Time could be up for Edinburgh’s creaking minority Labour administration as the horse-trading over the City of Edinburgh’s Council’s budget come to a head this week, writes Herald columnist and former Edinburgh councillor John McLellan

It’s budget time for Edinburgh’s beleaguered Labour administration, but it could be one which affects councillors’ domestic finances as much as those of the city council.

The writing was on the wall in large yellow letters last week when the Lib Dem group teamed up with the SNP to vote down the administration proposals for spending the Tourist Tax revenue stream expected to flow from the summer, and this coming Thursday the whole budget for 2026-27 needs to be agreed.

Under the arrangements which have kept the fractious minority Labour group in notional control since 2022, their proposals would normally expect to scrape through with some Lib Dem and Conservative amendments, but after last week it appeared that all bets were off.

If the Labour budget was to fall, then by rights it should signal the end of its tenure and with it the special responsibility repayments most of their councillors receive for convening committees. The biggest loser would be Jane Meagher, but she might well be happy to trade her £71,519 council leader’s salary for a much quieter life, but if she lost the group leadership, it could amount to a cut of around £46,000.

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