Health & Social Care Chief Quits

{mosimage} Labour has suffered another blow ahead of next May’s local elections in Edinburgh after an eight high-profile councillor announced he is to quit. Kingsley Thomas, the city’s health and social care leader, has become the latest senior Labour figure to reveal he is to stand down from the City Chambers. The party now faces losing more than half of its 13-strong cabinet, as well as licensing board convener Phil Attridge, and Labour insiders are talking of “panic” over their prospects at the polls.

Councillor Thomas’s decision has surprised Labour colleagues, who expected him to play a central role in their election campaign.

And there are fears more well-known names will follow before a deadline next month for claiming “golden goodbye” payments of up to £20,000 from the Scottish Executive. The remaining Labour candidates fear the loss of so many well-known faces – including former council leader Donald Anderson and housing leader Sheila Gilmore – will lead to heavy losses at the polls.

One Labour group insider said: “It was a huge shock. Everyone knows Kingsley has a full-time job but everyone was assuming he was putting his name forward for next year. A number of very senior councillors are leaving the council when they would normally have stayed on for many more years.

“The Labour Party is in a bit of panic now that more extremely able councillors will quit in the next couple of weeks.”

There are also concerns there will be a lack of experience in the Labour ranks following the elections in May.

The elections will be the first to be held under a new proportional representation system, which means Labour will almost certainly lose overall control of the council.

The party hopes to continue in power by winning enough seats to form a coalition with one of the current opposition groups.

Another Labour group insider said: “Labour only needs to put forward 24 candidates for next year’s election [compared to 58 at the last elections], because of the new electoral system, but there may be a lack of experience.

“Some candidates like Trevor Davies, Andrew Burns and Elizabeth Maginnis are very experienced, but the party will almost certainly be putting forward a number of new candidates.

“It does give the opportunity to bring in fresh blood, but the worry is many voters will not really know them, compared to people like Kingsley, Brian Fallon and Frank Russell.”

Cllr Thomas has been in local politics for 14 years and the city’s social work leader since 1999.

He said today he was quitting the City Chambers mainly to concentrate on his full-time job with the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

But he made it clear he was unhappy with the new election system, saying decision making may be less effective under a coalition.

He said: “I’ve found it increasingly difficult to combine [my legal aid job] with my work with the council and I decided to concentrate on that full-time.

“However like some other colleagues who have decided not to stand again I’ve not been persuaded by the arguments over the new electoral system.

“I don’t think people really appreciate how the new system is going to work after the election and the fact that there will no longer be the strong ties between people living in an area and their local councillor.

“The opposition parties have basically managed to get this system introduced but in their lust for power we are going to be left with a poorer electoral system.”

Cllr Thomas will be largely remembered for overseeing an overhaul of social work services in the city, following damning criticism inquiry into the death of baby Caleb Ness at the hands of his brain-damaged father.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have also lost long-serving councillors, though not so many senior figures.

The Labour leader of the city council, Ewan Aitken, said: “I’m pretty certain that the team we take forward to next year’s elections will have significantly more experience and talent than any of the other parties in the city.”