This latest revelation comes just two weeks after Councillor Storr was expelled from the Aberdeenshire Council Liberal Democrat Group.

 

It has been discovered that Councillor Robertson ordered the removal of Councillor Storr from two key committees two days after her expulsion from the Liberal Democrat group, but kept this information secret from Councillor Storr.   Councillor Storr even received a call notice and the papers for one of the two committees which Ms Robertson had removed her from.

Debra Storr said: "I had been advised by Anne Robertson that my appointments from the Liberal Democrat Group were to be reviewed.  But no review has yet taken place - and, in any case, since they expelled me, it is no longer up to the Liberal Democrat Group to decide what I do on the Council.

 

"As a member of the Council, I am entitled to serve on one of the main policy Committees.  Councillor Robertson has now stopped me from carrying out a key part of my duties as an elected councillor - at least for the time being.  It is fundamentally undemocratic and wrong for the Council Leader to be able to silence other voices on the Council.

 

"I received the papers for this Thursday's Infrastructure Services as usual.  However, no papers arrived for the Strategic Planning Committee this Wednesday.  So I checked with the committee clerk and was told that Anne Robertson had instructed my removal from these two powerful committees on 19th November. 

 

"Perhaps I should have expected this as Anne Robertson behaved in exactly the same disgraceful fashion to Councillor Martin Ford  - instructing his removal from a series of committees and working groups without his knowledge.  A subsequent Liberal Democrat Investigation established that Councillor Robertson had acted without authority and that her actions were incorrect. I had hoped that she had learnt something over the past year - but it appears not.

 

"If we are to avoid more 'Groundhog days' for the many disaffected members of the Group, I hope that the Scottish Liberal Democrats Executive will take decisive action when it meets on Saturday to stop the leadership of the Group continuing to bring the Liberal Democrats into disrepute."

ENDS