Councillor who made 'white racism' claim joins Reform

Audrey Dempsey represents the Springburn and Robroyston ward in Glasgow

A Glasgow councillor who quit Labour after making an unsubstantiated claim about a rise in "racist attacks on white children and teachers" has joined Reform.

Audrey Dempsey was suspended from Labour in April 2024 and later quit to sit as an independent after she was accused of making racist remarks.

She is now the second Reform councillor in Glasgow, joining the council's former Scottish Conservative group leader Thomas Kerr, who quit his party in January.

Dempsey said she hoped to make "real change" with Reform as she believed the party was not afraid of having "difficult conversations".

Scottish Labour launched an investigation into Demsey's remarks last year, but a party spokeswoman said it never concluded because she left the party.

Dempsey did not provide statistical evidence for her claim about a rise in attacks, which was contained in an agenda for a recent meeting of the Labour group.

She previously told BBC Scotland News that she had asked "an honest question". It was not asked at the meeting.

Glasgow City Council said it was "not aware of any rise in incidents of this kind across the city".

When she quit, Dempsey accused the party of a "character assassination" and said she felt "deeply hurt and disappointed".

She has represented Shettleston and Robroyston as an independent councillor since then.

'Rights of working class'

Dempsey said there was "no place" for an independent in Glasgow and people had to be in a party to make "real change".

She said: "We need drastic change and we need it sooner rather than later. We can shape Glasgow Reform to suit the needs of Glasgow.

"Nothing has been changing at all. I feel other political parties are afraid of difficult conversations. They try to brush it aside.

"Reform don't shy away from these conversations."

Dempsey said she no longer believed that Labour represented the rights of working class people, claiming she "saw very little evidence of that" as a party member.

The councillor added: "I have done research on the party and Nigel Farage. Everything he says he will do – he does.

"There is no other leader can say that. He has been true to his word."

Scottish Labour's deputy leader Jackie Baillie said "Reform is a rebranded Tory party and it has no answers to the challenges Scotland faces.

"Next year the Scottish Parliament election will be a direct choice between a third decade of SNP failure and a new direction with Scottish Labour."

Speaking in Glasgow, First Minister John Swinney said Reform is attracting people with views he has "no truck with".

He said Reform was now a party of former Tories and people who supported Brexit which he said had made people poorer.

Glasgow City Council requires political parties to have at least two members for them to sit on committees.

Dempsey's defection, alongside Kerr's defection in January, means that Reform may now be represented on committees at the council.

When Kerr defected, he left just one Conservative on Glasgow City Council.

Kerr, who represents the Shettleston ward, previously said he had been "annoyed and angry" with the Conservatives for several months, accusing the party of failing to champion working-class communities like those in Shettleston.

He said the Tories focused too much on criticism of the SNP and "lacked a positive vision of centre-right conservatism".

On Wednesday, Conservative MSP Graham Simpson announced he had defected to Reform at a press conference with leader Nigel Farage.

The Central Scotland representative said it was an "enormous wrench" to leave his former party but said he hoped to "create something new, exciting and lasting" with Reform.

Additional reporting by local democracy reporter Sarah Hilly.