Gaffney steps down from council role

Coatbridge’s MP has stood down from his second elected role on North Lanarkshire Council, in order to concentrate on his duties at Westminster.

Hugh Gaffney has combined the posts ever since scoring two ballot-box successes in five weeks during 2017 – first as a Labour councillor for the Thorniewood ward, then winning the Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill constituency at the snap UK general election of the following month.

Now he has stepped down from the local authority, telling the Advertiser: “After two years, I just felt it was time to go on with the job as MP and give somebody else the chance to represent Thorniewood.

“I want to do more with the Scottish affairs committee and other work at Westminster; and I’ll continue to be out and about, representing the constituency.

“There’s a lot of travelling involved, and I just felt now was the time to give up the council role.

“It was a difficult decision, because it’s an honour to represent the area where I was born and bred and I always wanted to be a councillor; but I felt it was the right thing to do.”

The former councillor also added that he was“proud”of the council’s achievements in the past two years, including the establishment of holiday food programme Club 365; as well as assisting residents and community groups.

Mr Gaffney, a former trade union secretary and postal worker, had said immediately after being elected as an MP:“I won’t be claiming my council wage.”

He told the Advertiser this week: “The money for the first six months went to the council for swing parks, and thereafter it was given away to different local charities and causes.”

A by-election date for the post in the Thorniewood ward has yet to be determined.