Falkirk Council Update (20/10/15)
Falkirk Council is unusual in a number of ways.
For a start, going back to the early days of the A4ES equal pay campaign Falkirk Council had some of the biggest differences in rates of pay between traditional male and female council jobs.
And now that a settlement of all outstanding equal pay claims has been achieved for A4ES clients in Fife, the spotlight is switching to Falkirk which again stands out from the crowd because the council is a Labour/Conservative/Independent coalition.
Now to listen to some Labour politicians this is impossible, because 'old lags' like Jeremy Corbyn and Gordon Brown, for example, say that they will never share a platform with their Conservative rivals - never mind power.
But in Falkirk things are different and with no single party commanding a majority the breakdown of council seats is as follows:
- Labour - 14 councillors
- SNP - 13 councillors
- Independents - 3 councillors
- Conservative - 2 councillors
So the upshot is that Falkirk is effectively a Labour administration with a Labour council leader who is propped up with support from both the Conservatives and Independents.
Now who would have thought that? - but there's more to follow, so watch this space.
