The leader of the SNP group in Angus has been forced into making a grovelling apology after she was reported to the area’s returning officer for electoral malpractice.
Helen Oswald has apologised to her opponent, independent candidate Brian Boyd, in the forthcoming local election after admitting that she had made a mistake over his voting record as a councillor.
Mr Boyd had reported Ms Oswald over comments she had made in a personal statement in a weekly local newspaper.
She claimed he had voted against a project for a Carnoustie business park, when in fact Mr Boyd abstained from voting in February 2011 and voted for the plans earlier this year.
Ms Oswald said: ”In 2008 I moved planning permission for such a park and in the last two budgets proposed £1 million towards its infrastructure costs sadly voted down by the other two Carnoustie councillors.”
Mr Boyd, who narrowly defeated Ms Oswald’s husband Ed in a by-election last February, said the first vote took place just four days after he won election at which stage he didn’t want cast a vote on the plans either way.
He said that he didn’t want to get involved in ‘dirty tricks’ and felt he had no choice but to lodge an official complaint.
”As an independent councillor I really don’t want to get dragged into dirty party-political tricks I just want fairness, honesty and a level playing field,” he said.
He said it was ”extremely upsetting” that this had happened after he had ”worked hard to rebalance the under-investment in Carnoustie”.
”It was with a real sadness that I felt I had no alternative but to lodge a complaint with the returning officer,” he added.
”I know the people of Carnoustie want their councillors to work alongside each other to improve our town and if re-elected I promise to continue to do this openly and honestly.”
In his complaint to council chief executive Richard Stiff, Mr Boyd urged the returning officer to immediately refer the matter to police for investigation.
He said: ”The purpose of this email is to formally allege electoral malpractice, specifically the publication of false statements about me by a fellow candidate.
”I believe it is in the interest of the candidates, Angus Council and more importantly the people of Carnoustie and District that this potentially illegal matter is resolved as quickly as possible.
”A personal statement from Councillor Oswald contained a false statement about my voting conduct. Given the venue in which this false statement occurred it is probable that this was an attempt to affect candidates returned at the election.”
Ms Oswald said she did consider Mr Boyd’s initial no vote as a vote against the project but admitted that she’d made a ”slip” on his voting record this year.
She said: ”When I proposed the business park in 2011 I lost the vote and Mr Boyd did not support me. The opposite of supporting it, is not supporting it.
”He is quite correct that this year he did vote with me and I would say ‘sorry Brian that statement is incorrect and I apologise’. It was a slip on my part.”