A campaigning Labour councillor will challenge an ethics watchdog in court tomorrow after she stood up to teacher cuts in Glasgow.
Fiona Higgins will challenge a misconduct probe into her – a case her backers say is about protecting free speech.
She is being funded by rock star and Gun drummer Paul McManus.
Tuesday’s hearing at the Court of Session comes after Higgins made public comments about proposals by Glasgow council to cut hundreds of teaching posts.
The former teacher claimed the public had been misled over the plans, but her comments led to a complaint by former council finance chief Martin Booth.
The complaint claimed the post was “disrespectful, discourteous and public criticism of a council officer”.
Higgins’ court challenge against the Standards Commission for Scotland centres on how evidence was handled in her case.
The Commission refused to allow some of her evidence, which was dismissed as “irrelevant”, to be heard in her defence.
Her legal team has launched judicial review proceedings after claiming she was being denied a fair hearing.
On X, Higgins wrote: “Tuesday, my case against the Standards Commission comes before the Court of Session.
“It asks a critical question of Scottish democracy in 2026: Can elected representatives challenge power, present relevant evidence and still expect a fair hearing?”
In another post, the councillor for the Canal ward wrote: “Free speech is critical for a healthy democracy – and enhanced free speech rights for elected representatives exists for a very good reason. We must be free to speak in the public interest.”
McManus, who is a major Scottish Labour donor, said recently that he is backing Higgins because he believes she has been a victim of an abuse of power.
He also said the case raised issues relating to free speech.
“The irony is this is about free speech,” he said. “Yet the system appears to be preventing her from even putting forward the evidence she needs to defend herself.”
He also accused public authorities of “trying to crush individuals”.
View 2 ImagesPaul McManus
Higgins has received support from former SNP Health Secretary Alex Neil.
He said of the saga: “Totally unacceptable that democratically elected councillors can be penalised for doing their democratic duty. Officials have far too much power over elected officials in Scottish local government.”
Scottish Labour leadership contenders have also backed Higgins:
MSP Joe Fagan said: “Fiona Higgins’s case raises important questions about the standards system for councillors and for our local democracies. I will follow Tuesday’s hearing and consider the court’s judgement carefully.
“The purpose of the system should be to uphold good standards of conduct and we have to be vigilant against overreach.”
Fellow Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “Councillor Fiona Higgins has been badly treated. People rightly expect their elected councillors to stand up for truth and justice. How Scotland is being governed under the SNP must change.”
In 2024, emails released under freedom of information legislation showed how Booth recommended altering the wording of the budget proposal relating to teachers.
He wrote: “Given our experiences last year when a leaked option led to a reaction from SG, I thought it might be safer to soften the wording into reform and transformation rather than pure teacher reductions while maintaining a clear narrative that this will require significant staffing reductions.”
This email triggered a response from the council’s former education director, Douglas Hutchison, who highlighted a lack of transparency.
“Thanks Martin, in terms of the wording, it is generally fine but I have an issue with the word transformation which suggests this is something positive which it isn’t, I prefer reform,” he wrote.
“Its difficult to agree something that doesn’t have on the face of it the potential staff loss and so lacks a degree of transparency.”