A former SNP member has claimed the Aberdeenshire group is in “meltdown” after a veteran councillor was ejected from the party for putting his community before his party.
The Press and Journal revealed yesterday Banff councillor, John Cox, had been blocked from standing for the Scottish National Party at the upcoming local election.
Mr Cox, who has represented the town for three decades, has announced he will contest the ward as an independent candidate.
And now, fellow independent councillor, Hamish Partridge, who quit the SNP last summer, has castigated former colleagues and claimed the council’s leadership is in crisis.
The Troup councillor said: “It all seems very familiar to me with this headline, but well done to John Cox for standing up and saying how it is, because I know how daunting it can be.
“The council leader and SNP group leader claim John was a ‘voice of one’ many times. Well, I can vouch for John while I was a member of the same group and party and he was certainly not a voice of one.”
Mr Partridge argued that senior members of the SNP group – who are in coalition with the Labour party as Aberdeenshire Council’s administration – were “brainwashed puppets” and only focused on national issues.
He added: “The Aberdeenshire Council SNP group are in meltdown, sadly brought on by a small clique unwilling to listen to anything but party rules no matter who suffers.”
However, a spokesman for the SNP group hit back at Mr Partridge’s claims last night and questioned his commitment to local people.
He said: “The SNP Group discussed councillor Cox’s resignation this morning.
“While there was some regret at his decision, the unanimous desire amongst members was to move on and continue delivering on our commitments to the people of Aberdeenshire.
“Given that councillor Partridge has failed to attend his policy committee since June 16 last year and didn’t attend a single full council meeting between June and February, he’s not exactly had his finger on the pulse recently.”
The spokesman claimed Mr Partridge’s council business is now conducted on social media, adding: “That might be entertaining for his friends, but his attendance record leaves his constituents in Troup decidedly short-changed.”
