Fife SNP councillor who accused Labour opponents of bullying to file no complaint

SNP member Fay Sinclair sparked a cross-party row in November when she issued tweets claiming that bullying was "sadly accepted" within local government.She singled out Labour members as being particularly responsible.

Since then, she has discussed the allegations with Fife Council's chief executive Steve Grimmond and head of legal and democratic services Morag Ferguson - but will not escalate them to Scotland's public office watchdog.

The Ethical Standards Commissioner typically does not investigate complaints more than 12 months old.

Cllr Sinclair states that her allegations relate to incidents that happened several years ago - but has declined to go into further detail.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "While there is no formal route for complaints about elected member conduct through the council, I was grateful for the opportunity to be heard and for the recognition that bullying should not have to be tolerated by anyone.

"I don’t intend to make a formal complaint. The behaviour I experienced goes back a few years so much of it is now outwith the time limit. I don’t wish to dwell on it or think it would be helpful to air the details publicly.

"With a second Covid-19 lockdown and many challenges ahead it is more important than ever that we can all get on with working together for the people of Fife."

Cllr Sinclair was criticised by Labour group leader, David Ross, for failing to substantiate her claims in public.

He said the allegations, which he has discussed with the chief executive, are "misplaced", and claims the SNP councillor is conflating legitimate scrutiny of council decision-making with aggression.

Responding directly to her comments, Cllr Ross said: "Since these allegations were made I have had further discussion with the chief executive and with some individual Labour councillors. I am more than ever convinced that these allegations are misplaced.

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"Whilst Labour councillors have quite rightly raised concerns and criticisms of education policy issues, such as P1 testing, the reduction in Scottish Government funding for new schools and the nursery admissions policy, I do not believe there has been any bullying or harassment of individual councillors by Labour councillors.

"One important lesson councillors should take from this episode is to avoid making throwaway remarks on social media.

“These are just as much public statements as anything said at council meetings or in press releases. I have emphasised this to all my Labour councillors and would advise other political group leaders to do the same.

"We are still considering making a formal complaint to the Standards Commission."

Cllr Sinclair has represented Dunfermline South since winning a ward by-election in 2015. In 2017, she was appointed the convener of the newly created Education and Children's Services Sub-Committee.

She quit the post in November, citing health reasons in a statement issued on her public Facebook page.

A spokeswoman for Fife Council would not say whether the authority was still investigating any of the allegations.

Head of Legal and Democratic Services, Morag Ferguson, said: "It is open to anyone to refer any complaints about the conduct of a councillor or councillors to the Ethical Standards Commissioner for investigation."

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