The SNP loses one of it’s biggest councils due to a sexual misconduct scandal

The SNP has lost control of North Lanarkshire Council, one of it’s biggest constituencies, due to the failings of Nicola Sturgeon’s husband to deal with Jordan Linden’s sexual misconduct scandal. 

Linden, 27, who was the leader of North Lanarkshire Council, has resigned following allegations that he sexually harassed a teenager “at drunken party” in Dundee in 2019, according to dailymail.co.uk. Linden held the position of Council chief for only two months.

He has expressed “regret” over his actions at the party and claimed his resignation will allow him to “look after his own mental health and wellbeing”. 

Although Linden was announced “unfit for office” more than two years ago, party officials including the party leader Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, allowed him to stay in place as council chief of the local authority on a £45,000-a-year salary, as reported by yahoo! news.

SNP HQ was warned of Linden’s misconduct, however, they did nothing to pursue or investigate the allegations due to the absence of any formal complaint. 

After only 84 days in an emergency meeting following Linden’s resignation, the SNP has lost control over North Lanarkshire. The constituency has instead been taken over by Labour, led by Jim Logue and backed by the Tories. 

To make matters worse, veteran Airdrie South SNP councillor Michael Coyle, defected to Labour shortly before the SNP’s loss of North Lanarkshire and voted against his former party, although his daughter remains an SNP councillor in North Lanarkshire. 

SNP’s loss of it’s fourth largest constituency aids the effort of pro-union parties in Scotland to “lock the SNP out of power in Scotland’s councils”, says Tory MSP Miles Briggs. 

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