Monday, March 15, 2010

Glasgow Labour Party exposed, this is the Westminster theme that the SNP need to fight on to win seats in the City of Glasgow











Dear All

There is something incredibly wrong rotten to the core in the City of Glasgow.

It is the Labour Council of shame.

Now that Steven ‘bin laden’ Purcell has fled the City of Glasgow, questions are being asked of what the Labour Council was up to.

The Labour Council of shame has been creating quangos and those bodies were getting filled with people connected to the Labour Party.

The rottenness first started to see the light of day in a meaningful way with the SPT, used by the Glasgow Labour Party as a cash cow and travel agent for Labour Councillors.

Now, the spotlight light falls on a company created by Steven Purcell, City Building, they are facing an independent audit after awarding around £10 million of contracts to a firm run by Labour’s biggest Scottish donor.

City Building is run by numerous people who have connections to the Labour Party; these include Scottish Labour’s former general secretary, Lesley Quinn.

The head of City Building is Willie Docherty, his wife; Sadie Docherty is a Glasgow Labour Councillor.

And then there are the people with connections to the Labour Party on the City Board.

Why is it in Glasgow that the best person for a quango job appears to be a relative or friend of the Labour Party?

For example, Culture and Sport, another Labour controlled quango, the head is Bridget McConnell, MSP Jack McConnell’s wife!

Now, City Building set up by Labour and staff by Labour has awarded two large deals to City Refrigeration Holdings UK worth £10 million.

The company is owned by Willie Haughey who is a large donor to the Labour Party.

Haughey has bankrolled people such as Wendy Alexander, Jim Murphy and Tommy McAvoy as well as being a Steven Purcell supporter.

The extent of Haughey’s influence is reason for an independent investigation, why did council employees say on policy issues;

“Oh I will speak to Willie Haughey about that. He will be interested.”

He isn’t an employee or elected member of the City Council.

Now, the SNP and Tories are calling for an independent audit by Audit Scotland but a wider investigation is needed.

SNP MP John Mason said;

“The scale of these contracts is such that they simply cannot be brushed under the carpet. We must have a full and independent audit without delay.”

City Building is one of a half dozen quangos set up under Purcell under his ‘reign of hell’.

It is time the Scottish Government had the courage to set up a taskforce and investigate Glasgow City Council and how it operates given the disquiet.

If the SNP are serious about winning Westminster seats in Glasgow, then it is time to fight for Glasgow and its people.

This should be one of the themes that SNP PPC should be fighting on as part of their bids to be elected to Westminster.

It will not be Trident or Choo Choo lines that will resonant with the people of Glasgow but SNP MPs standing up for the people against the likes of Purcell and Co at Glasgow City Council.

If the SNP are serious about winning, this is the issue.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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