THE SNP staged a walk-out on West Lothian Council on Tuesday afternoon, accusing the Conservative depute provost of “shutting down democratic debate".
Tory councillor Peter Heggie had used Standing Orders to rule that the meeting could not debate an SNP motion calling for a rethink on the planned changes to community centres.
The changes could see the council take control of most of the community centres, depriving management committees of their role next year.
SNP group leader Janet Campbell told the meeting. “The SNP group feels at this point that we have no alternative but to leave this meeting.
"The motion was deemed competent and a majority of councillors in this chamber support it.”
The 15-strong SNP group is the largest political party on the local authority. However, West Lothian Council is run by a Conservative (who have just four seats) after the party struck a deal with Scottish Labour (who have 12).
The SNP's depute group leader Councillor Pauline Stafford, who tabled the motion, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The SNP is ready to work across the chamber to protect community centres and keep them sustainable, accessible, and locally run.”
Councillor Heggie said that, as decisions had been taken and the process was in hand, the motion could not be debated.
He added that delaying until after the next meeting of the full council in November would break a timetable set for the end of October when decisions on the future of community centres have to be taken.
The depute provost said: “Standing Orders provide that a decision taken by the council cannot be substantially changed.
“I am satisfied that a significant amount of work has been progressed and that there is work in progress to ensure future scrutiny.”
He added that more delays would introduce “further uncertainties.”
“I’m therefore ruling that the motion deals with a matter already being dealt with and this case the motion shall not be considered.”
The council’s governance manager, Lesley Montague, told Stafford that the decision of the chair could not be challenged.
After the walkout, SNP group leader Campbell said: “The SNP group is disappointed that our motion on the future of West Lothian’s community centres has been blocked from debate at full council by the Conservative Depute Provost.
“The growing use of the ‘matter in hand’ rule to exclude opposition motions undermines open and democratic decision-making.
“Overusing this rule to shut down debate is damaging local democracy. Community centres are vital, and all councillors should have a say in decisions about their future.”
She added: “Since 2023, we have argued that Labour’s plans for community centres are unworkable.
"After local committees rejected all options, the administration imposed a ‘default’ of full council control -threatening closures, reduced hours, higher costs, and the removal of community voices.”
