ANAS Sarwar’s top aide has been accused of causing “unnecessary divisions” after a left-wing MSP accused the party of putting them at a disadvantage in favour of a frontbencher tipped to become a future party leader.
Mercedes Villalba has written to Scottish Labour’s general secretary, Kate Watson, who is also Sarwar’s chief of staff, raising concerns she was being blocked from running in Dundee East after she lost out to Michael Marra in the selection process.
Villalba was reportedly “forced” by party chiefs to contest the Dundee West selection against Marra, who is seen as the replacement for Sarwar should the party suffer defeat in next year's election, despite her wanting to stand in either constituency, including Dundee East.
The left-wing MSP has now missed out on selection for either constituency despite Scottish Labour needing candidates for the two city seats at next year's Holyrood election.
Typically, Labour twins selections for constituencies with a male and female shortlist drawn up to select the two candidates.
However, Labour’s Scottish Executive Committee (SEC), has decided to un-twin the Dundee contest, a decision which has led to some local members accusing the party’s bosses of purposely putting Villalba at a disadvantage.
According to the Scotsman, a senior party source said the seats were un-twinned as only three viable candidates because Villalba, Marra, and Cheryl-Ann Cruickshank, who won the Dundee East selection unopposed, came forward for the contest.
However, Villalba (below) confirmed an “expression of interest” in both of the Dundee seats along with the North East regional list, in a letter to Watson.
The left-wing MSP added that when the two Dundee constituencies were initially twinned, she indicated interest in both seats in her application as she insisted that she had not withdrawn her application for either seat.
In April, Villalba was told by Labour HQ that she had been “successfully longlisted for Dundee City East”, but at the same time was “also informed” that party bosses had decided to un-twin the seats.
Villalba added: “I would therefore be grateful to receive written notification of the outcome of my application for Dundee City East.”
In another letter sent to Watson and to deputy leader Jackie Baillie (below), chairperson of the Dundee Constituency Labour Party (CLP), Richard McCready, warned that the local party was “deeply concerned” that the seats were un-twinned, The Scotsman has reported.
McCready added: “This is a change to the advertised process which applicants originally applied for.
“As a CLP, we are concerned that any move to have two sitting MSPs contest the same seat will cause unnecessary divisions in our CLP and impact our ability to return Labour MSPs locally and a Labour government at Holyrood.
“We would urge the Scottish Executive Committee to listen to the concerns of local members and affiliated trade unions and move to ensure that our two MSPs can contest separate or twinned seats in Dundee.”
Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication and Workers Union (CWU) also warned Watson that Villalba had been “unfairly disadvantaged” by the selection process.
The Scottish Labour leadership reportedly did not respond directly to the concerns raised by either the Dundee CLP or the CWU, in which a Dundee Labour source told The Scotsman was a move by party bosses “to overrule” local concerns.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Labour candidates are selected by the votes of local members who select the person they believe should represent them.
“All selections are carried out in line with rules and procedures agreed and overseen by Scottish Labour’s Executive Committee.”
Previously a senior Labour source said that they were concerned with Baillie’s influence as they accused her of “controlling everything”.
They said: "The way it works is that the party's important business such as selections, election campaigns and appointments to senior party jobs etc are run by sub-committees of the Scottish Executive Committee, and they are always chaired by Jackie Baillie.
“Jackie controls everything. Being deputy leader instead of leader insulates her from taking responsibility for things and in practice allows for absolute power.
“As with other constituencies, the selections for Dundee City East and Dundee City West were to be twinned. Mysteriously, the Labour Party's Scottish Executive Committee reversed their initial decision and have un-twinned the constituencies.
“The selections have instead run separately and concurrently, meaning that if a candidate applied for Dundee City West they could not be the candidate for Dundee City East whereas if the constituencies were twinned they would.”
