Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Ex-Provost Tom quits Labour after 30 years
Aims to fight seat as an independent
Former provost Tom Curley is the latest senior Labour councillor to resign from the party – and has confirmed he will be standing against his former colleagues in May’s election.
The Airdrie South representative announced in last week’s Advertiser that he had changed his mind on planned political retirement after being infuriated by a report suggesting he would not have succeeded in a candidate vetting process which he had not taken part in.
Now he has officially left the party after three decades as a member, saying he feels “let down by people in the hierarchy of Labour”; and will complete the current political term on North Lanarkshire Council as an independent.
He said he was disappointed by the party’s lack of support and rectification over his being incorrectly linked with the initial candidate interview process.
It has led to six sitting councillors not being put forward as candidates for 2017, including Jim Brooks and John Higgins of Coatbridge and Airdrie’s Peter Sullivan. The latter two have confirmed they intend to appeal.
Councillor Curley told the Advertiser: “I’ve been in the Labour party for 30 years and it’s hard for me just to walk away – I’ve given this decision a lot of thought, and feel I’ve made the right one because of the hurt.
“It’s not something I wanted to do, but if I don’t get the support, what’s the point in being here? If they’re not prepared to back me as a long-standing Labour councillor, it’s time for me to go.”
He told how he was dissatisfied with the response from party officials when he demanded to know why his name was linked to the vetting process outcome “when I didn’t even put myself forward to stand again”.
The long-serving councillor added: “They just said it was a mistake but didn’t want to act on my behalf; that was wrong.”
In his resignation letter to Scottish general secretary Bryan Roy, he wrote: “Due to recent circumstances, I find it impossible to give my support to the Labour group in North Lanarkshire and to the Labour party nationally.”
Speaking about his new decision to contest the next election, he said: “I feel I’d be letting the people of Airdrie South down if I let them away with this wrong.
“I’ve enjoyed my time as a councillor and I’m quite happy to go ahead and represent them if elected in May. Sitting as an independent is a big change, but I’m prepared to do it.”
Council leader Jim Logue said: “I have the utmost respect for an elected member who resigns on a matter of policy or principle; however, to resign from a party ostensibly because of one inaccurate statement in one newspaper article, is bizarre.
“There is an emerging trend of five senior councillors who were demoted in March, thereby losing responsibility allowances, now deciding to leave the party.
“I am sure the electorate will recognise and acknowledge the real reasons for those members resigning. I will not be surprised if some others who are struggling to manage their disappointment at being demoted take similar action.”
He added: “I’m bemused by it ; I think this was a complete and utter misunderstanding. Everybody recognises and acknowledges that Tom Curley had no intention of standing again, and I just think somebody got it wrong.”
Five members have resigned from the Labour group since Councillor Logue took up the top job in March, and he added: “I didn’t anticipate this reaction from people, especially those who had no intention of standing in an election a year away.
“I thought they would have seen an opportunity in terms of succession planning. In any organisation, there’s a need to promote younger people to create hunger and dynamism.”