Father and daughter political pair in property deals row
AFATHER and daughter political duo are at the centre of an ethics row after a failure to declare property on a register of interests. MSP Richard Lyle and councillor Marina Lyle now face the prospect of an inquiry by Scotland’s standards watchdog, which has the power to censure, suspend or even disqualify councillors.
It is understood a complaint is being made to the Standards Commission for Scotland this weekend.
Lyle, the SNP MSP for Uddingston & Bellshill, and his wife Marion gift- ed ownership of their family home to their two children for “love, favour and affection” in March 2012.
The two-storey terraced property on Bracken Street, Motherwell, was shared 50-50 between daughter Marina Lyle and her brother Vincent, according to land registry records.
The house next door sold for £76,000 last year, suggesting each half is worth around £40,000.
Marina, who became an SNP councillor in North Lanarkshire two months after the transfer, did not declare the property in her register of interests. Under Section 4.18 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, they must publicly register an interest when they “own or have any other right or interest in houses, land and buildings, such as being an owner or a tenant, including council tenant”.
Thirty of the 69 councillors in North Lanarkshire register a half or part share in a house, 10 of them in the 22-strong SNP group, including SNP group leader David Stocks.
Yet despite the rules and the example of her fellow councillors, Marina did not declare her share in the Bracken Street home, where her parents still live as “life renters” – free to use the property but no longer able to sell it.
She now lives in a council house in North Lanarkshire. Tenants are re- quired to declare if they own property.
Before he became an MSP in 2011 Richard Lyle was a councillor for 36 years in Lanarkshire. Indeed, Marina Lyle won the Bellshill seat vacated by her father in 2012.
She is being tipped to replace Stocks as SNP group leader on the council after next year’s local elections.
Her father is a controversial figure in the SNP due to his central role in the so-called “Monklands McMafia” row that blighted the party in Lanarkshire.
Marina Lyle did not respond to calls or emails. An SNP spokesperson said: “Cllr Lyle registered her interests in line with advice given by council officials at the time.”