Labour Party suspends Councillor Sohan Singh after an investigation is launched; today he meets with Mohammed Sarwar in Glasgow, Labour made a mistake selecting him as a candidate

Dear All

It isn’t surprising that the Labour Party has decided to suspend Labour Councillor Sohan Singh.

And it is the smart political move for them; Councillor Singh has racked up quite an appalling record while in public office.

If elected to public office, you are supposed to have a certain standard of behavior which is covered by the Nolan Principles. You can be a complete arse before you are elected, a complete arse after you leave public office, but while elected you have to act proper and follow the spirit and letter of the law.

No one is perfect; however, Councillor Singh’s businesses and practices go well beyond just a mere fuck up.
 

Since taking office Sohan Singh, who only elected to Glasgow City Council last year, has been racking up so much bad PR that the Labour Party is running out of patience with him.

One of his hotels was banned from selling alcohol after it was found to have been trading without a liquor licence for more than a year.

Sohan Singh has previously been suspended by the council's ruling Labour group for several weeks after admitting he parked in a disabled bay.

He has operated as an illegal landlord.

And then there were the liquor law breaches at the Kelvin Lorne Hotel in Glasgow following police complaints.

He was also criticised by a senior Scottish Government minister for the condition of a hotel he owned in Crieff that led to the closure of an adjoining bank.

Having so many businesses, one wonders why Sohan Singh wants to be a Glasgow Councillor.

Senior sources within Labour have said the party "has run out of patience with Sohan", who is close to many senior Labour powerbrokers in Scotland.

The source said:

"For a while people gave him the benefit of the doubt. There's a process you need to go through but people have run out of patience with Sohan. He's been written to and told and there will be some sort of investigation into this latest fracas."

So, as to a suitable punishment, given he has been spoken to repeatedly, a stern message has to be sent to him, suspended for 9 months from the Labour Group. During which time he will be expected to get his business affairs in proper order as well as do his allocated duties as a Councillor.

The Labour Party had a clear out at Glasgow City Council, Sohan Singh is dead weight that Glasgow Labour can ill afford to carry, despite the fact the Glasgow SNP is so weak.

Graeme Hendry, the part time ineffectual leader of the city council's SNP group, said:

"That Councillor Singh has been suspended will surprise no-one other than those who really run Glasgow Labour. Since Councillor Matheson became leader there has been a pattern with numerous Labour councillors being suspended, but I believe Councillor Singh has now managed more suspensions than the others."

Because more than one councilor has been suspended does represent a pattern, clearly displaying such ignorance is an example of why Glasgow SNP is so ineffective as an opposition and why Graeme Hendry is only a caretaker leader much in the same way as the last dud holding that position.

Instead of making up assumptions about a ‘pattern’ perhaps he should deal in straight reporting.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University