SCOTLAND'S only Corbynite council group chief has snubbed the offer of an alliance with the SNP to jointly run a knife-edge authority.
Joe Cullinane, North Ayrshire Labour's leader, quashed speculation of a coalition claiming his group would "do no deals with any party that has imposed austerity on our communities".
Both the SNP and Labour finished the local elections with 11 seats apiece, with the Nationalists immediately out of the traps with an offer of a power-sharing deal.
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But Mr Cullinane is banking on the support of the council's four independent members, where a deal of places on the authority's cabinet would be reciprocated with support in key votes.
A Labour minority administration would be the latest chapter in a politically turbulent year for the council, which saw the previous ruling SNP group quit en masse after losing their majority when the First Minister's father Robin Sturgeon lost a by-election last summer.
The decision caused splits within the Nationalist camp but an expectation they would be returned.
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Mr Sturgeon failed again in his attempt to get elected to the council where his wife had been provost for four years.
The other major scalp in the area was the Labour veteran David O'Neill, the president of local government umbrella body Cosla and the country's leading councillor.
However, Mr Cullinane's spearheading of the campaign to retain the Arran ferry in Ardrossan gave the party a platform and despite the emergence of a Tory contingent on the council, Labour remained the joint biggest party.
Mr Cullinane said: “North Ayrshire Labour has defied the odds. We’ve fought back and we stand today tied with the SNP having picked up the same number of councillors as we did in 2012.
“Our strong performance is firmly rooted in our Labour values and a campaign that spoke to people about local issues, not constitutional ones.
“Eight months ago we were told that the SNP had made a political masterstroke by resigning. The plan, which the SNP Group told other councillors about, was to have Labour take the blame for cuts and then the SNP would regain power. It backfired.
“We now stand at a cross roads with the council hung and no single largest party. It is once again a time for political leadership.
“North Ayrshire Labour will do no deals with any party that have imposed austerity on our communities. Our intention is therefore to form a new minority Labour administration.
“For the last eight months we have been a minority administration with once councillor more than the SNP. Whilst this council is even more split than the last, we showed during those eight months that we can make minority administration work."
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Immediately after Friday's result, SNP group leader Marie Burns said: “We’ve been clear from the outset that there will be no coalition with the Tories and their hard-right policies. That view seems to be shared by the vast majority of voters in North Ayrshire.
"We’ll see over the coming days if there is a deal to be made that will take forward a positive programme for service delivery in North Ayrshire. "Our door is open, and we are happy to speak to anyone who is ready to have a discussion on those terms. If our Labour colleagues feel the same way we are open to discussions.”
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