Stirling Council leader Margaret Brisley dies aged 79

Tributes have been paid to Stirling Council leader Margaret Brisley who has died aged 79 following a short illness.

The Bannockburn and Eastern Villages Ward member, who served as a Labour councillor for 44 years before becoming council leader in September, died on Sunday.

Prior to her appointment as council leader she had served as deputy leader since 2022 and was also a former Provost.

The local authority's current deputy leader, Labour councillor Gerry McGarvey, led the tributes from across the political spectrum.

He said: “Margaret was returned as a councillor at each of the 11 elections she stood in, which is testament to the dedication and hard work she undertook on behalf of her constituents.

“Her calming and professional presence will be missed at Stirling Council and I am both sad at her passing, and also that I will not have more opportunity to learn from her.”

Stirling Council Conservative group leader Neil Benny, said Ms Brisley was "a force of nature."

He said: "It is hard to imagine a Stirling Council without her.

“She represented a tradition of local politics which put the people of Stirling first and transcended the narrow party politics we have grown used to these days.

"When we disagreed the arguments were forthright and tenacious, but without rancour or malice and the decisions we came to were all the better for the debate."

The council's SNP group leader Scott Farmer described Ms Brisley as "a formidable politician."

Mr Farmer added: "She was a colleague and a friend and her passing is so terribly sad.

"She made such a tremendous contribution to her local community, as well as the wider Stirling electorate.”

Ms Brisley is survived by her two children, five grandchildren and a great-grandson.