The leader of Edinburgh City Council has announced he will not stand for re-election next year after serving as councillor for nearly 20 years.

Labour councillor Andrew Burns said his decision was "entirely personal" and did not relate to the national political landscape.

He said he had thoroughly enjoyed his time in public office, both as a ward councillor for Craiglockhart and Fountainbridge and as leader of the council since 2012.

Mr Burns said: "It's entirely personal. My absolute intention is to carry on as party leader until May. It will be 18 years. It's the right thing to move on and do something positive.

"I'm quitting politics completely. I'm going to move away from the political environment and do something completely different."

He added: "I feel that [as ward councillor] you can always have a positive impact at a local level. You can have a very significant impact on individual constituents' problems.

"But it's the right time for me to move on and do something else."

Union leaders said Mr Burns, who has overseen turbulent issues including the recent schools construction crisis and the launch of the controversial tram project in 2014, had been instrumental in protecting council services from privatisation.

Unison Edinburgh lead negotiator Tom Connolly said: "Andrew has always made himself available to Unison and the other trade unions and has engaged with us on a regular basis throughout his time as leader.

"He has always done this in a respectful, positive and constructive manner."

John Stevenson, Unison Edinburgh branch president, said: "Huge challenges face Andrew for the rest of his term of office as local government carries the lion's share of Westminster and Holyrood cuts.

"Not least of those will be how to stand by the pledge of no compulsory redundancies."