A SNP councillor has quit after claiming she was bullied by Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken.
Councillor Elspeth Kerr, who represented the Drumchapel and Anniesland area of Glasgow, announced her departure on Twitter and said the council was 'nothing but a dictatorship'.
Kerr took to social media late on Thursday night to announce her resignation, adding that she had made the decision with a 'heavy heart'.
The former councillor said that she is "not bullied easily" but claimed leader Susan Aitken "has tried at every opportunity".
After being a member of the SNP for 30 years, she said she could not "stand by a party that allows bullying and corruption of this nature" and updated her Twitter profile to show she will now stand as an independent candidate.
She wrote: "Every time I tried to express my opinion I was silenced, I feel that my community was/silenced with me.
"I became a councillor to be a voice for my already silenced community not to be silenced more.
"Under previous administrations, my community's needs went unmet and unheard. I hoped as part of the Glasgow SNP group I would be able to change that."
She added: "People leaving the Labour Party said that they felt they were not leaving their party but that their party had left them and that is how I feel about the SNP In Glasgow.
"As I always have done, I will continue to work hard for the people of Ward 14 as they are my top priority!"
A spokesperson for the SNP group in Glasgow said: “At a meeting with the SNP Whip on Thursday, Cllr Michael Cullen confirmed that he is currently facing potential legal action, and would step aside from the SNP in the meantime, in line with party protocol.
"Cllr Kerr objected to this course of action, and indicated that she would leave the SNP as a result. While we are disappointed by that decision, we would clarify that Cllr Kerr has at no stage made any allegations of bullying within the SNP group.”
