LABOUR’s Holyrood campaign in Glasgow has suffered another blow after they scrapped a second selection contest in the city.
The party has re-opened the applications process for the Shettleston seat amid fears unfancied councillor Yvonne Kucuk would win.
The SNP said Labour is “bitterly divided” with “no clear policies or vision”.
Kucuk, a councillor for the Calton ward, was the favourite in the contest after Frank McAveety stood down to become leader of the local authority.
However, a complaint was recently submitted to the council about her running of a Trust that oversees a new community centre in Dalmarnock.
She is the Trust’s regeneration manager and the complaint flagged up concerns about governance.
According to Companies House, three board members of the Trust resigned weeks before the Dalmarnock legacy hub was opened.
Scottish Labour headquarters has now opted to re-open the selection in a bid to attract better candidates.
Kayleigh Quinn, the party’s Scottish Organiser, wrote to local members: “It has been agreed that the shortlist of candidates does not reflect the aspirations of the Labour Party in respect of diversity. For this reason, the General Secretary has decided to re-open the application process…This will allow time to attract a more diverse gender and ethnic mix of candidates for members to choose from.”
One party source said: “This is about stopping Yvonne.”
Labour also re-started the Glasgow Southside contest amid fears controversial councillor Hanif Raja would get the nod from local members.
Raja, who has close ties to the Sarwar dynasty, has attracted unwanted press attention in the past over an £18,000 debt owed to his own council.
It was also revealed recently that one of his businesses was to be shut down over a failure to file accounts.
And he also apologised in 2012 for saying that he got elected despite the efforts of the “Indian community”.
He said at the time: “I have been presented with so many obstacles from the Sikh and Indian community. I got a backlash when I went to them for votes.”
An SNP spokesperson said: “This is now the second time in two weeks Labour has had to abandon their selection process – they still fail to recognise that their problem is not who they select to stand for election – it’s the platform on which they are standing.
“As long as the party remains bitterly divided amongst themselves with no clear policies or vision, Labour candidates in Glasgow and across Scotland will continue to face an uphill battle to regain the trust of the voters.”
David Meikle, a Tory councillor in Glasgow, said: “This latest selection row shows that Glasgow Labour is in chaos. This party continues to show contempt for voters in the city.”
Kucuk said: “I am aware that several CLPs received the same email regarding diversity last week. As for the rumour about re-opening to stop me or any other candidate standing – I find that a bit bizarre. Ultimately it will be up to the fine people of Shettleston CLP to decide who their candidate will be going forward to 2016.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "The selection process has been reopened, and we we want to make sure members have the widest range of candidates to choose from before the deadline near the end of the month."
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