THE Scottish National Party in Helensburgh has plunged into turmoil after a former council leader and the party’s only councillor in the town was dropped for the forthcoming local authority elections without his knowledge.

James Robb, a Helensburgh Central councillor since 2007, said he only discovered his fate in a news release issued by the SNP’s Helensburgh branch.

That release named Lorna Douglas and Richard Trail as the candidates for Helensburgh Central and Helensburgh and Lomond South respectively in May’s Argyll and Bute Council election.

Ms Douglas is the convener of the party’s Helensburgh branch, while Mr Trail has been a councillor for Helensburgh and Lomond South since 2012.

Cllr Robb told the Advertiser he had been “shocked” at the news.

Cllr Trail said he was “extremely disappointed” his colleague would not be going forward in the selection process.

Cllr Robb said: “As a serving councillor for 10 years, an approved SNP candidate and having been nominated at a branch meeting, this press release from the convener and secretary of Helensburgh SNP came as quite a shock.

“I am sure it will come as a shock to all fair minded SNP members.

“They would rightly expect any challenge to a sitting councillor to be decided in a ballot of members.”

Helensburgh and Lomond’s Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: “Losing a senior councillor like James Robb this close to the election is a devastating blow for the SNP. It looks like the days of nationalist infighting in Argyll and Bute are back.

Cllr Robb added: “As Antony Harrison, the Argyll and Bute SNP convener, commented recently, ‘selections have not yet been made.

“In the SNP these are made by a ballot of local branch members in each ward; not by veto, selection or deselection by elected members or officers’.

“I agree with Mr Harrison, who is in charge of the Argyll and Bute SNP council election campaign, that the convener of Helensburgh SNP cannot make herself the SNP candidate simply by issuing a press release.

“More importantly SNP members in Helensburgh Central cannot be denied their right to choose their candidate, especially by those not eligible to vote.

“This matter has been referred to both the national compliance officer and the chief executive of the SNP. The reputation of the SNP and the credibility of any SNP candidate for Helensburgh lies in their hands”

Cllr Trail told the Advertiser: “James is a very able councillor and he worked effectively for his constituents over the past 10 years. He has an acute political instinct and can sort the wheat from the chaff in complex issues.

“He finds a way through the fog of opinions, claims and counter claims to draw out the core of a problem and articulates it to his colleagues.

“Political debate requires quick thinking and James is an effective debater. He will be a great loss to the SNP council group. Personally I owe him a debt of gratitude for guiding me, as a rookie councillor, in the arcane ways of the council.”

In Monday’s news release Ms Douglas said it was “time for a change, both in the council administration and also who we elect as our local councillors”.

In reaction to Cllr Robb’s statement, she said: “I was voted in unanimously by the branch at the branch meeting, and I was also vetted in time for the branch meeting.

“I certainly didn’t nominate myself. You can’t do that. I was nominated by people from the branch who were present at the meeting, and I stood down as convener during the nomination process. No rules were broken.”

An SNP spokeswoman said: “The ballot process kicks in when there’s more people nominated than there are candidate spaces available.”

The party is still in the process of choosing a candidate for the Lomond North ward.

The party’s Argyll and Bute MSP Michael Russell said he understood “due process has been observed”

Councillor Sandy Taylor, leader of the Argyll and Bute SNP group, said he understood that the Helensburgh branch selection process had been in accordance with the party’s rules – but admitted he and other SNP councillors were “surprised” that Cllr Robb had not been chosen.

Cllr Taylor also told the Advertiser that the party had decided to field only one candidate in each ward in the May 4 poll.

Helensburgh councillor Aileen Morton, convener of the Liberal Democrats’ Dumbarton constituency party, said: “Obviously it’s a matter for the SNP who they select to be their candidates, but the SNP leaflet I had delivered through my door this week had James Robb’s photo on it and a quote from our local MP telling me to vote SNP first and second, so they are kicking off their campaign with very mixed messages.

“The Liberal Democrats are looking forward to achieving gains in this year’s council elections, whereas clearly the SNP don’t feel nearly so confident.”

Helensburgh’s Labour MSP, Jackie Baillie, said: “Losing a senior councillor like James Robb this close to the election is a devastating blow for the SNP. It looks like the days of Nationalist infighting in Argyll and Bute are back.

“The last time the SNP won power at Kilmory they brought the council to the brink of collapse because they spent more time fighting each other than focussing on services in Helensburgh and Lomond.”

Cllr Gary Mulvaney, area chair said: “The SNP councillors elected in 2012 created chaos, fall-outs, factions and splits with ultimately Audit Scotland involved.

“At the deaththroes of this council, chaos from the SNP again. Personally, I like James and wish him well for the future.”