SNP councillors stripped of extra payments after Jordan Linden fallout

North Lanarkshire Council passed a motion on Thursday afternoon which said it was “inappropriate for any Member of the North Lanarkshire SNP group to be in receipt of discretionary additional payments of public money”.

The local authority added that it “withdraws SRA from the SNP group with immediate effect”. SRA - Special Responsibility Allowance - is what councillors are paid for extra duties such as being a committee chair or opposition leader.

Former North Lanarkshire Council leader Linden was last week convicted of 10 offences including five sexual assaults.

Tracy Carragher, who had been the SNP group leader on North Lanarkshire Council, was suspended by the party earlier this week over how she had handled the complaints into Linden.

She had been called as a witness at the trial. A recording of a group meeting, after the allegations against Linden were made public, seemed to show Ms Carragher supporting him.

She has had her SNP membership suspended and has been replaced as the party’s leader on the council.

Thursday’s motion was proposed by former SNP councillor Cameron McManus, who was one of Linden’s victims.

The motion said the SNP councillors should not receive payments because of the “systemic attempts to ignore and shame victims whilst seeking to intimidate those raising serious concerns”.

The SNP had proposed an amendment which said it “believes that it does a disservice to victims, and to all victims of sexual crimes, to politicise these matters in an effort to gain narrow partisan advantage.”

It also said it “recognises the bravery and difficulty experienced by victims”.

Some 50 councillors voted for the motion, while 21 voted for the amendment and there was one abstention.

SNP councillor Kirsten Larsen - who in now public recordings told her SNP colleagues the “only thing Jordan linden is guilty of is being a young person” - complained during the council meeting that no "dignity and respect" was being paid to her after she was referred to by Mr McManus in his contribution.

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North Lanarkshire Council is run by Labour, which has 32 councillors. The SNP has 24, while there are seven Progressive Change for Lanarkshire councillors who left the SNP.

It also has five Tories, one British Unionist, one Green and seven independents.

North Lanarkshire Council also passed a motion suspended all activity with the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) at the meeting.

The motion also “directs the Chief Executive to conduct an immediate review” of the council’s relationship with the SYP. It passed without a vote.

Linden was made chair of the SYP in 2015. He was forced to stand down the next year after explicit images of himself circulated among its 150 members.

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Several witnesses at his trial said their complaints about him were downplayed or ignored by adults in Youth Parliament.

In the recordings released by Mr McManus of private meetings held by the party group when allegations relating to Linden came to light, Councillor Claire Barclay could be heard saying whistleblowers “put the administration at risk, they’ve put the party at risk and independence at risk”, later describing the action as threatening the “full force” of party discipline.

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The SNP was approached for comment.

Earlier, SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney said the party is sending a message to members that rooting out predators is more important than independence.

Asked by journalists at an event in Edinburgh, on Thursday, if he would tell activists and elected representatives that the rooting out of predators was more important than independence, the First Minister said: “I think that’s what I’m doing.”

The First Minister also said the decision was taken to sack Ms Carragher as a candidate on the Central Scotland and Lothians West because allegations had been made that she had not passed on complaints made about Linden.

“Some information came to light about whether complaints had been properly handled in relation to the Jordan Linden case,” he said.

“That merits further investigation and that’s exactly what will happen.

“In those circumstances, it’s not possible for an individual to be a party member and to be a candidate, which is why that action had to be taken.”

The First Minister went on to say it was “important that the voices of victims and complainants are heard”, and when challenged that had not been the case with regard to Linden, Mr Swinney added: “That’s one of the issues that’s been raised, which is why it’s being investigated.”

In the wake of concerns about the handling of complaints against Linden, the First Minister launched an independent review of the process, and said the probe would look into the process as a whole as well as the specific complaints made against Linden.