Labour MSP to quit Holyrood amid row over friendship with sex offender

A Labour MSP has announced her intention to stand down from Holyrood at the next election amid a row over her friendship with a convicted sex offender.

Pam Duncan-Glancy previously resigned from the party’s frontbench over her links to former councillor Sean Morton. He pled guilty in 2017 to possessing indecent pictures of girls under 15 and extreme pornography.

Ms Duncan-Glancy, who represents the Glasgow region, said she had made a "serious error of personal judgement" over her continued friendship with Mr Morton.

Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy | PA

In a new statement, she said: "I am announcing today that I am withdrawing as a candidate for the Scottish Parliamentary election next year.

"While this has obviously been a very difficult decision - and it is the greatest honour of my life to represent Glasgow - I do not wish for a personal friendship to become a distraction.

"I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve, and I remain committed to returning a Scottish Labour government next year.

“I promised in my first speech in parliament to give a voice to the voiceless. I will go on doing that.

"I will continue to fight for my constituents for the next five months, as I have for the last five years. And I will keep fighting for the causes I believe in”.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar previously told the Daily Record the friendship was not appropriate and should end.

“As soon as I became aware of that, I was deeply concerned as you'd imagine,” he said. “I think it's important to stress that no one is suggesting there was any illegality from Pam herself, but it wasn't appropriate to keep that friendship going.

“It was right that she stepped down from her position and apologised for keeping that friendship going, and our expectation is and our belief is, that that friendship will now come to an end,” he said.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Pam Duncan-Glancy has withdrawn as a parliamentary candidate for the Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill constituency.

“She has taken the decision to step aside as she does not wish recent stories to become a distraction from the work of the party or its priorities. The selection process will now be reopened so that a replacement candidate can be chosen.”