Labour’s activists in revolt over ‘coup’ by candidate
Warning of ‘damage’ to party
ACTIVISTS in the local branch of one of Scottish Labour’s key election hopefuls have warned that she will “damage” the party if elected to Westminster.
The extraordinary intervention from unhappy members about Kirsteen Sullivan comes less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.
It also comes just days after Sir Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar campaigned with the West Lothian councillor in the Bathgate and Linlithgow seat.
The Herald has been told that the internal battle was sparked by a disagreement on how the local party should spend its funds.
The Linlithgow Constituency Labour Party (CLP) had previously struggled financially, but has recently built up a war chest of around £12,000.
According to sources in the local party, Ms Sullivan believed the whole amount should be spent on her campaign, while others wanted to be more cautious and keep some back for future campaigning.
At the CLP’S AGM in January, they say Ms Sullivan effectively organised a coup, with those who had opposed her ousted from positions as office bearers.
“Our constituency party is small and doesn’t have many activists,” one source told The Herald.
“There are maybe 10 or 12 people that are active, that pass about office bearer positions between them.
“Never in the many years that I had been in the party had we ever had any sort of contest for any position.
“If anybody ever did want to take a position on, it was generally ahead of the AGM by consensus.”
The source said there were “quite a lot of unfamiliar faces” at the AGM, adding that these were “people you wouldn’t normally see at a constituency party meeting”.
“From the vantage point I was sitting at, it became very obvious and clear to me that Kirsteen had arranged that,” added the source. “And then the way it was done, there was no speeches, there was no nothing, just straight to a paper vote.”
Another source said Ms Sullivan’s behaviour had ultimately alienated
one of many councils that continued to offer transportation according to an older set of guidance, which included a much wider range of students living two or more miles from secondary and one mile from primary school.
The change came from the council’s attempts to cut into an expected budget gap.
Parents in North Lanarkshire have spoken out against the decision and many staged a protest in front of the council offices ahead of the full council meeting last week.
Changes to the Millerston and Stepps route caused particular concern with parents because the council initially promised that their service would not be impacted by the change in council policy, according to a letter written to parents in the area on February 16, 2024.
“From August 2024, the council will only provide transport for secondary pupils who live more than three miles from their catchment school by the nearest acceptable walking route,” the letter informed parents.
“We have used GIS technology to measure walking distances and completed a programme of acceptable walking route assessments around our secondary schools.
“Following the conclusion of this exercise, your child remains eligible for school transport from August 2024.”
However, information obtained under the FOI request shows that the council had already begun reassessing the route between Chryston and Millerston/stepps in December 2023.
When asked why parents were told that the council was conducting work to reclassify their route to school, a council spokesperson said the new assessment was “part of the wider review programme” and that parents “are not routinely informed of walking route assessments as these are an operational process”.
During last week’s full council meeting, SNP councillor Tracy Carragher submitted a motion asking the council to approve using around £2m of an £8m surplus to fund transportation fully for another year.
She said this would give time to assess the routes to every school more fully and engage with parents.
“It is for the elected members of this local authority to determine its school transport provision,” said Councillor Carragher.
“No decision should have been taken that would have a direct impact on the safety of our young people, let alone a decision that would impact their education.
“Please don’t make this a political football. The safety of our young people is far too important.”
After a lengthy debate, the motion was voted down by a narrow margin in favour of Scottish Labour councillor and council leader Jim Logue’s amendment, which called the cuts to transportation “unavoidable” and instead said that any surplus should be used to close future budget gaps.
Lorraine Kerr, chair of the Stepps Primary Parent Council, one of Chryston High’s feeder schools, said the decision to vote against the motion has left parents feeling that their voices do not matter in decisions that impact their children.
“As a parent group, we are extremely disappointed and disillusioned that the majority of councillors, elected to represent their constituents’ views, have failed to do so,” she added.
“Our strong voices have been ignored, highlighting the clear and worrying disconnect between constituents and our elected officials. This is clearly party politics at play, with no priority given to the safety of our children.”