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AN SNP councillor disciplined after being filmed burning the Smith Commission report has been handed a top job with an MP.

Mags MacLaren, who was criticised by Nicola Sturgeon and suspended by the party for two months over her role in the controversy, will manage new MP Mhairi Black’s constituency

office in Paisley.

Black, 20, became the UK’s youngest MP when she beat ex-Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander in the SNP’s general election landslide.

MacLaren was one of four SNP councillors who made headlines in December by burning a copy of the Smith Commission report outside Renfrewshire Council headquarters and publishing the video on the internet.

At the time, she worked for Scottish Government Transport Minister Derek MacKay. But she is now moving to work for Black in a brand new SNP office in the Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency.

(Image: Mhairi Black)

Scottish Labour last night attacked the decision to give MacLaren the prominent job.

A spokesman said: “The SNP promised swift and tough action against councillors who burned the cross-party Smith Agreement for more powers for Scotland.

“Instead they got a slap on the wrist while one has a new job working for an SNP MP. SNP MPs will hopefully work with Labour to deliver more powers to Scotland in the Scotland Bill … and hopefully their staff will avoid setting fire to a copy of it.”

Black made headlines prior to the election after telling a crowd in Glasgow she had wanted to “put the nut” on Labour councillors at the independence referendum count.

But the 20-year-old has won admirers since being elected on May 8 with articulate

appearances on TV and radio.

That impression was cemented last week when she graduated from Glasgow University with a first class honours degree in politics.

An SNP spokeswoman last night defended the hiring of MacLaren.

She said: “The individuals concerned faced a disciplinary hearing and were suspended from the party for two months at the end of last year.”

MacLaren and three councillor colleagues – Will Mylet, Brian Lawson and her husband Kenny MacLaren – burnt the Smith report just days after it was published in the wake of

the No vote in ­September’s referendum.

A clip on YouTube shows the councillors setting fire to the report above a bin in front

of the council’s headquarters in Paisley.

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Mylet tells the cameraman: “The Smith Commission report – this is exactly what we think about it.”

MacLaren is seen smiling as she watches the document burning.

Their conduct was branded “totally unacceptable” by First Minister Sturgeon and they

were suspended from the party for two months.

They were all reinstated in February.

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