Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has warned nine suspended councillors in Aberdeen will need to wait to be readmitted to his party.
The so-called Aberdeen Nine were suspended in 2017 after forming a ruling coalition with Conservative members on Aberdeen City Council and have been banned from standing for Labour again until 2022.
The councillors were hopeful a new party leader, following the departure of Richard Leonard in January, would see them reinstated but Mr Sarwar admitted he expects to have “a whole host of issues” to deal with following May’s Scottish Parliament election.
The Scottish Labour boss told listeners of BBC Good Morning Scotland on Thursday that he believes the group is “working on the frontline delivering Labour policies in Aberdeen” and stated unequivocally: “I want them back in.”
However, challenged later during a media briefing on whether he would take direct action to readmit the group and what the next steps would be, Mr Sarwar said his immediate focus is the ongoing election campaign.
“To be honest, I’ve been in the job for five weeks and we’ve only got three weeks left until the election, and then there are a whole host of issues that will need to be addressed by me beyond that and the next election,” Mr Sarwar said.
“You heard some of that already around disciplinary procedures. You’ve heard some of that already around the Aberdeen Nine. There are lots of other issues and I want to make sure we’ve got a robust, active, fair Labour Party here in Scotland.
“I will be looking at that in much more detail post the election but if you’re asking me in the here and now what my view is, we have Labour councillors in Aberdeen who are delivering on a Labour manifesto, who won UK council of the year.
“That’s something that we should be praising them for and welcoming but, over the course of the election, my focus is going to be on the election campaign and then making sure we have a robust, active Labour Party coming through this election campaign and over the next five years.”
Prior to his resignation, former leader Richard Leonard insisted that keeping administrative suspensions in place against the Aberdeen councillors would send a “clear message that serious rule breaches will result in serious repercussions”.
He said it was “disappointing” the group has never shown regret for the decision to work with the Tories and although he had expressed frustration at the time taken to resolve the situation it was now “time to move on”.
Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, Mr Sarwar said he “opposes both the UK and Scottish Tories” and that they are “wrong in so many areas” but suggested he would be willing to work with parties on individual issues.
“I worked with the SNP, for example, around the period products bill, or my party did, and on rights of retail workers,” Mr Sarwar said.
“I worked with the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives to scrap the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, which was doing so much damage to our communities. We worked with the Greens around reversing the exams fiasco of last year.
“So I’m not averse to working with individual political parties on individual issues because I do think there comes a point where there are issues where you have to work together in the national interest.”