Anas Sarwar says Scottish Labour councillors will work with other parties on individual issues, but will not sign off on forming official coalitions.
The Scottish Labour leader has said his party will not enter into any formal coalitions after the May 5 council elections, as “both the SNP and the Conservatives are bad for this country”.
However, he conceded councillors can work with other political parties on individual issues which are “right for our communities”.
This comes after the Labour co-leader of Fife Council hinted he would accept a “working arrangement” with the SNP after the May 5 election.
SNP and Tories ‘decimated’ communities
Speaking to us, Mr Sarwar said: “I have made it pretty clear we don’t want formal coalitions with the SNP.
“The SNP say they will do no coalitions with the Tories and are challenging Labour to do the same, and the Tories say they won’t have coalitions with the SNP and are challenging Labour to do the same.
“Both the SNP and the Conservatives are bad for this country.
“They have decimated local communities and we have the opportunity here to do local democracy differently.”
He said it is “reasonable” for councillors to work with opposition politicians on individual issues, just as individual parliamentarians do in Holyrood.
But he added: “That is different from a formal coalition – that is clear.”
Labour hoping for gains on May 5
Mr Sarwar also said he hopes Scottish Labour can make gains in areas where the party didn’t do so well in the 2017 council elections.
The party leader was out campaigning in Perth with some of the Labour hopefuls in the area to spread the word.
Perth and Kinross Council only has one Labour councillor – Alasdair Bailey – but Mr Sarwar expects his party to fare better this time around.
He said: “So many communities have strong Labour views and we want to build on that support.
“We are seeing so much progress in places like Perth where we are standing a good number of candidates and are hoping to make some gains.
“We want to increase our share of the vote across the country and get councillors elected in places they didn’t get elected last time.
“Perth is a good example of that.”