South Lanarkshire council leader Joe Fagan has been suspended for disclosing confidential information to the press.

Following a hearing yesterday (27 June), Cllr Fagan was given a two-month suspension.

The Standards Commission found that Cllr Fagan had breached the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

It also said that the councillor’s disclosure had been made a week before the Scottish Parliament election in 2021, and that it considered he was motivated to disclose the information, ‘at least in part’, for political gain.

Suzanne Vestri, Standards Commission Member and Chair of the Hearing Panel, said: ‘The obligation on councillors to refrain from disclosing confidential information is a key requirement of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

‘A failure to respect confidentiality can damage the reputation and integrity of a Council, and can also impede discussions and decision-making.

‘The panel agreed that, in this case, it was legitimate for the council to have decided that the information be kept confidential until such a time as the proposals discussed had been finalised and officers had sufficient time to prepare and manage external communications.’

In response to the ruling, Cllr Fagan said: ‘I regret what has happened but my conscience is clear. I did what I believed to be right and that's why I got into local government in the first place.’

The panel said that Cllr Fagan had co-operated fully with the investigation.

It also said it found ‘no evidence of repeated behaviour over a long period of time, of dishonesty and/or concealment, or of any previous contraventions of the code’ by the councillor.

While the Standards Commission said it considered imposing a longer suspension, it determined that a period of two months was justified ‘in light of the extensive mitigation provided’.

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