GLASGOW City Council has confirmed it is to leave local government body Cosla to help establish a rival local government organisation.
The country's largest council voted to join with three other Labour-controlled authorities to set up the Scottish Local Government Partnership (SLGP).
The four rebel authorities announced last year they would quit Cosla following rows over where the power lies within the organisation, how funding to local authorities is distributed and the overall effectiveness of the body.
Aberdeen City Council announced on Wednesday that it would become the first member of the new body, with Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire expected to follow suit.
SLGP is set to begin life on April 1 and has already held negotiations with various trade union bodies.
Glasgow City Council's SNP group said the move "reeks of party political game-playing".
But council leader Gordon Matheson said the partnership was an "exciting new start for local government in Scotland".
He added: "In the future it will simply not be possible to speak to local government without including us as an equal partner and we have already started meeting with Scotland's trade unions as we prepare for our role in national collective bargaining.
"I am looking forward to working with the Scottish and UK governments, the trade unions, other councils, and civic Scotland. Working in partnership we will enhance the role of local government and help to grow Scotland's economy and the communities we all serve."
Susan Aitken, the SNP group leader, said Glasgow's Labour leadership had "ripped" the city out of Cosla in order to join a "Labour club of four."
She added: "Right now it looks as though their solution will resemble something like an old-fashioned wedding scramble.
"We have no objection to Councillor Matheson complaining about the way he thinks Glasgow is treated by Cosla or the Scottish government.
"That is part of the democratic discourse. I do think, though, he'd be better off doing that over lunch with the other three Labour council leaders, rather than dragging Scotland's largest city into a Cosla-lite arrangement that offers no tangible benefit for the people of Glasgow."
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