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Cllr Lezley Marion Cameron was asked to resign by council leader Jane Meagher last month, but she refused. However, a motion passed at full council on Thursday saw Councillor Tim Pogson, previously chair of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board. which oversees health and social care, appointed to replace Cllr Cameron. Cllr Cameron was also suspended from the Labour group for three weeks on Monday last week after breaking the party whip at a full council meeting last month. She was not present in the room for a vote to replace her on the council’s policy committee with fellow Labour councillor and former council leader Cammy Day. Cllr Day had stepped down after allegedly sending sexual messages to Ukrainian refugees in the Capital, and was suspended from the Labour group soon after. But since being cleared of criminal wrongdoing in May, he has been readmitted to the Labour group, and been slowly returned to council business. Thursday’s mini-reshuffle saw him continue his return by being appointed to serve on the Lothian NHS Board and the Licensing Board. Cllr Cameron caused controversy when she spoke at a meeting of the David Hume Institute at the end of September and argued the council should look again at its requirement that all new developments should have have 35 per cent of their units as affordable housing. She claimed the target could be dissuading firms from investing in Edinburgh. At the full council meeting, Cllr Cameron defended her remarks. She said: “My comment on Monday, 29 September, was that I would support looking at relaxing the affordable housing percentage to try and encourage investment. I didn’t say scrap it. “As an experienced councillor, I know how policies and procedures are developed, monitored, assessed, reviewed and amended.” Keep up to date on everything in the Capital, with the latest headlines and breaking news stories delivered straight to your inbox, with EEN’s free daily newsletter
