SNP councillor ‘smeared’ Tory on Facebook
AN SNP councillor has been accused of trying to ‘smear’ a Tory MSP after claiming he told pupils ‘immigrants ruin our education system’.
Aberdeenshire councillor Victoria Harper made an online attack on Alexander Burnett after he hosted a visit to Holyrood from a class including her son.
She claimed that he attacked immigrants during a question session with pupils from The Gordon Schools in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
The school’s Rector, Phil Gaiter, raised concerns with Aberdeenshire Council after seeing the councillor’s Facebook post, which was ‘shared’ with a range of SNP groups.
Mr Burnett’s staff said it was ‘defamatory’ and a ‘total fabrication’, while Mr Gaiter said a teacher and another pupil’s guardian had ‘a very different version of events’.
Miss Harper, who has been part of Alex Salmond’s campaign team, claimed the MSP had told pupils ‘foodbanks are a good thing but are caused by SNP failings’.
She posted that he had claimed ‘immigrants ruin our education system as well as contribute to foodbank use’.
The Scottish parliament’s education services team – which organises school visits – said they did not believe the MSP had made the comments attributed to him. Mr Gaiter told the MSP’s staff he passed a screenshot of the Facebook post to Aberdeenshire Council, and a member of the school’s staff also reported it to Facebook.
A Scottish Conservative source said: ‘This was a quite extraordinary rant on social media considering this councillor wasn’t even present at the visit. Teachers, parliament staff and other parents have all been astonished at her remarks. This is a clear attempt to smear Alexander.’
Miss Harper’s colleagues said the post ‘was a reflection of what she was told was said’ in the meeting.
Mr Burnett said: ‘These events are not political, and, like other MSPs I am sure, I am very careful about the way in which I respond to questions. I certainly would never say anything like what was attributed to me in this post.’
A Scottish parliament spokesman said that Holyrood’s education staff ‘did not report any concerns’ about the visit.
A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said the comments on a private page were ‘not a council matter’.
Miss Harper declined to comment and directed enquiries to Richard Thomson, leader of the SNP group on Aberdeenshire Council.
He said she would respond ‘in due course’ and had voluntarily removed the post in question.