THE SNP and Labour have struck what has been billed as a "power-sharing agreement" to run Scotland's third biggest council, it has been confirmed.
At the first meeting of Fife Council since the local elections a fortnight ago, David Alexander of the SNP and Labour's David Ross were nominated to equally share the leadership of the authority.
In a statement, the council said they had been put forward in a “spirit of collaboration and co-operation to provide the best service possible for the people of Fife".
Former Dunfermline and Livingstone FC manager Jim Leishman was appointed Provost.
In Edinburgh, the SNP's Frank Ross has been appointed Lord Provost, a major indication the party will part of a new administration but as yet no leadership has been installed.
Both moves come as it emerges another of Scotland's breakaway councils has rejoined the local government fold.
In its first post-election meeting Renfrewshire Council, which confirmed an SNP minority administration, voted to reapply for membership of Cosla, following Glasgow's lead a week ago and leaving only Aberdeen and South Lanarkshire as the surviving members of the Scottish Local Government Partnership.
The chaos engulfing Aberdeen, where nine Labour councillors were suspended by the party over their refusal to accept a ruling not to go into coalition with the Tories, has thrown its expected return to Cosla into some doubt.
It has also emerged that one of the those suspended, Sarah Macdonald, is wife of prominent Labour MSP and party frontbencher Lewis Macdonald.
The city's new Lord Provost, Barney Crocket, said he was confident of being reinstated to Scottish Labour "very soon", insisting his fellow councillors were still "Labour through and through" despite the suspension and was "sure everything is going to be rectified".
But Scottish Labour deputy leader Alex Rowley told the BBC: "The rules of the Labour Party are quite clear. These councillors are in breach of the rules."
Fife's David Alexander, said: “With neither party having a clear mandate from the people of Fife to lead the council, it is only right that the two main parties come together in a spirit of collaboration and co-operation to run Fife Council. This is a unique opportunity to take Fife forward in a united and constructive manner”.
Co-leader David Ross added: “We recognise that people in Fife have high expectations for the Kingdom and the two groups have agreed to work together to meet those expectations.”
The council said both parties had signed "a Power Sharing Agreement which lays out their shared aspirations and expectations, while acknowledging that they share very different views on Scottish Independence and the Union".
It added that the agreement seeks “to build an atmosphere of trust, respect, openness, transparency and fairness in the relationships between all councillors and political groups represented on the Council in order to work in the best interests of the people of Fife”.
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