LABOUR CANDIDATE TO BE CHALLENGED ON LEAK OF ROYAL PATHS CORRESPONDENCE

LABOUR CANDIDATE TO BE CHALLENGED ON LEAK OF ROYAL PATHS CORRESPONDENCE

HUSTINGS OFFER HIM THE OPPORTUNITY TO CONFIRM OR DENY HIS POSITION

The SNP candidate for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Cllr Graeme Horne, will tonight challenge the Labour candidate, Tom Greatrex, at a local hustings to “confirm or deny” that he was the person who leaked correspondence to the media in January between the Home Office and the Scottish Government regarding the designation of footpaths in the Cairngorm National Park Authority.

Mr Greatrex was a Special Adviser to Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy at the time, and the Scottish Sun newspaper reported yesterday that: “Whitehall sources outed Tom Greatrex – now standing as Labour candidate in Rutherglen, Glasgow – as the mole after a three-month probe by the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell.”

If Mr Greatrex was the leaker, the SNP has said that Labour would have “no choice” but to suspend him as a candidate – in the same way as a Tory candidate in Ayrshire was suspended this week.

The Scottish Sun report followed a Parliamentary Answer published on Monday by Scottish Government External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop which said that it had been, “established conclusively that the source was not a Scottish Government civil servant”.

Cllr Graeme Horne said:

“This is an extremely serious issue, and Mr Greatrex has so far failed to immediately confirm or deny the report that he leaked this correspondence. If he did, Labour have no choice but to suspend him as a parliamentary candidate.

"Tonight's hustings gives him the opportunity to clear the air and 'confirm or deny' his position. That he has not so far leaves him open to suspicion. I am reliably told that he has also failed to respond to local media inquiries about this issue.

“A Home Office Minister, quite rightly, made the point that the police wished as little attention as possible for the paths, and we now have it reported that it was a Special Adviser to Jim Murphy and a Labour Party candidate in Scotland who was responsible for this disgraceful leak.

“This matter is straightforward but urgent. If Tom Greatrex was not responsible, he must deny it. If he was, he must be removed as the Labour Party candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.”