AN SNP councillor has claimed he has been “blacklisted” by the UK Government after he was blocked from taking up an influential European Union committee place by a Conservative minister.

Chris McEleny has taken his former employer, the UK Government’s Ministry of Defence, to an employment tribunal over a decision to revoke his security clearance and suspend him from his job as an electrician after he stood for SNP depute leadership.

The leader of Inverclyde Council’s SNP group was chosen by councillors to represent Scotland as part of the UK delegation of the Committee of Regions (CoR), a collection of 350 politicians from across the EU, including 25 from the UK, who rule on EU legislation implemented at a local level.

McEleny’s appointment was approved by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon but later blocked by Lord Callanan, a Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU).

In a letter signed by Callanan, and seen by the Sunday Herald, he approved the appointment of Labour councillor Kevin Keenan and Conservative MSP Maurice Golden but denied McEleny a place because his “use of social media has attracted public criticism on a number of occasions in relation to his language and the perception of inciting sectarian tensions”.

McEleny apologised in 2015 after posting a lyric on Facebook from a song about IRA member Joe McDonnell. In the post criticising a House of Commons vote for airstrikes in Syria he wrote the lyric “and you dare to call me a terrorist, while you look down your gun”.

Callanan’s letter about his decision to block McEleny’s appointment to CoR added: “For the avoidance of doubt, this is not connected to Councillor McEleny’s views on Scottish independence…nor in relation to his personal legal dispute with his former employer”.

Callanan said the SNP should now submit another nomination in place of McEleny, however he is considering legal action.

McEleny said: “At the end of the day I was democratically elected by constituents, then by councillors across Scotland, and then it was approved by the First Minister of Scotland. By making this decision the UK Government is effectively saying it doesn’t matter who the people of Scotland elect if they disagree. I think it’s a version of a political blacklist and we’ll be looking at potential legal options to challenge that.”

When asked about his social media conduct, McEleny added: “I said something several years ago on social media and apologised for it straight away. I have stood for SNP depute leadership twice since then.”

The councillor was defeated in the depute leadership contests in 2016, by Angus Robertson, and again this year by Keith Brown.

SNP MP for Inverclyde Ronnie Cowan has also accused the UK Government of blacklisting McEleny over his dispute with the Ministry of Defence.

Cowan said: "This reeks of desperate politicking by the UK government – and is effectively an effort to blacklist.

"The obvious and well documented background to this is that Councillor Chris McEleny has a live case against his former employer, the Ministry of Defence.

"UK government departments are known to have sight and the option of a veto on such appointments to the Committee of Regions. Councillor Chris McEleny's commitment to his constituents in Inverclyde is of the highest standard and his enthusiasm for the area and for Scotland would be a great asset to the CoR."

McEleny’s social media conduct was also called into question in February when he called the leader of Inverclyde Council, Stephen McCabe, a “d*ck” on Twitter, following an angry exchange over the council’s budget.

McEleny later refused to apologise and insisted McCabe’s behaviour was entirely consistent with being a d*ck.

He added: “I think the guy has sent me something like over 100 messages late at night over the past while on Twitter. It’s certainly the sort of behaviour that the colloquialism implied.”

Two weeks ago, the Sunday Herald revealed McEleny has secured an employment tribunal victory after a judge decided his support for Scottish independence was “protected” under equality legislation.

Judge Frances Eccles ruled that sovereignty and “self-determination” are “weighty and substantial aspects of human life” and the merits of McEleny’s case against the MOD can now go forward to a full hearing.

When the UK Government was asked about the decision to deny McEleny a place on the CoR, a spokesman said: “We expect the highest standards of behaviour and conduct from those in public life, as outlined in our response to the Committee on Standards in Public Life in March 2018. For this reason, we did not approve the nomination of Councillor Christopher McEleny as a member of the UK’s delegation on the Committee of the Regions.

“Councillor McEleny’s use of social media has attracted public criticism on a number of occasions in relation to his language and the perception of inciting sectarian tensions. We have invited the Scottish Government to submit another SNP nomination in place of Councillor McEleny. This will help ensure the UK delegation continues to represent the local political spectrum of the United Kingdom.”

An MOD spokesman added: “It would be inappropriate to comment on the details of an ongoing employment tribunal.”