GLASGOW council leader Frank McAveety has taken legal advice after a complaint about his administration was sent to Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale.

An individual claiming to be a party councillor made a number of claims about his leadership and said morale in the city chambers was at “an all-time low”.

However, a spokesperson for McAveety described the claims are “completely untrue” and raised the prospect of legal action.

McAveety became council leader for the second time after succeeding Gordon Matheson in the post.

However, his spell in charge has been marked by tensions in his group and damaging leaks.

The Sunday Herald revealed McAveety’s allies had been critical of council chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell over a perceived lack of detail on budget cuts.

McAveety, a Labour MSP between 1999 and 2011, declined to offer his full support for her when asked by this newspaper.

The new leader also faced questions from his colleagues over the appointment of councillor Phil Bratt as city treasurer.

Bratt is perceived to be one of a number of McAveety allies handed key posts and some councillors believe the leadership has failed to give enough top jobs to women.

It can now be revealed that an anonymous letter, written on local authority headed notepaper and signed by a “concerned Labour councillor”, was sent to Dugdale directly at Holyrood.

The author provided unflattering commentary of McAveety’s leadership and made a number of claims about the mood inside the council.

The individual wrote: “Morale is at an all-time low amongst elected members and council officers.”

The provenance of the letter is unclear.

A party source said the letter was received and passed to Labour headquarters in Glasgow's Bath Street.

Picture: Kezia Dugdale, who was sent the letter

After being contacted by this newspaper, a spokesperson for McAveety said: “The allegations which have been made to you are completely untrue. Mr McAveety has taken legal advice and believes stating or repeating these anonymous allegations to be defamatory. Accordingly should the newspaper print these allegations Mr McAveety will raise the appropriate action.”

A defamatory statement is one that is harmful to the character, honour or reputation of the affected person.

The late Lord Atkin summarised defamatory material as that which would “tend to lower the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally".

McAveety’s role in front-line politics has come in spite of well-publicised controversies.

In 2004, as Labour Culture Minister in the Scottish Executive, he apologised for "inadvertently misleading parliament" after making false claims for why he was late for a parliamentary session. He later left Jack McConnell’s administration.

In 2010, he quit as convener of the Public Petitions Committee after making lecherous comments about a young woman in the gallery.

He was caught saying: "There's a very attractive girl in the second row, dark ... and dusky. We'll maybe put a wee word out for her.

"She's very attractive looking, nice, very nice, very slim. The heat's getting to me. She looks kind of ... she's got that Filipino look.

"You know ... the kind you'd see in a Gaugin painting. There's a wee bit of culture."

Susan Aitken, the SNP group leader on Glasgow City council, said: "This is an administration devoid of ideas or vision. Cllr McAveety and his colleagues should be working with the Scottish Government and all of the Council's partners to protect people in the city from the impact of the UK government's austerity cuts, but all they seem capable of doing is shouting insults from the sidelines and fighting among themselves.”

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "Scottish Labour does not comment on internal party matters."