MSP Angela Constance promised to raise the issue of Simon Crane’s membership of East Calder community council.
MEMBERS of a new nationalist organisation formed after the “UK’s most dangerous group on the British far-right” splintered are members of Scottish community councils, we can reveal, prompting calls for an urgent investigation.
This is not the first time community council seats have been targeted by far-right activists. In 2019, The Ferret revealed that the New British Union – modelled on Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists – planned to put candidates in Scotland. In 2020, The Ferret infiltrated a neo-Nazi chat group where someone using the name Gordon Freeman made racist comments and references to Nazism. Some in the group posed with weapons, shared a bomb-making manual, quoted a mass murderer and said members should kill “for the greater good”.
Members of the chat group also discussed starting an activist group. When names for the group were debated, Freeman warned against the name making reference to National Socialism – or Nazism. On May 7, a report in The Herald made reference to HNH’s revelations about Gardner. A spokesman for the community council told the newspaper they were “shocked by the allegation that one of its new members has been associated with a far-right organisation”.
“Clearly membership of a far-right organisation is incompatible with the aims and ambitions of any community council. These hard-working organisations are there to represent and promote the views of all elements of our communities, not select sections.” The Ferret understands that Crane still sits on the community council, but it is unknown how long he has done so. The community council did not respond to requests to comment and has not published minutes since August 2019.
On September 26, the group claimed to have six community councillors, with the latest in North East Scotland. In a subsequent video, posted on October 5, Smith claimed that his group had three councillors in Scotland, and three in England. The Homeland chairman also claimed to be a former community councillor.said: “Many will find it concerning and chilling that activists from a reactionary and bigoted group like Homeland could have any influence in their communities.
“Simon Crane and Dave Gardner are upstanding members of their local communities who have served their neighbourhoods as dedicated community councillors for several years without incident.
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