THE SNP have taken back control of Aberdeen City Council, ending the five-year reign of the Labour-Conservative-independent administration.
Labour lost nine seats, while the Tories leapt from three to 11. Labour’s bullish finance convener Willie Young was among his party’s casualties.
He said the “Wallgate” allegations that public money had been used to fix a wall believed to be on his land, without going before committee for approval, hadn’t helped. Young denies the allegations. Though he previously owned the land, he sold it to his father David Young in 1992. The SNP have asked Audit Scotland to investigate.
Young said after the Aberdeen result: “The Conservatives have done very well. You’ve got to accept you can lose. That’s politics for you.”
He told the Evening Express he was planning to retire from politics.
The SNP’s Alison Alphonse and Sandy Stuart were elected to the seat along with independent councillor John Reynolds, a former LibDem Lord Provost.
In Aberdeenshire, the Conservatives overtook the SNP, winning 23 seats, up from 14, while the SNP fell eight to 21. The LibDems gained two, taking their number to 14, while the number of independents fell from 12 to 10. Labour dropped from two to one.
Alex Salmond was at the Aberdeenshire count and told the Press and Journal that the local results laid bare what his party would have to for the June 8 election.
“Our activists know we’ve got a challenge in five weeks time – although sometimes that’s no bad thing,” he said.
“If you ask SNP activists to work hard for the Scottish cause then they respond in a substantial manner.”
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