Glasgow Labour councillor defects to SNP

A long-standing Labour councillor who has defected to the SNP said he wanted to live in an independent Scotland without nuclear weapons and which would not send its young people to fight “in an illegal war.”

Irfan Rabbani, 49, who has been a Glasgow City councillor for Pollokshields since 2007, said he believed Scotland would be “better off as an independent country”.

Mr Rabbani will join the council’s SNP group for the remainder of the current session but will not stand as a candidate at the local elections in May.

He said: “I want to live in a Scotland that has social justice at its heart, that doesn’t have to put up with weapons of mass destruction on the River Clyde and that never again has to see our young men and women dragged into an illegal war.

“For all these reasons, and more, I will be voting yes in the referendum in autumn 2014 and I want to play my full part in the yes campaign over the next two-and-a-half years.”

Nicola Sturgeon, SNP deputy leader and MSP for Glasgow Southside, said: “Irfan is a councillor in my constituency and so I know how highly thought of he is locally. I am delighted that he has joined the SNP.”