A SENIOR SNP councillor who was suspended for allegedly supporting a sex offender has been cleared after an investigation.
Tracy Carragher, the leader of the SNP North Lanarkshire group, was dropped as a Holyrood election candidate in April after she gave evidence in the trial of Jordan Linden, the former North Lanarkshire council leader who was found guilty of five sexual assaults of young men.
In March, a series of audio recordings from a group meeting in July 2022, published online by former SNP councillor Cammie McManus, appeared to show Carragher voicing support of Linden when discussing newspaper stories about his behaviour.
Now, a statement from the SNP North Lanarkshire group has confirmed that Carragher has been re-admitted to the party after being cleared of wrongdoing by an independent investigation.
The statement said: “Following the conclusion of the independent investigation commissioned by the SNP and carried out by an independent advocate and barrister, Councillor Tracy Carragher’s administrative suspension has been lifted with immediate effect.
“The investigation considered the allegation concerning Councillor Carragher’s handling of an alleged complaint relating to Jordan Linden. The investigation concluded that the evidence supports the position Councillor Carragher has maintained throughout: that the discussion on 27 July 2022 concerned a possible press story and that no complaint was communicated to her requiring action on her part.
“The investigation further concluded that Councillor Carragher did not cover up a complaint concerning Jordan Linden.”
The SNP group said that Carragher “had to endure serious public allegations which the independent investigation has not upheld”.
It went on: “The group is deeply concerned that she has faced significant public, political and personal consequences as a result of those allegations, including suspension from the party and political action taken within North Lanarkshire Council on the basis of an allegation now rejected by an independent investigation.
“The group reaffirms its full confidence in Councillor Carragher as SNP group leader, as it has done throughout this process.
“The group will now consider what further steps are required to correct the public record and address the consequences of those allegations.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "SNP commissioned an independent review by an experienced advocate into the handling of complaints about the behaviour of Jordan Linden.
“This review had concluded that there is no supporting evidence that a complaint was made to Councillor Carragher, who as a result, has had her the administrative suspension of her membership of the party lifted by the National Secretary.”
Linden’s case led to a split in the North Lanarkshire SNP group. In 2023, eight former SNP councillors who were expelled or resigned after raising concerns over the party’s handling of the complaints against Linden set up their own party.
The group had written to then-SNP national secretary Lorna Finn alleging there had been “continual failings by the North Lanarkshire SNP leadership team”, including a failure to investigate sexual misconduct and “abuse of power”.
