A PROMINENT opponent of Scotland's controversial football laws has been selected by Labour as its candidate for a high-profile by-election.
Thomas Rannachan, who has twice stood as an independent in recent elections opposing the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, will contest Glasgow's Calton ward in the city's east end in August.
The poll is one of four in Glasgow resulting from the election of two SNP councillors as MPs in May, the retiral of a party veteran earlier this month and a Green councillor standing down due to ill health.
Calton had previously been represented by Alison Thewliss, who is now MP for Glasgow Central.
Mr Rannachan, a former civil servant and father-of-two, stood on a ticket of opposing the legislation during the 2012 local elections and again during a by-election in Govan in 2013 under the banner 'Axe The Act'.
A member of Fans Against Criminalisation (FAC), effectively an alliance of Celtic supporters' groups, Mr Rannachan said he had been approached by Labour figures after the Govan poll, claiming they were impressed by his ability to mobilise "other average guys" during the campaign.
He said he has also been working on several community projects with the two Labour councillors in the ward, Yvonne Kucuk and George Redmond, for some time.
His selection comes on the back of the Westminster campaign in the east end, where successful candidate, the SNP's Natalie McGarry, was regularly confronted about her personal views on the Offensive Behaviour Act.
Although a devolved matter, the defeated incumbent Margaret Curran expressed her opposition to the Act late in her campaign.
Following his selection last night, Mr Rannachan insisted he that while he had stood against Labour twice in two years he was not a single-issue candidate.
He also claimed he was under no illusion as to the challenge which would come with becoming a member of the Labour administration.
Mr Rannachan said: "I've stood against labour but I'm a working-class Labour guy, a socialist, and this is about me trying to do my little bit for changing things from within and the local area I live and grew up in.
"I wouldn't be remotely interested if this was somewhere else. Labour has always been opposed to the Football Act but this is about the wider issues which affect the people of the Calton.
"I don't believe this is about tribalism. People who voted for me in Govan and in 2012 will have voted the SNP on other occasions and I'm sure people who voted the SNP in May will vote for me next year.
"The campaign will be about reaching out to all in the Calton."
One SNP source, who admitted the Calton would be the most difficult of the August by-elections in the city, said the selection of Mr Rannachan could backfire.
The source added: "I'm not sure the guy knows what he's letting himself in for. he might have done some ground level community stuff and had a following over his football stance.
"His job now for the next six weeks is defending Labour's badly damaged record on the doorsteps."
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