POLL: Do party politics have a place in the council chamber?
Five members of Shetland Islands Council are now publicly affiliated with a political party, after Stephen Leask (Lerwick North and Bressay) was appointed local Labour chairman last month, and both Moraig Lyall (Shetland Central) and Emma Macdonald (Shetland North) threw in their hats to be the Lib Dem’s next candidate for Holyrood.
They join longstanding partisans in the Shetland South ward Alex Armitage (Greens) and Robbie McGregor (SNP).
What does that mean for a council which has for years prided itself on standing above party politics?
“It’s not been easy to be a member of the Labour party,” Mr Leask told reporter Kevin Craigens this week, while insisting that party politics and his council work can go hand in hand.
Some pundits on social media were not convinced.
Balancing the two “creates a credibility problem, is disingenuous and arguably unethical”, one constituent wrote.
What do you think — do party politics have a place in the council chamber?
