TWO senior Scots councillors hoping for re-election have met with “ultra-Unionist” campaigners including one who was an Alliance For Unity Holyrood candidate, The National can reveal.
Glasgow’s Labour group leader Malcolm Cunning and the Tories’ deputy leader in the city Euan Blockley were pictured at an event hosted by The Majority – an "ultra-Unionist" group who have called on the UK Government to “ban secession”.
A photograph of the two was posted by the former All For Unity Holyrood candidate David Griffiths – who has asked female SNP politicians on Twitter intimate details about their sex lives.
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Responding to a question about the session on Twitter, Griffiths said the group reached “agreement on key issues” and engaged in “stimulating debate”.
Cunning is facing questions over whether he has aligned himself with a group that “doesn’t represent the vast bulk of Labour-minded people in Scotland”.
Tommy Sheppard, the SNP’s spokesperson on the constitution, told The National the meeting proved Labour had “have learned nothing from the past” by associating with The Majority and a Tory politician, recalling the disastrous impact the party’s involvement with Better Together had.
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He said: “If you’re trying to win over floating voters who are thinking of voting SNP, probably the worst thing you can do is to be seen to align yourself not just with the Conservative Party but with an ultra-Unionist faction that represent very much a minority opinion and certainly doesn’t represent the vast bulk of Labour-minded people in Scotland.
“They’re now doubling down on an unholy alliance with people who want to stop Scotland from becoming independent but from the people who live here having a say in their future of any kind.”
He said he was “surprised” Cunning had attended the meeting as a significant figure in Glasgow politics.
“All of us in politics have to be careful which meetings we attend and who we associate with,” he said.
READ MORE: Hundreds of active members of The Majority's pro-Union group found to be fake
The Majority are an ultra-Unionist pressure group which has a history of apparently faking members to make their website seem more popular and accusing anyone less vehement in their support for the Union of “appeasement”.
In a blog post from last year, founder Mark Devlin called for the UK Government to “ban secession” by cutting their funding.
He penned another which accused pro-Union journalists of being "appeasers" for calling support for Scottish independence "a respectable cause".
Sheppard said: “If ever an organisation was misnamed it’s this one.
“There is a clear and significant majority of people here who believe [independence] should be a choice for the people who live here and it’s not for Westminster or the rest of the United Kingdom.”
Questions have also been asked about Griffiths’ character after it was revealed he had repeatedly tweeted about Sturgeon’s sexuality.
In a tweet from January 10, he wrote: “As the SNP government believes it is appropriate to ask questions about sexual experiences, let’s broaden the debate.
“Here goes: Is Nicola Sturgeon a lesbian? Is Peter Murrell gay? Is their marriage a sham?
“To put it another way, is the First Minister living a lie?”
In another directed at SNP councillor Mhairi Hunter, he wrote: “Can I ask if you or your friend Nicola Sturgeon have ever indulged in anal sex?”
Sheppard added: “David Griffiths himself seems to have an unhealthy combination of obsessions – British nationalism and anal sex.
“He seems to have some strange interest in the sexual behaviours of the First Minister.”
Scottish Labour and The Majority were approached for comment.
The Scottish Tories declined to comment.
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