LEAKED emails show that a Labour council chief was advised Alba were breaking no rules by hanging election banners – before officials ordered the party to take them down.
Chris McEleny, the Alba candidate for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West, was told to take down banners he had put up in Port Glasgow in May.
But emails between the Labour council leader and the local authority’s head of legal show that the official position was that there were “no bye-laws or management rules governing this matter”.
Stephen McCabe (below) emailed the Vicky Pollock, the interim head of legal and democratic services, asking for advice on the situation.
He wrote: “Can you provide me with a copy of the above which was approved in 2014.
“I have received complaints about a political party attaching political banners to council owned railings at various locations around Inverclyde, so I am trying to recall what our policy is.”
Pollock replied: “There are no bye-laws or management rules governing this matter.”
The exchange came two days before McEleny (below) received an email from the council’s director of environment and regeneration Stuart Jamieson ordering him to take down the banners.
The Alba candidate was threatened with a fine if he did not comply.
In his response to Pollock, McCabe – who previously got into a social media spat with McEleny – said: “Thanks Vicky, this is helpful. Over the weekend banners have appeared at various locations across Inverclyde, including on railings at Dubbs Road shops and at the entrance to Newark Park, both Port Glasgow, promoting the candidature of the Alba Party’s Christopher McEleny.
“I will leave it to officers to decide the appropriate course of action. I don’t know if the Alba Party has sought permission to attach these banners to the railings from the owners or whether they have obtained planning permission, should that be required.
“To be clear I am not making a complaint myself but simply drawing officers’ attention to complaints I have received.”
McEleny blasted the council leader for “spending his time firing off emails to council officials obsessed about Alba pro-independence banners”.
He said: “We have one in four children in Inverclyde living in poverty.
“Council tax rates are now the second highest in Scotland despite Inverclyde being one of the most deprived areas of Scotland.
“Our facilities are now the most expensive in the country, people can’t get an appointment with their GP, they’ve not seen their dentist since before Covid but the Labour council leader is spending his time firing off emails to council officials obsessed about Alba pro-independence banners.
“The revelation that there was no bye-law as claimed leaves the council’s position in tatters.
“They should return the banners they have seized immediately and start focusing on their day job.”
Inverclyde Council was approached for comment.
