Exclusive:Investigation launched into Scottish councillor's 'misled' claim over 172 teacher cuts

A councillor is under investigation after alleging that senior officials attempted to “wilfully and cynically mislead” elected members over teacher cuts in Glasgow, it can be revealed.

The office of the Ethical Standards Commissioner has confirmed to The Scotsman that a conduct complaint has been lodged against Labour’s Fiona Higgins.

Glasgow City Chambers. The city is amongst areas in Scotland where university students have been left effectively homeless. Picture: PA | PA

The complaint comes after Glasgow City Council’s top lawyer warned Councillor Higgins to ”immediately” remove an online comment she posted in August on the social media site X.

The councillor, a former teacher, has repeatedly refused, however, saying her “first duty is to the citizens of Glasgow”.

The issue emerged amid ongoing questions over the decision-making process that led to the controversial axing of 172 teaching posts in the city in February.

There was no clear mention of teacher cuts in the budget papers used to take the decision, and at no point in the proceedings did any official or councillor say that they had already been told by Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth they would lose a chunk of £16.5million in Scottish Government funding if they did not maintain teacher numbers.

Emails released under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws later emerged showing how the council’s finance director, Martin Booth, recommended altering the wording of the budget proposal relating to teachers.

Protests over education cuts in Glasgow | LDR

In a memo to the authority’s education director and former chief executive, nine days before the budget meeting, Mr Booth said: “Given our experiences last year when a leaked option led to a reaction from SG, I thought it might be safer to soften the wording into reform and transformation rather than pure teacher reductions while maintaining a clear narrative that this will require significant staffing reductions.”

In response, the council’s education director, Douglas Hutchison, highlighted the lack of transparency.

“Thanks Martin, in terms of the wording, it is generally fine but I have an issue with the word transformation which suggests this is something positive which it isn’t, I prefer reform,” he wrote in an email.

“The other main issue is the TBC in terms of head count. Its difficult to agree something that doesn’t have on the face of it the potential staff loss and so lacks a degree of transparency.”

Mr Hutchison had previously warned Mr Booth: “My concern is that with such a vague heading, it isn’t clear that it means teachers and elected members will take a step back when the penny drops that this is about teachers.”

In the wake of the email revelations, Cllr Higgins posted on X, saying: “That any Council Officer would abuse their influence to wilfully & cynically mislead Cllrs & the public is galling & I commend the Officers who have challenged this within these emails & others I have seen.

“I fully support the @GCParentsGroup (Glasgow City Parents Group) call for an investigation into this.”

The Scotsman previously reported how Cllr Higgins was contacted about the post by Mairi Millar, the city council’s director of legal and administration, in her role as the council’s “monitoring officer”, the official in charge of legal governance at the local authority.

Ms Millar wrote: “It is my view as Monitoring Officer that your pinned post, and any similar public comments made by you on any other social media platforms, are contrary to the Code of Conduct and could result in a complaint to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards.

“In view of this, it is my very strong advice that this post, and any other similar posts, should be removed immediately.”

The post from August 27 remains pinned to the councillor’s profile on X.

Last night, Cllr Higgins said: “Once again I am disappointed that this matter has made its way into the public domain. But perhaps, I am more disappointed that anyone would find it strange and uncomfortable that a democratically elected person would take a public stand on a matter which is having such a devastating impact on their constituents.”

Referring to the emails released under FOI, she added: “The contents of this exchange caused concern to a number of local families and parents groups throughout the city.

“They felt it demonstrated that a council executive was exerting undue and damaging control over the democratic process. I was asked to make their feelings on this heard. I feel I have respected and submitted to the responsibilities of my elected office in doing so.

“I am unable to comment on any process involving the Standards Commission. However, I value its role in promoting integrity and accountability in those who serve the public.”

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman previously said: “Officers were following due process in relation to the budget, and it is inaccurate to suggest otherwise. Every proposal was presented to elected members at the cross-party budget working group meetings ahead of February 15.”

Mr Booth has already announced he is stepping down at the end of the year. It has been reported that he lost out on a bid to become the council’s new chief executive, despite having the backing of SNP council leader Susan Aitken.

The Ethical Standards Commissioner will rule on whether or not the post breached the code of conduct for councillors.

If it upholds the complaint, a report will be sent to the Standards Commission for Scotland, which can decide to hold a public hearing.

The office of the Ethical Standards Commissioner said: “We can confirm that we have received a complaint about Cllr Fiona Higgins. We cannot give any further details at this stage.”