THE Scottish Conservatives in Argyll and Bute have been plunged into fresh turmoil after a senior Cowal councillor quit the party, declaring that the local group doesn’t have a future.
Yvonne McNeilly, who has represented the Cowal ward as a Conservative councillor for almost a decade, has formally resigned from the party and is now considering her political future.
Her departure marks the latest blow for the local Conservatives, who won a record 10 seats at the 2022 local elections. Since then, Daniel Hampsey (Dunoon) and Amanda Hampsey (Oban South and the Isles) have both defected to Reform UK.
In February 2023, South Kintyre councillor Tommy MacPherson was permanently suspended from the Conservative council group. He subsequently sat as an Independent before joining Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party earlier this year.
Councillor McNeilly’s resignation now leaves the local Conservative group with just six councillors, a dramatic decline from its post-election high and raising fresh questions over the party’s future in Argyll and Bute.
Councillor McNeilly was elected in 2017 and again in 2022 and has held a number of positions during her time as a Scottish Conservative.
Among them include the Shadow Policy Lead for Education and Vice-Chair of the Short Life Working Group on Political Management Arrangements, but much of her council work has focused on education policy, schools and children’s services.
While it’s understood that recent developments at Kilmory over a visitor levy debate may have led to Councillor McNeilly’s resignation from the group, speaking to this newspaper she explained that if the Scottish Conservatives continue on their current trajectory in Argyll and Bute, they won’t have a future.
She explained: “The party literally has no clue where it’s going and it’s a reflection of how I feel and about where people are and what people need. So that’s it in a nutshell.
“I came across to the Conservative Party in good faith. However, I ignored my intuition and at the end of the day I’m simply a New Labour gal.”
She added: “I now believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Conservative Party and the Argyll and Bute Conservative group really doesn’t have a future. They are not listening to the mood music of the people. They aren’t seeking out views of young people and asking them what they want political parties to be.
“The local Conservative group aren’t going to playgroups or school councils. They are not going to the beating heart of Scotland and asking ordinary people what they want to happen. Until they do that, the game (for them) is literally a bogey.”
In response to Councillor McNeilly’s departure, Bute ward councillor and leader of the Conservative group at Kilmory, Peter Wallace, said: “The group are obviously disappointed by Yvonne’s decision; however, we remain fully focused on what matters to people right across Argyll and Bute: holding the administration to account.
“The Scottish Conservatives will continue to fight for lower bills, keeping services local, and a better deal for our rural communities against SNP cuts and their out-of-touch policies.”
