Image Source: (R) snp.org | (L) X: @callum_mccaig
SPUC featured on the front page of today’s Herald after lodging a formal complaint against the SNP’s chief executive, Callum McCaig, following the cancellation of a pro-life fringe event at the party’s annual conference in Aberdeen last month.
SPUC’s chief executive John Deighan has written to SNP business convener Angela Constance, calling for disciplinary action against Mr McCaig over allegations that he bypassed the party’s established procedures when cancelling the event just six days before it was scheduled to take place.
The fringe meeting was intended to examine coerced abortion and alleged shortcomings in Scottish legislation protecting women who face pressure to terminate their pregnancies.
SPUC had booked and paid for the event in August, reportedly without objections from party officials. However, permission was subsequently withdrawn following complaints from SNP members and a petition opposing the event, pushed by Women for Independence and Young Scots for Independence, which attracted just over 250 signatures.
The complaint calls for the matter to be referred to the SNP’s Member Conduct Committee and the appropriate disciplinary body to establish whether Mr McCaig acted outside his authority. This is because responsibility for conference arrangements rests with the party’s National Executive Committee and business convener, rather than its chief executive.
“By capitulating to outside petition pressure and issuing an unprocedural cancellation a mere six days before the event, Mr McCaig bypassed proper governance channels,” the complaint states.
The decision is also unfair because we were not given an opportunity to respond to concerns raised by SNP members before permission was withdrawn.
SPUC has taken legal advice about potential breaches of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and Equality Act 2010. Legal proceedings remain under consideration.
The cancellation attracted criticism from Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, who defended the importance of allowing differing perspectives to be heard.
He argued that freedom of speech had “little meaning if it extends only to those with whom we agree.”
An SNP spokesperson defended the cancellation, saying the party wanted its conference to be somewhere all members could “feel comfortable.”
The spokesperson added that the original decision to permit the event had been “wrong.”
SPUC CEO John Deighan finishes, saying, “SPUC came to the SNP conference to hold a conversation about coerced abortion, a sad reality for many women that is not a crime in Scotland. We believe that should change, but our cancellation by the SNP makes it seem like they do not.”
He continued, “Women deserve protection in law from coercive men who make them end pregnancies and we thought SNP delegates would agree with us. Instead, the party has discriminated against us and denied Scottish women a voice on this issue. We think Callum McCaig has denied them that voice and we want to hear his reasons why.”
