Liberal Democrat leader on Fife Council, Councillor Jonny Tepp, has said,

Following the very successful election results for the Liberal Democrats earlier this month we have been determined to use our increased numbers and influence to deliver for the people who voted for us.

We have had constructive discussions with other council groups on how a stable and inclusive administration can be formed.

Whilst we have been unable to form a coalition we were impressed by the Labour group’s commitment to change the way the council operates including strengthening accountability and scrutiny.

In addition to providing good services to the people of Fife, Liberal Democrats are determined to close the poverty related attainment gap in schools, improve the performance for all pupils, tackle the shortages in social care, deliver the Levenmouth railway, build many more homes for social rent and meet our obligations to the climate.

We are also positive that we can make early progress on the opening times for leisure centres and recycling centres in North East Fife, on the headships in schools in the East Neuk and Largo, funding for flooding and roads maintenance as well as measures to revitalise Dunfermline town centre.

We will work constructively with the new Labour administration to achieve these important priorities.

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Councillor for Dunfermline South James Calder added,

Time and time again people in Dunfermline have told both myself and my fellow Dunfermline Lib Dem Aude Boubaker-Calder that that they feel that the needs of Dunfermline have been ignored by a Glenrothes-focused Council.

Both myself and Aude have looked at the proposals of both Labour and the SNP, and we felt as though the Labour proposals came closest to our view which is more powers should be devolved to Dunfermline.

We feel this can help tackle some of our significant local issues such as the town centre retail collapse, ongoing school capacity issues and a lack of accessible healthcare in Dunfermline.

We both believe that the Liberal Democrat group is right to have supported a Labour Administration at this time and we look forward to working with them on an issue-by-issue basis.