A SCOTS council has been thrown into turmoil after its Labour administration resigned en masse minutes after electing a new leader and ahead of setting its budget.
Clackmannanshire Council is now operating with no political leadership and only a provost in place.
The Labour administration walked out after it was unable to push through a motion on no compulsory redundancies.
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The group had ousted its former leader, Bobby McGill, on Tuesday over his support for the policy to shore up the authority's finances.
His replacement, Graham Watt, had only been in the post for a mater of minutes when his colleagues quit.
The Alloa Advertiser reported that Mr Watt had described his tenure "likely the shortest in history" and but said his party could not support the budget without being able to reverse a previous policy decision on permitting compulsory redundancies.
It is the latest changing of the guard at the fractious authority, coming just months after the previous SNP ruling administration resigned after Labour pushed through a series of changes to procedures.
The SNP group said then that it was "unable to command a majority" and had "no alternative" but to resign.
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And in 2012 the Labour administration was toppled in a confidence vote after an independent councillor switched support from Labour to the SNP.
In the latest development the council was required to be satisfied that circumstances had changed in a relevant way in order to revoke the previous decision around redundancies but this was ruled incompetent.
The SNP later elected its own councillor, Gary Womersley, as provost with the budget then approving a three per cent council tax rise.
An SNP source said: "Two weeks ago Labour put forward a draft budget predicated on compulsory redundancies.
"After the unions got (Scottish labour deputy leader) Alex Rowley involved the group got an edict from Labour leadership saying they had to reverse the policy.
"They tried to amend their own budget by dipping into the council’s reserves, requiring a suspension of standing orders which wasn’t supported.
"So they’ve been caught between a rock and a hard place – forced to resign or defy the party high heid yins."
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A Clackmannanshire Council spokeswoman said: "Technically there is no political administration but there is a provost in place. It is for them to now convene a meeting where a new administration would be elected.
"The council tax increase was agreed at the meeting and the revenue and capital budget will be discussed at a future meeting."
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “The SNP is imposing a multi-million pound cut on Clackmannanshire Council this year.
“As a result of these cuts, the leaders of the minority Labour administration in Clackmannanshire Council have been forced to confront some incredibly difficult spending decisions, while proposing to avoid compulsory redundancies, and have so far been unable to secure support for a budget.
“The Labour leadership has been left with no choice but to resign from the administration in the hope that a funding deal can soon be secured that is in the best interests of local communities.
“Scottish Labour councillors will do everything in their power to stand against the cuts being imposed on local services by the SNP in Edinburgh.”
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