Stephen McCabe is to "step back from his role as the leader of Inverclyde Council" after he appeared in Greenock Sheriff Court on charges of assault and threatening or abusive behaviour.
The veteran councillor — who was suspended by the Labour Party at the start of the month — pleaded not guilty to the two charges on Friday morning.
There have been calls for him to stand aside ever since he was first arrested, with the SNP group on the council saying he needed to "consider his position and resign ahead of a future meeting of the council.”
READ MORE
- Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe appears in court
- Leader of Inverclyde council 'charged with domestic assault
In a statement, Inverclyde Council said Cllr McCabe's Labour colleague, Natasha McGuire, will deputise until a new leader is appointed early next month.
A spokesperson said: “We can confirm today that Councillor McCabe has indicated that he has decided to step back from his role as Leader of Inverclyde Council.
“Deputy Leader Councillor McGuire will continue to deputise, following existing governance arrangements until a new Leader is appointed.
"Leadership of the Council is determined by the Council’s elected members. The next meeting of Inverclyde Council will take place on Thursday 5 December 2024."
During his court appearance on Friday, Cllr McCabe denied an allegation of repeatedly shouting and acting in an aggressive manner towards a woman in Victoria Gardens, Kilmacolm on October 27 this year.
Cllr McCabe, of Victoria Gardens, also pleaded not guilty to an allegation that he assaulted the same complainer by repeatedly pushing her and seizing her by the body on the same date.
He was released on bail with a special condition not to approach or contact the complainer, or to enter a specified address elsewhere in Inverclyde.
The case was continued to a trial diet set for February 10, 2025.
An intermediate diet hearing was also scheduled for January 14.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article