A former SNP councillor has accused the party of "protectionism" over the case of a disgraced former council boss.
Cammie McManus resigned from the Nationalists after raising complaints against Jordan Linden, the ex-leader of North Lanarkshire council.
The councillor today claimed the political culture on the local authority was "toxic" with no way of fixing it.
"Speaking to our members, it has been like that for the for the last 15, 20 years," he said.
"I think it's just the party's avoidance of dealing with North Lanarkshire, has been most of the issue.
"I don't think updating a couple of pieces of policy is going to change the situation that myself and others have went through for the last couple of weeks, months and years."
Linden, 29, quit the SNP in February after McManus's complaint about him was first revealed by the Sunday Mail.
McManus, 25, told of enduring years of harassment which started in 2016 when they were both on an SNP Youth trip to Barcelona.
Linden has denied the claims but resigned as council leader last July.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, McManus said: "It's not as if these are just new accusations.
"It's not the first, the first one, it's so it's a sense of protectionism or something over Jordan, obviously, in a wider context as well when it comes to North Lanarkshire the party has always been scared to get involved or intervene. In speaking to other longer-serving members, it's been like that for the last 15 or 20 years.
"I took the comments to the party's national secretary in the February and only received a reply back from them after the second newspaper article and that was about a month later and that was only because the press asked them why didn't get in contact with me so they only got in contact and responded to me due to that, there was no communication beforehand. There was not even an acknowledgement email sent out beforehand."
Megan Gallacher, a Scottish Conservative MSP, said: “This interview lays bare the shocking failure of the SNP hierarchy to deal with sexual misconduct allegations.
"Cammie McManus speaks of ‘protectionism’ and the party closing ranks around Jordan Linden to protect his and their reputation. The SNP’s first instinct – to protect powerful perpetrators rather than victims – is deplorable."
In 2017 Linden was forced to stand aside as a councillor while police probed claims of sexual harassment at the Scottish Youth Parliament. Officers later said they had established no criminality.
Speaking to the Sunday Mail last week regarding McManus's claims, Linden said: "I have no comment to make, I’ve nothing to say.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "The allegations relate to an individual who is no longer an SNP member. The group leader disputes any suggestion that she ignored an allegation by an individual.
"The matter has been raised with the party and will be subject to investigation. If there is any allegation of a criminal nature, then that must be made to the police rather than the party.
"The SNP’s group is 100 per cent focused on helping people through this cost-of-living crisis and challenging the ruling Labour group on their failure to help the most vulnerable in our communities."
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