The SNP will bid to form a minority administration to take control of the council after winning 12 seats in the North Ayrshire election.

Councillors will decide as newly elected members get back together for a hybrid meeting both online and in Cunninghame House – after the SNP took 12 seats, the Conservatives 10 and Labour coming in third with nine – with two independent councillors re-elected last week.

Ahead of the full council meeting on Wednesday [May 18], SNP group leader Councillor Marie Burns said: “As the largest group in North Ayrshire Council, the SNP will seek to form a minority administration at next week’s council meeting.

"This means that we will not seek a coalition with any other party. However we are conscious of the election results that returned members from across the political spectrum.

"To honour the electorate's choice we will always seek to work with progressive elected members across the council who share our priorities for North Ayrshire.

"We look forward to working collaboratively with others on developing a cross-party agreement to tackle the cost of living crisis, to develop our renewable energy sector, and to  support communities in delivering their own local priorities. We are confident that this collegiate and mature approach to local administration is what the people of North Ayrshire expect from their elected representatives.

"If we are successful in our efforts to form an administration we will continue to foster mutually respectful and constructive relationships within and outwith our Council to ensure the best outcomes for everyone who lives here, everyone who works here, and for everyone who visits our beautiful area.”

We reported this week Conservative group leader Tom Marshall was not 'terribly optimistic' of coming to a deal with the Labour party - but added they 'might be happy being an effective' and 'constructive' opposition.

Cllr Marshall said: “The SNP have made it clear they will not do any deal with the Conservatives so we’re quite relaxed in that.

“Whether Labour will want to deal with us we are relaxed on that. But a lot of Labour policies we could not agree with like Municipal Socialism and Community Wealth Building. 

“I’m not terribly optimistic of coming to a deal as quite a bit divides us, but we’d want to make sure they didn’t waste a lot of money on hair-brained schemes.

“We just might be happy being an effective opposition as we would be very constructive and effective opposition as we have a lot of experienced folk on board and young candidates learning the ropes.”