Stirling Council was divided recently when a councillor previously suspended for bullying took the lead position on the local authority’s children’s committee.
Attempts to oust Councillor Danny Gibson failed last month, with opposition councillors labelling his appointment as chairman of an anti-bullying group a “sick joke”.
But this is not the first time Stirling Council has weathered a bullying scandal.
We take a look at the cases of four Stirling councillors accused of unacceptable behaviour during the last decade.
1) Gerry McGarvey – ‘verbal altercation’
Gerry McGarvey, a Labour councillor for Forth and Endrick, was banned from attending a council meeting after a “verbal altercation” over nursery provision with an elected member.
In August this year, the Standards Commission for Scotland decided he had behaved disrespectfully towards another elected member during the break of a council meeting on March 2, 2023.
The panel heard how Mr McGarvey, the current deputy leader of Stirling Council, became “angry, frustrated and agitated” with another councillor.
He was seen to have stood over the councillor, raised his voice, and repeatedly pointed his finger at her.
The Standards Commission concluded that Mr McGarvey’s conduct did not meet the code’s threshold for bullying, so suspended his right to attend the next full council meeting.
2) Danny Gibson – bullied senior council officer
Danny Gibson, Labour Councillor for Stirling North, was suspended for five months in June 2023, after he was found to have breached the councillors’ code of conduct.
It was ruled he had behaved disrespectfully towards council officers, and had bullied a senior council officer between 2018 and 2019, while deputy leader of Stirling Council.
Stirling councillors also banned Mr Gibson from representing Stirling Council on any outside bodies for the duration of the current council. This punishment was rescinded in October.
Mr Gibson’s position leading Stirling Council’s children’s committee and an anti-bullying group has been criticised by SNP councillors, due to his past offences.
3) Alasdair MacPherson – acted ‘aggressively’ towards public
Alasdair MacPherson, an independent councillor for Bannockburn, was banned from council meetings for five months in 2014.
He was found to have broken the councillors’ code of conduct at a licensing committee meeting in September 2012, during discussions over JD Wetherspoon’s plan to open a pub on Spittal Street.
Complaints were received about the councillor acting “aggressively” towards people present who objected to the proposed bar.
Mr MacPherson, who was an SNP councillor at the time, was found to have “failed to respect members of the public” and resigned from all council committees.
4) Maureen Bennison – resigned over ‘toxic abuse and threats’
In 2020, Maureen Bennison, who represented Bannockburn, resigned from the SNP over claims of bullying and sexism.
At the time, in a letter to then council leader Scott Farmer, she said reasonable debate had “proved impossible”.
Ms Bennison also alleged that “toxic abuse and threats” had been directed at women trying to speak out on the Scottish Government’s then proposed changes to gender recognition.
She dubbed then Stirling SNP MP Alyn Smith “a misogynist”, adding: “I refuse to be pushed around by either him or his staff.”
In response, an SNP spokesperson said Ms Bennison had not “conducted herself as an SNP representative for some time”, and called for her to step down.
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