see what we can do to help them.
“We will give £1000 a week to food banks and another £1000 a week to help people purchase fuel. A further £1000 a week will also be given to food banks to provide food shop vouchers and to provide the necessities four our residents.”
The SNP, now the opposition party, says it will be scrutinising Labour and holding them to account to ensure they deliver on their promises which they are “sceptical” about.
Their leader councillor Jonathan McColl said: “We have an excellent group of enthusiastic SNP Councillors who will work hard for the communities that elected them.
“Labour made a lot of promises during the election campaign and we will be scrutinising their work over the coming five years, and holding them to account on what they deliver and what they do not.
“We will work constructively in opposition to ensure that the council provides the services our constituents need, for example having had success in past years garnering additional monies from the Scottish Government after the initial settlement announcement, we are happy to help the administration with this for the benefit of Council services.
“Whilst we are understandably sceptical about Labour’s ability to live up to their promises given the unrealistic nature of many of them in the current climate, we will be there at every meeting, representing our citizens and arguing for common sense solutions to help our communities thrive in the post pandemic world.”
Below is a list of the elected councillors for West Dunbartonshire and the number of votes they received.
Ward one – Lomond
Jonathon McColl – SNP – 1494
Martin Rooney – Labour – 938
Hazel Sorrell – Labour – 719
Ward two – Leven
Ian Dixon – SNP – 1494
John Millar – Labour – 1089
Michelle McGinty – Labour – 956
Jim Bollan – West Dunbartonshire Community Party – 953
Ward three – Dumbarton
Karen Conaghan – SNP – 2171
David McBride – Labour – 2045
Gurpreet Singh Johal – Labour – 930
Chris Pollok – SNP – 529
Ward four – Kilpatrick
Douglas McAlister – Labour – 1903
Gordon Scanlan – SNP – 986
Lawrence O’Neil – Labour – 272
Ward five – Clydebank Central
Diane Docherty – SNP – 1903
Craig Edwards – Labour – 1199
Clare Steele – Labour – 645
Sophie Traynor – SNP – 531
Ward six – Clydebank waterfront
James McElhill – SNP – 1493
Daniel Lennie – Labour – 1217
Lauren Oxley – SNP – 767
June McKay – Labour – 540
