THE SNP council leader at the centre of a sexual misconduct row will hold a crunch meeting with party colleagues about his future today, the Herald understands.
Jordan Linden, the newly installed £45,000 head of North Lanarkshire, is due to confront his fellow SNP councillors at the council’s Motherwell HQ at 5pm.
It comes ahead of the Labour opposition on the local authority holding its own meeting tomorrow to decide whether to force a confidence vote in Cllr Linden.
The 27-year-old was the subject of a report in the Sunday Mail at the weekend which said he had been accused of making unwanted sexual advances while drunk in 2019.
An SNP activist told the paper a teenager was left “traumatised” after spending time with the Bellshill councillor at a house party after a gay pride march in Dundee.
The paper also reported that SNP HQ was made aware of the allegation, even though no formal complaint was made, and tried to reach out to the alleged victim.
Four days after the party in Dundee, Cllr Linden suddenly abandoned well-advanced plans to secure the SNP Westminster candidacy in Coatbridge, but remained in the SNP.
He secured a promotion to leader of the opposition on the council last year, then became council leader in May after the SNP ousted Labour from power in North Lanarkshire.
On Monday, the man Cllr Linden deposed as leader, Labour boss Jim Logue, met him face-to-face and urged him to resign on the grounds he was unfit for office.
Cllr Logue warned Cllr Linden that unless he quit, Labour could call a special
meeting of the full council and try to pass a no confidence vote in him next month.
The Bellshill councillor, the cousin of Glasgow East MP David Linden, has so far refused to resign.
However as the arithmetic is very finely balanced on the 77-member council, it would take only a handful of Cllr Linden’s colleagues to abstain or miss the meeting for him to lose his position.
The SNP have 36 seats, Labour has 32, the Tories have five, there are two Independents, one Green and one British Unionist.
An insider yesterday said Cllr Linden appeared determined to tough it out, but his position was neverthless “precarious” as the numbers were “on a knife-edge”.
Another said Cllr Linden might be contemplating resignation.
If he was to quit, or was forced out, depute leader Tracy Carragher, a councillor for Coatbridge South, would be expected to fill the role.
There would then be a three week gap before a special SNP group meeting to choose a new leader.
The SNP has criticised the Sunday Mail’s reporting and said it would submit a complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).
However the party has repeatedly refused to say what it knew about the allegation about Cllr Linden.
The SNP was asked for comment about today’s meeting.
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