William Rennie calls for head of voluntary council to quit for being ‘too closely associated with SNP’

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, below, has called for the resignation of the chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Mr Rennie said Martin Sime should quit, claiming that the SCVO had become too closely associated with the SNP. His call came after it emerged that the SCVO was sent an e-mail by the Scottish Government that referred to a second referendum question.

Mr Rennie said: “Martin Sime’s behaviour is threatening the independence and credibility of the SCVO. I have suspected for some time that he was working closely with the SNP government on the referendum but now we have hard evidence.

“Martin Sime is displaying poor judgment and should consider his position as chief executive of SCVO.”

But SNP MSP Stewart Maxwell said: “This outburst from Willie Rennie is both illiberal and undemocratic.

“ He is basically saying that no one should be allowed to have any debate or engagement on Scotland’s constitutional future, unless they agree with the Liberal Democrats.”