Beveridge’s ‘fighting’ claims are nonsense

Dear Editor

I would like to comment on last week’s letter from Councillor Alan Beveridge.

Firstly, his claim the SNP group are “fighting like rats in a sack “is nonsense. We have a great number of new councillors in the group, and along with the existing ones, we will be holding Labour to account in the next few years.

There’s certainly no time for fighting, never mind like rats in a sack.

The comment about bullying in our group is disgraceful. There has been a great deal of nonsense talked about this over the last few years, and it is an insult to our many new councillors, and also our existing ones.

He talks about his line in the sand concerning who he was going to vote for was our nomination for deputy provost. Again, nonsense.

We knew when the last ward result was announced at the count almost two weeks before that he was going to vote for Labour.

It wasn’t until the day before the council meeting we knew who we were going to nominate for this position, and it was not made public until I moved the nomination at the meeting.

Alan, you achieved great success at the elections as an independent, as did your independent colleague, Councillor Robert Mckendrick from Newmains.

However, Councillor McKendrick abstained from supporting either Labour or the SNP, claiming it would have been a betrayal of his supporters had he done so. He is a true independent. On another matter, now you have shown your hand voting for Labour, and shown your true feelings for the SNP, I would suggest there is now no way you can be an independent chair at the upcoming Westminster Hustings in Airdrie.

I am aware people don’t like these kind of letters, but on this occasion, I have to put the record straight.

David Stocks SNP Group Leader North Lanarkshire