Council / Scott believes Manson should step down from convener role
COUNCILLOR Ian Scott has become the first elected member to publicly call for Andrea Manson to step down from her position as council convener.
It comes after Manson was disqualified from company directorship for three and a half years after the 2023 liquidation of Mid Brae Inn Ltd, which owed more than £170,000 in tax.
It was nearly two weeks ago that the news broke – first via the Daily Record and then through a press release from the UK Government’s Insolvency Service.
It is understood that a number of elected members believe Manson should resign as convener, which is the lead civic position at Shetland Islands Council.
Councillors met in private following the news almost two weeks ago and decided to allow Manson time to come to the same conclusion rather than calling publicly for her resignation.
But Scott, who represents Shetland Central, has now become the first elected member to call on her to step down.
He told BBC Radio Shetland he has no personal view but “for the reputation both of the council and for Andrea herself, I think she has to consider a step back”.
Scott said he had “every sympathy” for Manson, adding that “what’s happened in her business and private life has encroached upon her public life, and there’s no getting away from that”.
“You have to own your errors, your mistakes, your misinterpretations, you have to be responsible for them.”
Scott has not called for Manson to be removed as a councillor.
Manson previously said she was “very sad and embarrassed” by the situation, adding that the business had been a “casualty of Covid”.
She has since made no public statement on the situation and has been absent from council meetings.
The councillor – who has been involved in the Mid Brae business since the early 1980s but has not worked there since 2007 – said she only found out there was a problem when it was “too late”.
She said they offered to “work ourselves out of the problem” but this was said to be turned down.
The UK Government’s Insolvency Service released a statement about Manson in the wake of her disqualification.
Its chief investigator Neil North said Manson “holds a senior position in local government” and was elected into office by “taxpayers who will be required to pay council tax and other taxes.”
“This is a position of responsibility and respect, yet she failed to ensure her company met its own tax obligations, leaving HMRC owed more than £170,000,” he said.
Manson’s co-director at Mid Brae Inn Limited, Catherine Diane Davies, was also disqualified as a company director for three and a half years, with her ban coming into effect in November 2025.
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