A senior city councillor has been accused of plotting “revenge” on his political rivals after he reported an opposition councillor to the standards watchdog.
Finance convener Willie Young has referred Rosemount councillor Bill Cormie for allegedly breaching the professional code of conduct.
Mr Young has previously claimed the SNP councillor publicly opposed a licensing application for a house of multiple occupation on Roseberry Street, in advance of a meeting where he voted against it.
And now Mr Young has now written to the Commissioner for Standards in Ethical Life and claims Mr Cormie has breached sections five and seven of the code.
Section five relates to declarations of interest, while section seven relates to taking quasi-judicial or regulatory applications.
In his letter, Mr Young states: “Clearly in this matter it can be shown that Councillor Cormie pre-judged the application, demonstrated bias, or, at the very least, was seen to be pre-judging or demonstrating bias in respect of the application before him.”
The referral has sparked a fresh dispute between the Labour group and the opposition after a furious row broke out during a planning committee meeting last week.
It followed a call from the SNP for all 17 Labour councillors to step back from planning decisions after they were reported to the watchdog amid claims they had colluded to force through the controversial Marischal Square project.
Last night, Mr Dickson claimed the Labour group’s reputation had reached an “all-time low” following Mr Young’s actions.
He said: “It comes as no surprise Councillor Young has done this, Councillor Crockett promised furious retribution on the SNP and Councillor Young made clear he was going to take revenge on us because a member of the public reported the Labour group to the standards commission.
“They are now picking on Councillor Cormie over an issue alleged to have happened in October 2015 and they have said nothing until now. Quite clearly to me this is a revenge act, reporting to the Standards Commission, and has brought
Labour Party politics in Aberdeen to an all time low – a sad achievement for this administration.”