City of Edinburgh Council leader to stand down next year

Councillor Andrew Burns - Image credit: City of Edinburgh Council

The leader of City of Edinburgh Council has announced that he is not going to stand for re-election next year.

Councillor Andrew Burns, who has been the council leader for four years and Labour group leader for eight, will stand down at the 2017 local government election to pursue other interests.

The 52-year-old councillor leads the only Labour-SNP coalition in Scotland, which was formed after the 2012 elections.

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In a post on his blog, Burns said he had never envisaged spending his whole working life in politics.

“I'm sure it won't come as a shock to close friends, family and colleagues; when I simply say I want to now move on; to focus on a different phase in my life. A phase that once again will not involve front-line politics, in any shape or form – whatsoever,” he explained.

While he could be “a political-anorak of the highest order”, he had kept “a wide and diverse range of personal interests” outside politics, he said.

“And I simply now want to focus on some of those personal interests in the next few years of my life. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Burns, who has been a councillor for 17 years, thanked the residents of what was the Moat ward and became part of the multi-member Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart ward in 2007 for electing him four times.

“It's been the political, and professional, privilege of my life to represent those local Edinburgh residents for nearly two decades now.

“Nothing I've done in my life beforehand, and I'm sure nothing that I'll do with my life in the future; will match the hugely enriching local experiences I've had over those two decades.”