Labour contest opens up again after Curran deselection
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No replacement has been chosen yet by the Labour Party following the deselection of Bill Curran as a candidate for the next UK general election.
It follows allegations surrounding Mr Curran following an internal investigation by the party regarding a number of social media posts that were reported as allegedly being "antisemitic".
Mr Curran, who lives at Lybster, had recently been selected by the party's Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency branch to stand against sitting Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone.
He is the branch's campaign co-ordinator and is said to have a strong record of campaigning on health provision, housing, universal credit, mental health and additional support needs cuts.
At the time of his selection, branch chairwoman, Cheryl McDonald, said: “Bill Curran is a down-to-earth working man who believes people need someone to represent them who shares their problems.
“I feel we have chosen someone who really understands the struggles of most people.
“We are not prepared to see the north go in reverse in terms of jobs and services. If the Government doesn’t invest, our health and education services will continue to slip away.”
Ms McDonald said she would not be commenting on the decision to deselect.
However, Mr Curran said in a brief statement: "One of the difficulties the country faces at this time is the cowardice of politicians to speak up.
"All this 'sources close to' b******s is leaving the electorate with less and less trust in the political system. As an example of this, the story you're contacting me about [reported in another publication on Saturday] was leaked by an anonymous source in the Scottish Labour Party."
In response, a Scottish Labour Party spokesperson said: "The story that appeared was not 'leaked' by the Scottish Labour Party.
"Regarding the deselection of Mr Curran itself, the decision to do so came about following an investigation that highlighted a number of social media posts made by Mr Curran.
"He had not disclosed those posts when standing for selection and the posts themselves were not within the values of the Labour Party."
The Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency branch of the Labour Party will now decide upon a new candidate for the next Westminster parliamentary election.
The Labour spokesperson added: "The contest will open up again and prospective candidates are invited to submit an application.
"We do not have a set timescale for the procedure of selecting a new candidate but we may well have to make a decision quickly should the current prime minister receive the necessary votes in parliament to call a general election in the near future."
