SNP councillors offered to support the minority Labour administration’s budget proposals in return for more senior positions on council committees, leaked documents reveal.

The private documents outlining behind-the-scenes negotiations between the SNP and Labour Groups on East Lothian Council reveal that the Nationalists offered to back Labour’s upcoming council budget in return for senior local authority positions, including a senior councillor role, and other concessions.

The leaked draft agreements also show the SNP Group, which has refused to take up positions on council committees since the local authority election in May saw them ousted as the official opposition, offering to reverse that decision and take up their posts.

But it calls for them to be given more prominent positions, including convenorship of the licensing board, a position currently held by a Labour councillor.

Councillor Norman Hampshire, acting Labour Group leader, said talks had been held with both the SNP and Conservative Groups ahead of the draft budget – which has not yet been publicly revealed – but declined to comment on any private agreement proposals.

Mr Hampshire said: “We are a minority administration and to ensure our budget is approved I have held talks with both opposition leader Brian Small and SNP Group leader Stuart Currie about some of the difficult decisions we are facing.”

Mr Currie said discussions were held in the interests of providing “budget stability”. But he insisted the SNP rejected the agreement because they could not support plans he claimed Labour put forward to introduce parking charges in towns.

He said: “There was no agreement. We rejected it as it was unacceptable to our group.”

One version of the draft agreement, which the Courier has seen, states that Mr Currie would take a higher-paid senior councillor position and chair the licensing board.

It also calls for SNP councillors to be appointed to the boards of enjoyleisure, the Brunton Theatre Trust and Musselburgh Joint Racing Committee. In return, it states that the SNP Group would “support the three-year budget presented to the council on February 16, 2018”.

It also says that the SNP Group would support the administration’s draft East Lothian Parking and Transport Strategy, which is due to go before next week’s meeting of East Lothian Council. Labour sources claim this agreement was put forward by Mr Currie and described it as “desperate”.

But Mr Currie insists the version in which the transport strategy is included was put to the SNP Group by the Labour administration.

He said his version of the agreement called for a budget liaison group to be established to discuss implementing some of the budget proposals the SNP want brought forward, including abolishing coastal car parking charges, introducing a £1-a-night levy on hotels and bed and breakfast establishments, and delivering shared services.

And he revealed the SNP Group had agreed at its last meeting that its councillors would take up committee positions set aside for them as soon as possible. Mr Currie said: “We were never going to agree any deal which involved introducing parking charges on-street and off-street and expanding the coastal car park charges. That was something that was non-negotiable.”

Senior councillors receive £4,233 more than ordinary councillors annually and are described by the council as “those that hold a position of significant responsibility in the council’s political management structure. Posts such as cabinet portfolio holders and opposition leader would all be classified as senior councillors”.

Opposition leader Councillor Brian Small (Conservative) said: “I’m disappointed to find out that, during a time where the council is being asked to make millions of pounds of saving during cuts from the Scottish Government, the SNP’s top priority was securing positions for themselves and a pay raise for one of their own number.

“Councillors should be 100 per cent focused on how we protect frontline services.”

East Lothian Council needs to save about £40m over the next five years. Closing a rural school, increasing parking charges and cutting school crossing patrols have all been identified as possible options.