SNP by-election hopeful James Dornan stands down amid bankruptcy claims

Jul 13 2009

THE SNP by-election candidate to fight the Glasgow seat of former Commons Speaker Michael Martin has stood down over bankruptcy claims.

James Dornan was only selected by the Nats on Tuesday.

But yesterday he quit the race after newspaper revelations he was a trustee for Glasgow's charity-run public museums and leisure facilities while an "undischarged bankrupt" in the eyes of Scots charity law.

Dornan, the opposition leader on Glasgow City Council, said he was taking legal advice on whether he had broken charity law.

His decision came as SNP activists delivered leaflets in the constituency saying he was their candidate.

The 56-year-old councillor was the third-choice SNP candidate for Martin's Glasgow North East seat, after activist Grant Thoms and BBC Scotland newsman David Kerr.

Thoms quit the race two weeks ago. Kerr left his BBC job to stand for election but the local party picked Dornan instead.

Dornan was appointed to the board of Culture and Sport Glasgow just days after being elected as a Glasgow councillor in May 2007. But it emerged he signed over all his assets to an insolvency practitioner in 2004.

While he avoided full-blown bankruptcy, he was still classed as insolvent until December 2007.

Dornan used a legal mechanism called a "protected trust deed" to keep creditors at bay from 2004-7.

The Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act bars an "undischarged bankrupt" from being a charity trustee. The legislation defines an "undischarged bankrupt" as, among other things, someone who has granted a trust deed for creditors.

Last night, Dornan said: "In light of a report in one of today's newspapers, I have decided to step aside as the SNP candidate in the Glasgow North-East by-election.

"I am taking legal advice on the suggestion that there may have been a technical breach of charities legislation by virtue of me being appointed a partner director of Culture and Sport Glasgow by Glasgow City Council, a position for which I received no financial gain.

"However, I am absolutely clear that throughout the period of the protected trust deed, I acted in good faith. I took advice about its implications and was advised that it was not a bar to holding public office."

The Glasgow North East by-election is expected to be held in August or November.