A LABOUR councillor dramatically quit the party on Thursday during a chaotic budget meeting at Edinburgh City Council.

Sighthill & Gorgie councillor Ross McKenzie resigned after the minority Labour administration was forced to implement Lib Dem proposals.

These included ending no compulsory redundancies — breaching a Labour “red line” on the matter — and looking at privatising services.

The council, which faces a £70 million “budget gap,” saw groups submit options, with the Lib Dems’ budget being passed by three votes, including support from Labour and the Tories.

The process was not without controversy, however, as the SNP/Green option was ruled “incompetent” by officers, and the Green block split its votes three ways in the first round between their joint budget with the SNP, the Lib Dems, and the Tories.

Green councillor Alys Mumford described the move as “tactical voting” to remove the Labour budget from the order paper.

But Mr McKenzie regarded it as a chance for the “Labour group to make a decision, in public, about their priorities.”

He told the chamber: “Rather than operating as a council with a two-thirds majority of members who consider themselves somewhere to the left of centre ... the council has divided on nationalist lines.”

Unions are deeply concerned by a Lib Dem budget that could lead to privatisation and put jobs and services at risk.

Unite deputy general secretary Mary Alexander told the Morning Star: “We are massively disappointed that politics has got in the way of the representations we made on behalf of workers before the budget.

“What passed paves the way for compulsory redundancies and privatisation of waste and cleansing.

“It’s horrifying … we will hold a consultative ballot with our members.”