A FORMER SNP councillor and aide to Alex Salmond has been named as a lobbyist for an anti-abortion group.
Chris McEleny, who later became general secretary of Alba before being expelled, has taken on the role of Scottish Parliamentary Officer for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).
The SPUC describes itself as “leading the fight” in “courts, classroom and culture” against abortion and euthanasia.
It comes as the next parliamentary term is likely to see MSPs debate laws around abortion, after a group of experts urged ministers to decriminalise it late last year.
The Abortion Law Expert Group recommended that "there should be no offences for anyone ending their own pregnancy and any common law offences should be repealed".
The existing process requires the approval of two doctors and any termination beyond 24 weeks of a pregnancy is considered to be illegal and women can be prosecuted.
Campaigners say the law is outdated and needs to be replaced with a modernised, health-based framework.
However, the SPUC says it believes in “the right to life from conception to natural death”. It also campaigned and lobbied against the Assisted Dying Bill in the last parliamentary term.
The Daily Record reports that an email from the SPUC this week read: “Chris McEleny starts as SPUC's first ever Scottish Parliamentary Officer at a pivotal time for the pro-life cause in Scotland.
“With your help, we saw off the threat of assisted suicide back in March of this year, but we now have powerful people calling for the decriminalisation of abortion. There is perhaps no better time for Chris to join us, therefore!”
McEleny previously told a pro-life broadcasting channel that he would look to form a “consensus” against “coercion” in abortion.
He was suspended from his role as Alba’s general secretary for “gross misconduct” in February 2025.
McEleny was suspended for giving the “false and unsupported impression” that the Alba Party supported the Scottish Conservatives’ views that asylum seekers in Scotland should not be given free bus passes.
His suspension was also reportedly due to issuing a press release supporting Donald Trump if it meant bringing an economic boost to Scotland, it was reported at the time.
McEleny said he was considering taking legal action against the party in October that year, accusing Alba of defamation and unlawful dismissal.
The party and McEleny became embroiled in a bitter dispute, with Alba saying ahead of the Holyrood election that they would be unable to stand candidates as a result, as McEleny served as its nominating officer.
We told how after leaving Alba, which later wound up and de-registered as a political party due to financial issues, McEleny unsuccessfully applied to work for Reform UK.
