THE Tories and Labour have been accused of attempting to hide their coalition on West Lothian Council days before the local election after an anonymous user removed their partnership from the local authority’s Wikipedia page.
The edit was picked up by Livingston South Green candidate Cameron Glasgow who noticed the Conservative part of the coalition formed in 2017 had been removed from a table showing the council’s electoral history, leaving it to just say “Scottish Labour Party”.
An anonymous user – thought to be from the Edinburgh area according to the IP address – had made the change just before 10pm on Sunday.
Glasgow said on social media the “low move” showed the Tories wanted to hide the fact they chose to team up with Labour to form an administration in 2017 just before voters go to the polls on Thursday.
While sharing a screenshot of the edit, he tweeted: “I know the @ScotTories don’t like to acknowledge the agreement with @ScottishLabour in West Lothian Council, but editing Wikipedia at night to hide the fact is a low move.”
In a panel down the right-hand side of the Wikipedia page, it still says only Labour form the administration and the Conservatives are under “other parties”.
Once Glasgow spotted the edit, he swiftly corrected it to make sure residents were clear on the facts before heading to the ballot box.
The edit history shows the change was made on Sunday night
Anyone can edit Wikipedia pages at any time.
Glasgow added: “Labour and the Conservatives have been in an alliance in West Lothian for around 10 years, although both are very keen to deny this.
“The joint administration have continually used the constitutional debate to block any opposition.
“Both Labour and the Tories have distanced themselves from each other in West Lothian but trying to rewrite history like this is shocking.
READ MORE: New Labour grandees in London Wetherspoons bash for '97 anniversary
“I'm glad I managed to catch this and change it back as it's important that people know the facts that voting Labour in West Lothian is a vote for the Conservatives.
“Greens will never go into any kind of agreement with the Tories. Our focus is on building a fairer, greener future and securing the first Green councillors in West Lothian.”
Although his tweet only accuses the Tories of making the edit, Glasgow told the National he felt it could've been either group attempting to cover up the alliance.
READ MORE: BBC refuses to say why it hasn't covered Tory peer Michelle Mone's London house raid
The Tories have since hit back and said a “conspiracy theory” has been conjured up and they are completely unaware of any activity on the Wikipedia page.
A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “We've not got the slightest idea what's happened on the West Lothian Wikipedia page and we won't be looking into any conspiracy theories on that front either.
“There's an important election on Thursday and we're going to focus on that."
Scottish Labour have refused to comment.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel