Labour booked rooms for the by-election in Knightswood Park before the other parties even knew if Charlie Gordon was resigning!

The Council only had one empty shop within the ward (172 Archerhill Road) and the Labour Party expressed an interest in this on Monday 3 October.   Expressing an interest effectively means booking it as the Council operates a "first come first served" policy.   Then on Wednesday 5 October the Council's Property sub-committee approved the letting of premises for a by-election for a nominal rent of £50.   The paper on this was only tabled at the meeting and had not been on the agenda.   This was the first "official" indication for opposition parties that there was going to be a by-election soon.   (Potentially Charlie Gordon could have held his Council seat until the next Council elections in 2007, as Tommy Sheridan did from 1999 to 2003.)   After the meeting the SNP inquired about available premises but were told there was nothing in the ward.   It later transpired that the available rooms had been allocated to Labour.

SNP Group Leader John Mason wrote to the Chief Executive, George Black, calling for the disputed premises not to be used by any party during the by-election.   However, the reply was that Labour would be allowed to use them.

To any fair-minded person this is a clear abuse of power by the Labour Party.   They have used Council facilities for party political advantage.   Now a reference to the Standards Commission or other appropriate body will be considered by the SNP.