Jim Bollan is a councillor in West Dunbartonshire in Scotland. He is a member of the Scottish Socialist Party, and is at present its only elected representative.
He was at one time a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, then the Labour Party, and he was later the Labour group leader on Dumbarton District Council.
In 1999, he was elected as an independent for Renton and Alexandria South, defeating a Labour opponent. Shortly after this he joined the SSP. In 2003, he was re-elected, defeating a Scottish National Party opponent, but he did not have a Labour opponent. In 2007, he was the only SSP candidate to be elected.
He has not been a particularly prominent figure in the SSP at a national level, but he has been involved in the campaign against conditions in Cornton Vale women's prison, as his daughter was one of a number of women prisoners who have committed suicide there over the past few years.
He was one of the supporters of the United Left in the SSP, and stayed with it in spite of Tommy Sheridan's breakaway.
Jim Bollan has been an opponent of the Trident program for many years and has taken part in many protests against their presence at the Faslane base, including those organised by Faslane Peace Camp.[1]
In May 2009, he was suspended from the council for 9 months for alleged misconduct after he was refused permission to address the council on changes to workers terms and conditions imposed by the new single status arrangement; describing the manner in which the council drove through changes as "shite" and "a stitch up".[2]
The SSP selected him as its no. 1 candidate in West region for the Scottlsh Parliament election, 2011, however the party failed to win any list seats.
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