By G.A.Ponsonby 
A former Glasgow Labour councillor has revealed that she was approached by a former colleague who said she should support the party in a crucial budget vote because her disabled son had an apprenticeship at an organisation on whose board he sat.
Anne Marie Millar claimed that the un-named councillor had asked her to support Labour’s budget yesterday afternoon because her son had an apprenticeship with City Building, a firm controlled by the Labour run local authority.
By G.A.Ponsonby
A former Glasgow Labour councillor has revealed that she was approached by a former colleague who said she should support the party in a crucial budget vote because her disabled son had an apprenticeship at an organisation on whose board he sat.
Anne Marie Millar claimed that the un-named councillor had asked her to support Labour’s budget yesterday afternoon because her son had an apprenticeship with City Building, a firm controlled by the Labour run local authority.
Speaking to STV, Ms Millar claimed she was asked to vote for the Labour group “one more time” and claimed she was put under intense pressure to support her former party.
“A colleague spoke to me and said he sat on the board of City Building and asked if my son had an apprenticeship there.
“I asked him if he was threatening my son’s apprenticeship. He can have all the goes at me that he likes but don’t bring my son into it.”
A clearly distraught Ms Millar, who resigned from the party this week, was unable to conclude an interview with an STV reporter and broke down when describing how her son, who has a disability, had “fought hard to get where he is today”.
The claims will pile even more pressure on beleaguered council leader Gordon Matheson whose political career remains on the line after his Labour group won a narrow vote by 40 votes to 38 after several Labour councillors resigned and voted with the opposition.
The Labour group has now lost five councillors in less than two weeks, with three resignations coming in one 24 hour period.
Resignations have rocked the party whose leader, Matheson, is facing allegations that he is presiding over a culture of bullying and of control freakery. Opposition councillors have now called on the man who replaced disgraced former leader Stephen Purcell to step down.
Some former Labour councillors have attacked the decision to allow candidates for May’s local elections to be chosen by London and have threatened to stand as independents.
Mr Matheson’s Labour group are now facing the prospect of Labour candidates chosen by the party’s London machine standing against their former colleagues in May’s Glasgow council elections.