Under investigation Highland councillor no show

A former SNP councillor – who quit the party this week after police reported him for alleged election fraud – was absent from the first Highland Council meeting since his resignation.

Alex MacLeod did not appear at the full council’s full meeting in Inverness today (Thursday), days after he resigned from the Nationalist group which leads the authority.

An anonymous complaint from a member of the public was made to Northern Constabulary earlier this year claiming that Councillor MacLeod had spent more than he was entitled to during his campaign before winning his Caithness seat in May’s local government elections.

On Monday Northern Constabulary said a 20-year-old man had been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with alleged offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983 and related offences.

The former aide to First Minister Alex Salmond, who had been seen as a rising star in the Nationalist ranks, confirmed he was that politician and left the party so he could "work with the police" on the matter but refused to comment further.

At today’s meeting Michelle Morris, the council’s assistant chief executive, said Councillor MacLeod sent his apologies when she called out the roll of elected members before the meeting started.

A seat had been set aside for the young councillor away from the SNP area beside his former party colleague, the outspoken Inverness councillor Donnie Kerr, who himself quit the group in October accusing the leadership of ignoring him.

Both of them were listed as "Independent Nationalists" on the placards beside their seats.

It is not yet known which Nationalists will replace Councillor MacLeod on the committees he had served on as an SNP member although he will still able to attend and vote at council meetings.

Councillor MacLeod had played a key role in the SNP, Liberal Democrat and Labour coalition’ programme for the next five years, despite his youth as the youngest councillor in Scotland.

Normally a prolific user of social media, particularly Twitter, Councillor MacLeod has erased any mention of the SNP on his online biography and only tweeted on a couple of occasions.