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Fife councillor dramatically quits Labour in anger over Kirkcaldy candidate row

Julie MacDougall was blocked from standing last year and is angry at a candidate from outside Fife being chosen to run.

Fife councillor Julie MacDougall quit Labour. Image: Steve Brown/DC Thomson.
Fife councillor Julie MacDougall quit Labour. Image: Steve Brown/DC Thomson.

A Kirkcaldy councillor has quit Labour and claimed candidates who live outside Fife are being undemocratically imposed on party members.

Julie MacDougall, daughter of the late Glenrothes MP John MacDougall, made a dramatic exit as she revealed she has “lost faith” in the party.

The Fife councillor says she was unfairly blocked from standing in the Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency when a contest first began last year.

The Labour Party told The Courier she was suspended from the process to choose a candidate because she broke the rules by contacting party members too often.

Labour’s eventual candidate in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, Wilma Brown, was ditched by the party in May after allegedly liking highly offensive social media posts.

She was replaced by Palestinian aid charity boss Melanie Ward, who is based in London but has previously stood in Glenrothes for the party.

Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy candidate Melanie Ward.

Ms MacDougall says it is “disrespectful and insulting” for Labour to suggest there are no capable candidates who currently live in Fife.

Posting on social media, she said: “I have fought tirelessly for over a year behind the scenes for democracy and fairness, but sadly I have now exhausted all avenues.

“It is no secret that candidates are being imposed on members and constituents in a non-democratic, autocratic manner.

“I have lost faith in the Labour Party and do not believe it is practising what it preaches.

“Are we saying there are no good, decent candidates in Fife? I find this disrespectful and insulting.”

Ms MacDougall says she spent years campaigning with her father, and claimed he would have been “disappointed” by events in Fife.

Her dad served the area from 2001 until his death in 2008, after suffering with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer of the lung. He had taken over from Henry McLeish in the constituency.

Before entering Westminster politics he spent years as the leader of Fife’s regional council, and then the updated local authority.

Ms MacDougall said: “Labour now have a non-democratically chosen candidate who doesn’t reside in Fife.

“I have therefore taken the difficult decision to step away from the Labour Party.”

The Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy councillor said she will continue to represent constituents on the local authority until the end of her term.

Labour sources claimed Ms MacDougall was behaving vindictively after being rightfully blocked from standing.

‘Bitter, vindictive and self-indulgent’

One said her behaviour was “bitter, vindictive, and self-indulgent, but entirely in keeping with what we would expect”.

We reported in May that Ms Ward’s selection had provoked a mixed reaction within the party.

One source said: “She’s been parachuted in.”

Fife Councillor Mary Lockhart, who represents Lochgelly, claimed local party activists were cut out of the selection process.

Labour bosses said Ms Ward had been given the green light to stand as part of a “streamlined” selection contest.

Another Fife Labour source defended her selection.

They said: “She’s got a really good record. She’s really intelligent and she’d be a good MP for the area.”


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