Labour rebel councillors could contest Glasgow May election

A NEW party set up by rebel Labour councillors in Glasgow could contest the local election in May.

Councillors who quit the party this week are preparing to launch a rival party - provisionally called Glasgow Labour.

Labour-controlled Glasgow City Council this week saw off an internal party rebellion to secure narrow approval for its budget.

Labour councillors Stephen Dornan, Tommy Morrison and Anne Marie Millar resigned from the party before the vote, and ultimately voted for the SNP’s alternative budget.

Three other Labour councillors also voted against the administration’s budget: Ruth Black, William O’Rourke and Andy Muir.

However, the council budget passed with a narrow majority of 40 votes to 38.

Tommy Morrison said an application had been made to the Electoral Commission to register a new group, provisionally named Glasgow Labour.

The group plans to stand one candidate in each of the city’s 21 wards, Mr Morrison told the Sunday Herald.

He said he envisaged around 23 candidates standing on the banner of re-election in the new party.

Mr Morrison told the newspaper: “I’d like to see this new party give the citizens a wider choice in this election.

“We have to wait for the approval of the Electoral Commission, which has one or two issues with the application. Their difficulty is the word Labour. The commission’s view is that anyone else using that word could confuse voters”.

Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson told the Scotland on Sunday the six rebels should “examine their consciences”, accusing them of “trying to wreck revenge” for being deselected.

He said: “Every single one had been de-selected by the party. The motivation was simply about trying to wreck revenge”.