A SOCIALIST councillor has been suspended from the Labour group on Edinburgh council after refusing to back a budget that includes cutting funding for communities.

Councillor Gordon Munro has been suspended for three months after abstaining in a February vote on the SNP-Labour administration’s budget. 

He originally faced a year-long suspension, which would have prevented him from standing in next year’s elections. 

Edinburgh Labour Party described Mr Munro as a “valued member” and stressed the importance of standing up to the SNP. 

Cllr Munro is among a number of Labour councillors in Scotland who have refused to back spending cuts.

Last year, Glasgow’s Matt Kerr opposed budget reductions and North Lanarkshire’s Angela Feeney resigned her party membership after being threatened with disciplinary action over her stance. 

Mr Munro, who represents the Leith district, said that he accepted the “draconian” punishment, but that his decision had been intended to prevent harm to communities.

He told the Star: “I think there are probably more Labour councillors sympathetic to the position I and others have taken and it is party discipline that is preventing them from standing side by side.”