A SCOTTISH Labour council chief who failed to declare that a Labour peer was his landlord has got off with a slap on the wrist despite being found to have broken conduct rules.
Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe will face no further investigation and dodges the prospect of any sanction after he was found to have breached the councillors’ code of conduct by not disclosing that Labour grandee Willie Haughey owned his home.
Lord Haughey bought McCabe’s family home in Kilmacolm after the Inverclyde politician’s marriage of 24 years broke down and gave him discounted rent.
It was initially bought by an associate of Haughey’s and later transferred to a company owned by the Labour peer.
McCabe has claimed that he wanted to stay at the home for the sake of his youngest son, who has autism, as it was “his place of safety”.
The Ethical Standards Commissioner last week found McCabe guilty of breaking the code of conduct by failing to declare his relationship with Lord Haughey (above), whom he recommended to chair the Greenock Town Board.
The position is unpaid but puts the peer in charge of a £20 million funding pot for the town, to which Lord Haughey has no connection.
McCabe was cleared of separate claims that he benefitted from a gift in kind, in the form of being charged rent under the market value, because the Ethical Standards Commissioner ruled that this was not connected to his duties as a councillor.
His case was referred to the Standards Commission, which had the option of holding a public hearing and sanctioning McCabe.
But the Standards Commission has ruled that McCabe will face no further action.
The body said that it accepted the findings of the earlier probe which said that McCabe was not involved with appointing Lord Haughey as chair of Greenock Town Board and that there was no “inappropriate motive” behind him recommending the peer for the job, it would not be “proportionate” to hold a hearing.
McCabe told The National: “I have maintained all along that my failure to declare my connection to Lord Haughey was an oversight on my part and there was no inappropriate motive behind me suggesting him as a potential candidate for Chair of the Greenock Town Board.
“This has been accepted by both the Ethical Standards Commissioner and now the Standards Commission for Scotland.”
He said that the furore had caused “unwarranted intrusion into my private life”, adding: “This has caused considerable stress to me and my children and brought into the public domain the breakdown of my 24-year marriage and my son’s ongoing mental health condition.
“We have lived in our home in Kilmacolm for over 20 years. When we were faced with the prospect of losing it in 2019 my son asked me to find a way of keeping it as it was his place of safety and the only home he had ever known.
“For my son’s sake I found a way at a considerable financial cost to myself. I will be eternally grateful to those who assisted me in achieving this outcome.”
McCabe stepped down as leader of Inverclyde Council after he was charged with domestic assault, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
He was later reinstated after the charge was dropped but the Crown Office said it reserved the right "to proceed in the future".
Lord Haughey has previously told The National that he got “the deal of the century” buying McCabe’s home because it was sold for a cut price.
