SNP starts to crumble as councillors quit – one citing vote-rigging
![[Image: BBC]](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/140523ballotbox.jpg)
[Image: BBC]
Cllr John Taggart (Murdostoun) walked out after a row over the selection process for Motherwell and Wishaw. His statement reads as follows: “The reason behind my resignation is that I feel that democracy within our party is under serious threat, when HQ in Edinburgh decided to refuse to reveal the breakdown of the votes cast for each candidate involved in the Westminster ballot for the Motherwell and Wishaw Westminster candidacy.” That’s vote-rigging, then.
“I am a committed democrat and I believe that when an election is carried out, people expect to see full and proper disclosure of the results, this is one of the fundamental tenets of a democratic society, and we all should all be extremely concerned of decisions taken at HQ in Edinburgh which allows the dark veil of secrecy to descend on our democratic processes.”
Cllr Alan Beveridge (Airdrie North) said in his statement: “I have been alarmed by the climate of fear, intimidation and false allegations which operates within the SNP locally.
“I have raised these matters directly with SNP headquarters but much to their shame and my disappointment, they have totally failed to address any of my concerns.
“Therefore I feel I have no alternative but to resign from the party.
“I have agonised over whether or not I should speak out in public, but I felt a sense of responsibility to my constituents that they should be made aware of the reasons behind my decision.
“I spent an entire career in the police force protecting the public and doing my very best to treat people with fairness.
“I joined the SNP fully expecting people to be treated the same way, however in the past few months I have been shocked at the way some members of the local branch have been treated and by the failure of SNP headquarters to respond to the concerns which I have raised.
“This is not the party I thought I had joined and I cannot continue to be a member of such an organisation.”
Both statements are published in the Scottish Daily Record (although not exclusively there). No doubt SNP supporters will try to attack this source; they would do well to note that this article quotes only the councillors’ words.
It seems the SNP may not be the standard-bearer for decency and morality in politics that its ill-mannered supporters claim.
Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
If you have enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
revealing the facts that some political parties want to hide.
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
If the SNP are crumbling Labour must be by inference disintegrating
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-29043248
No – Labour is still much, much bigger than the SNP.
Maybe in the UK as a whole but not in Scotland!
They both claim to be UK parties (otherwise the SNP would not be standing for election to Westminster) therefore they should be measured against each other on that level. Shouldn’t they?
Funny then Mike Sivier when there is a political broadcast for the SNP it does not get broadcast to the rest of the country then, …………..Labour is dead in Scotland and good riddance to them as I will never ever vote for them ever again, Jim Murphy is nothing but a big Joke in Scotland. The SNP has never claimed to be a UK wide party as you claim!
Here’s another one twisting my words. I said the SNP is a UK party, which it is: A political party operating in the UK. It would not be appropriate for its members to seek election in the UK Parliament, which would naturally lead to them contributing to decisions that affect the UK as a whole, and not just Scotland, if they were a Scotland-only party. You need to think these matters through.
Party political broadcasts for the SNP don’t go to the rest of the UK because the SNP only fields candidates in Scotland, but that doesn’t disqualify any of the points I have made. Again, think it through.
The SNP only campaign in Scotland – which has roughly 10% of the UK population.
Bearing this in mind, you can’t seriously compare the size of the full UK Labour Party to the size of the SNP – why not to the decent thing and compare them to the Scottish Labour Party – your comment would then have the words Labour and SNP swapped around to be accurate.
But the 10 councillors were in Wales.
Presumably no Scottish Labour councillors have quit lately, then?
You’re not comparing like for like and, to be honest, it looks like you’re clutching at straws.
Ill mannered supporters? That’s a bit of a silly generalisation.
Is it? Or are you yet another person who’s keen to read it as referring to all SNP supporters, rather than just to the ill-mannered ones?
Fair point. I did read it as “all”. Knee jerk reaction. I apologise.
No worries.
If a 20 point swing equals the SNP crumbling I will take it. Motherwell and Wishaw, and, Airdrie and Coatbridge are labour heartlands and destined to return SNP MPs in May. Thats not according to the daily record, thats according to Lord Ashcroft. London Labour for there is but one labour party in the UK will need the SNP to form the next Government at Westminster. I would imagine it would be in your best interests not to wind up the SNP supporters you are shortly to rely on.
Oh how boring. Another one carrying on about “there is not Scottish Labour” – we do know that. You’re absolutely right. The UK is one country, therefore it has one Labour Party. Why would we want any more? As for the SNP helping form a government – dream on.
You might want to tell Jim Murphy that, since he claims the two are separate and that he’s not running a branch office.
Depending on how he said it and what he meant, he may be right and you may have misinterpreted him.