The council where no administration can get its budget passed

Something a little out of the ordinary has happened at a council in southern Scotland since the last local authority elections in 2022.

Every year since then, the political group in charge has been unable to get its own budget voted through.

It has led to changes in administration or left them having to pilot through another group's spending plans.

But why is it happening and does it matter when it comes to running the council?

After elections in May 2022, an alliance was formed between the SNP, Labour, Lib Dems and independents to run the council.

That coalition quickly disintegrated and left an SNP-independent alliance to try to get its budget through in 2023.

But, when they failed to do so, the Conservatives took over control.

The following year, that situation was flipped on its head, when the Conservative-led administration's spending plans lost out in a vote to those of the SNP.

The same thing happened again in 2025.

A few months later, the Conservatives lost control of the council again after a number of councillors left their group and the SNP took over.

Their attempts to get a budget passed in February this year were also unsuccessful with Labour's plans voted through instead.

Current council leader, the SNP's Stephen Thompson, said part of the reason was simply down to the political make-up of the council.

It is currently 11 SNP, 10 Conservative, eight for Labour, seven in two separate independent groups, four in Novantae - set up to represent the west of the region, two in the democratic alliance and one not specified.

"Part of it is simply down to arithmetic - no one group or grouping alone has the majority of numbers," he said.

"At times political groups and independent councillors have come together on key votes to take a decision, but this is often on an issue-by-issue basis.

"Last year members agreed a council-wide motion to go ahead no matter which budget was voted through on the day, so there are different ways of working together."

He said that in the past groups had been able to form coalitions but recently there had been "more fragmentation of groups and groupings along with national politics having too much influence at times".

For Conservative group leader Gail Macgregor, the situation is far from ideal.

"I find the budget process in Dumfries and Galloway an incredibly frustrating one as I believe party politics and a reluctance from some parties to work with others takes precedence over what is best for our region and its residents," she said.

"I look at other councils who manage to negotiate a whole council budget with envy."

She said that during their time as an administration they had tried to form a "consensus budget".

"Sadly other groups and individuals will always wish to posture on the day, some with the sole desire of collapsing an administration and perhaps taking the reins themselves," she added.

"Of course there are occasions like this year where there's too large a difference in budgets to enable us to back another budget and we as a group did have red lines, but generally budgets are very similar and yet we still don't reach consensus."

Labour's depute group leader, Linda Dorward, said the difficulties facing administrations getting budgets through were a "symptom of a deeper political reality".

"Voters delivered a diverse council, which has become even more diverse during its tenure, and that means no single group can simply impose its plans; this is not necessarily a bad thing," she said.

"Under STV (single transferrable vote), administrations need to build support, show leadership, and win trust across the chamber.

"When they fail to achieve that, their budgets may not pass."

This year, it was Dorward's group's spending plans which were approved which she said showed whose ideas were seen "as credible, fair, and grounded in the realities facing local people".

"Personally, I don't think this is a difficulty - rather it is a positive outcome for local democracy," the Labour councillor added.

Certainly, it is a situation which looks likely to persist at least until the next council elections in 2027.