AN SNP councillor has been dumped by his party for May’s local council elections.

A senior party source has confirmed that as of this week Vincent Waters is not on the Scottish National Party’s list of approved candidates for East Renfrewshire.

This comes as The News can exclusively reveal that Kirsten Oswald’s former election campaign manager had used “zero hour” contracts in his now liquidated private company, contrary to the SNP’s election manifesto.

Councillor Waters is also listed as living at an East Renfrewshire Council homeless unit in Thornliebank, despite having an registered interest in three properties, two of which are thought to be privately owned and one of which is a large house on Carlibar Road in Barrhead where he lived with his family.

Cllr Waters dramatically quit the Eastwood’s SNP branch in late 2015 amidst claims of bullying and intimidation, just as members moved to vote on his removal from the branch. Sources at the time said he “jumped before he was pushed”.

He also failed in his bid to oust former West of Scotland MSP Stewart Maxwell and become the SNP’s candidate for the Eastwood seat in last year’s Holyrood elections, after the party HQ rejected his application.

A source who asked to remain anonymous said: “Many people in the party do not want to be associated with him, and it is common knowledge that many of the other elected councillors in the authority are not his biggest fans.”

Vincent Waters has been an elected councillor representing Giffnock and Thornliebank since the previous local council elections in 2012. He serves as East Renfrewshire Councils’ convener for the environment, and also sits as a member of the council’s cabinet.

He also has seats on the education appeals committee, education committee and teaching staff appeals committee.

Councillor Waters recently changed his Twitter handle from @waterssnp to @watersfreed, however he retains the SNP logo on his profile picture and continues to retweet SNP related media.

In addition to being deselected by his party, it has also come to the attention of The News that cllr Waters’ private company AllClean Scotland used “exploitative” zero hour contracts. The company, which was dissolved in October last year, employed at least one member of its cleaning staff on the controversial contracts which mean employers are not required to guarantee a minimum amount of hours a week for an individual.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has branded the use of the contracts “demeaning and exploitative” in the past.

Companies House lists councillor Waters and his wife Deborah Waters as being directors of the company, and however the contracts seen by The News are signed off by himVincent Waters. He was also listed as being the majority shareholder.

The signed contract states: “The employee shall have no set or minimum amount of hours to work per week, but will be available to work between 8am and 8pm each day.”

Combating the use of zero hour contracts was one of the key points of the SNP’s 2016 election manifesto.

It stated: “We will continue to crack down on inappropriate zero hours’ contracts.

“We will ensure companies engaging in unacceptable practices like blacklisting, exploitative zero hours contracts or tax evasion, do not benefit from public procurement.”

This was the same election in which cllr Waters had attempted to become a candidate for the SNP.

At the time of going to print, has not provided a comment on his use of zero hour contracts.

He acknowledged an enquiry from The News and asked to set up a meeting between The News and himself - however he has not responded to any communication since that time.

He was also asked to urgently respond to his deselection.

However despite several attempts via email, phone and social media, he has not responded.

The News also contacted the SNP for comment over Cllr Waters’ use of zero hour contracts and his deselection, however at the time of going to print there has been no response.