Ballot box: Scots will go to the polls next week to elect their councillors. Rui Vieira / PA Wire/PA Images

A Scottish Conservative council candidate did not know she was standing in the election until she saw her name on ballot papers sent to her mother to vote by post.

Jane Strang, who is contesting the Renfrew North and Braehead council ward in next week's local government elections, revealed her surprise at being a candidate on Facebook.

Last week a Conservative candidate in Shetland also said he was unaware he was standing in the election for the party.

In reply to a post on the Renfrew Unionists page urging pro-union voters to back Strang in the ward, she said: "Sorry I was off ill for a very long time and did not know I was being put forward, only found out from my mother receiving a postal vote."


Scots will go to the polls next on May 4 to elect their councillors before returning to the polling stations in June for the general election.

A spokesman for the Conservatives said: "Jane applied to become a candidate last year, and passed the vetting process at Christmas. She subsequently signed the appropriate nomination forms - as every council candidate has to - and officially became the candidate for that seat."

A spokesman for the SNP said: "This is the second Tory candidate who says that they were nominated without their knowledge - despite it being a legal requirement for candidates to sign the nomination forms themselves.

"Given that legal requirement, urgent clarity is now needed as to whether these individuals can legitimately remain on the ballot paper as Tory candidates.

"And this is on top of a candidate selection scandal that's seen three Tory candidates ditched for racism and the party forced to apologise for the behaviour of a host of others.


"Ruth Davidson has some very serious questions to answer about what exactly is going on here."

Emma McShane, a Green council candidate, said this would help explain "why Greens activists in Renfrewshire haven't seen a single Tory out campaigning."

A Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "The Scottish Conservatives should immediately clarify whether Jane Strang signed the nomination papers necessary to run for this position.

Renfrew North and Braehead candidates: