More than 120 complaints have been made to a national watchdog regarding Tayside, Fife and Stirling councillors in the last five years. ‘This problem is getting worse’Ms Higgins spoke with The Courier after reading our previous exclusives regarding concerns of a culture of threats within councils. She said: “What you’ve reported about councillors being threatened with standards complaints for scrutinising officers really resonates. “If councillors across Scotland are too scared to ask hard questions because of threats of standards complaints, then local democracy is broken. Perth and Kinross Council is currently under investigation from the Scottish Information Commissioner over concerns it intentionally tried to evade scrutiny.