A LABOUR candidate in a key election battleground has been called “divisive” with activists warning she will "damage" the party if elected.
As reported by The Herald, the intervention launched by Labour Party members from the Bathgate and Linlithgow constituency about Kirsteen Sullivan comes just weeks out from July 4.
The news follows Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar joining Sullivan on the campaign trail just days ago.
According to the Herald the internal row was sparked due to a disagreement over how the local party should spend its funds.
The Linlithgow Constituency Labour Party (CLP) had previously struggled with finances but have managed to recently build up a war chest of around £12,000.
According to local branch insiders, Sullivan, who is a West Lothian councillor, wanted the full amount of the funds spent on her campaign.
However, others believed a more cautious approach to spending the funds is more appropriate and there should be some money left over for other future campaigns.
At the CLP’s AGM in January, sources said Sullivan had effectively organised a coup, with those who had opposed her ousted from their positions as office bearers.
One source told The Herald: “Our constituency party is small and doesn't have many activists.
“There are maybe 10 or 12 people that are active, that pass about office bearer positions between them.
“Never in the many years that I had been in the party, had we ever had any sort of contest for any position, if anybody ever did want to take a position on, it was generally ahead of the AGM by consensus.”
At the AGM, the source said there were “quite a lot of unfamiliar faces, people you wouldn't normally see at a constituency party meeting".
“From the vantage point I was sitting at, it became very obvious and clear to me that Kirsteen had arranged that. And then the way it was done, there was no speeches, there was no nothing, just straight to a paper vote.”
Another source said Sullivan’s behaviour had alienated the most active local members who could be relied on to knock on doors in the run-up to voting day.
“The activists, people that did the work, and people in the know, probably also understood that Kirsteen was just the wrong candidate.
“And she’s ended up with nobody,” they said.
“She’s ended up with people with no ability and no skills, no knowledge in a failing campaign.”
They added many activists are now campaigning in a neighbouring constituency.
They said: “I mean, she's hardly got any local people in the party working for her, if anything, people are coming over to Livingston to work for Gregor Poynton, who is an excellent candidate, somebody that's getting a lot of support from the local party.
“There's not many people working for Kirsteen. She's very divisive.”
A third source told The Herald: "Whilst I am sure we will have an excellent result across the United Kingdom next month if she takes her behaviour to Westminster that she has brought to West Lothian Council she will just cause damage to our party.”
There was little contest for Sullivan’s selection as the Bathgate and Linlithgow candidate and she received 32 votes.
The only other person in the race to become the area's candidate withdrew at the last minute.
MRP polling suggests the Bathgate and Linlithgow seat is set to go to Labour, with the SNP’s Martyn Day to miss out.
Sullivan was approached for comment.
