Labour rebel councillors could contest Glasgow May election
Gordon Matheson: rebels should examine their conscience. Picture: Robert Perry
A NEW party set up by rebel Labour councillors in Glasgow could contest the local election in May.
Councillors who quit the party this week are preparing to launch a rival party - provisionally called Glasgow Labour.
Labour-controlled Glasgow City Council this week saw off an internal party rebellion to secure narrow approval for its budget.
Labour councillors Stephen Dornan, Tommy Morrison and Anne Marie Millar resigned from the party before the vote, and ultimately voted for the SNP’s alternative budget.
Three other Labour councillors also voted against the administration’s budget: Ruth Black, William O’Rourke and Andy Muir.
However, the council budget passed with a narrow majority of 40 votes to 38.
Tommy Morrison said an application had been made to the Electoral Commission to register a new group, provisionally named Glasgow Labour.
The group plans to stand one candidate in each of the city’s 21 wards, Mr Morrison told the Sunday Herald.
He said he envisaged around 23 candidates standing on the banner of re-election in the new party.
Mr Morrison told the newspaper: “I’d like to see this new party give the citizens a wider choice in this election.
“We have to wait for the approval of the Electoral Commission, which has one or two issues with the application. Their difficulty is the word Labour. The commission’s view is that anyone else using that word could confuse voters”.
Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson told the Scotland on Sunday the six rebels should “examine their consciences”, accusing them of “trying to wreck revenge” for being deselected.
He said: “Every single one had been de-selected by the party. The motivation was simply about trying to wreck revenge”.
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Comments
There are 24 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
Jolly
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:13 PMallymax What do all the dotted lines mean???
Buford Van Stomm
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:38 PMha ha ha is there any wonder Purcell turned to drugs.
Alicia Murray
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 09:34 AMThere must be a special section in hell for Labour party councillors, msps and mps. Getting crowded in there squash up a bit for the lib dems.
The auld lies will nae wash any mair
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 09:13 AMLabour's melt down continues unabated in Scotland with the latest example in Glasgow. This what happens when you take Scotland for granted and do nothing but negative campaigning. Come May's Council elections Labour will be lucky if they can fill a telephone booth with their successful candidates for the whole of Scotland.
Intervention
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:09 AMWhy is press not hounding Johann Lamont on this after all 4 of the councillors deselected by London Labour are in her Pollock stronghold and her husband is Deputy Leader of Glasgow Council........................what does she say about a Labour councillor bullying a mother about her disabled son?.... .......................if this had been in any other Party than Labour there would be days of negative headlines
Intervention
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:03 AMThe supine Electoral Commission is refusing to allow the rebel councillors to use the name Glasgow Labour but allows a party that is not registered and doesn't give details of its finances to stand under the banner of Scottish Labour.
Charles Linskaill
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:33 AMThe straw that broke the camels back is an idiom and a metaphor for a catastrophe caused by an insignificant change: A camel is loaded up with straw, and single straws are added to the load, and the last straw to be added breaks its back. It was the cumulative effect that caused the catastrophic breaking of the back, but it appeared to be a tiny change that caused it
Charles Linskaill
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:27 AM"Labour rebel councillors could contest Glasgow May election", Then in their utter stupidity chase all the voters away for good, As politics at the present time, are a whirlpool of madness, Introducing more madness will break the camels back.
Arthur G
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:13 AMIs it just me or should the references to "wreck revenge" in the final two paragraphs not read "wreak revenge"? Of course, since Mathieson is such a clown and so out of his depths it is a miracle he has not drowned, one never knows.
Arthur G
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:08 AM"And today it has been announced that a report concerning [insert GCC labour councillor's name here and repeat the process dozens of times] was passed to the Procurator's Fiscal office..."
Arthur G
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:02 AM#6 Daniel Ya Robey2 Been eating our own jobbies again, have we? Hardy, har, har, har!
Sister Mary Clarence
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 12:51 AMGoodbye and good riddance I say ...
Old Jim
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 12:42 AMSo Scotsman not covering the real story about Labour Cllr Gilbert Davidson threatening Labour Cllr Anne Marie Millar Davidson has previous form Dont worry though, once he and his London Labour riff raff are kicked out, a proper investigation will be instigated into the very shady goings on by Labour in Glasgow I think there will be many skeletons about to come out the cupboards.
footdee
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 12:12 AMDanielrober2 writes,The Labour Party delivered on its promises ------------------------------------------- "The true cost of Labour’s expensive Private Finance Initiative scheme was laid bare yesterday as the bill taxpayers face soared fivefold. Official figures show that 544 PFI projects such as new school and hospital buildings have been launched since 1997. The original capital cost of the projects agreed under the Labour government was £51.5billion. 'Borrowing trick': Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown have saddled the nation with a £245bn bill for 544 PFI projects 'Borrowing trick': Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown have saddled the nation with a £245bn bill for 544 PFI projects But repayments for these will have rocketed to an eye-watering total of £245billion by 20478, according to the Treasury. That is the equivalent of £14,800 for each of Britain’s 16.5million working households. PFI schemes allow governments to put off raising upfront money for new buildings. Instead, a private company is given a lengthy contract to build a school or hospital and then provides related ‘services’ to the public sector."
radar
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 10:47 PMQuiet innit ? If you listen really carefully, you might even hear the sound of Labour Party membership cards being torn up and chucked in the bin, all over the country.
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