Pot calling the kettle black, SNP anger at ‘Jobs for the boys’ row at Glasgow City Council, mouths firmly shut however on SNP Cllrs two jobbers!

Dear All

We know that Scotland is a morally bankrupt country, we know that cronyism is rife and we know at Glasgow City Council under the Labour Party; that sometimes the ‘best’ candidate for a job is always the Labour candidate or the relative of a Labour member or the associate attached to the Labour Party.

It’s a historic return to business as usual.

People shouldn’t be surprised that a former Labour government minister Tom McCabe is at the centre of a cronyism row after landing a lucrative policy role with Glasgow City Council.

They shouldn’t be surprised at all.

Graeme Hendry, leader of the Glasgow SNP Group, said:

“Glasgow Labour’s murky history is clearly not in the past after appointing a failed Labour politician to a post that is supposed to be politically neutral.

“Not only is he a former Labour minister, he also ran the council campaign in Glasgow and has aligned himself to ensure he gets a top spot.

“Earning a reported salary of just under £50,000 a year is yet another slap in the face to the people of Glasgow. The list of incompetence and jobs for the boys goes on. I’ve raised my concerns with the chief solicitor at the council.

“This post is supposed to be non-political what assurances can he make to the people of Glasgow that he will not be putting his allegiances to Labour first?”

I am not going to condemn the Labour Party for this, the reason why is that I don’t believe now that if the shoe was on the other foot the Scottish National Party would be any different in Glasgow.

What possibly upsets the SNP is that McCabe played such a key role in Labour’s successful local council election campaign in Glasgow.

The SNP was utterly humiliated as Cllr Allison Hunter of Team Sturgeon led Glasgow SNP to a crushing defeat.

In her own area where I live the SNP got one seat, Govan, seen a heartland in the Sturgeon Empire.

For everyone’s information I prior to the election thought that Adams, Thomas and Dornan plus one SNP would be the result, George Laird right again.

Despite everything being up for grabs, the SNP couldn’t wrestle control from Gordon ‘free dinners’ Matheson who rose to the challenge.

In a hustings, he did a classic ‘why why why won’t the SNP leader stand up for Glasgow?’

Catch it on youtube, its classic.

Anyway, I can’t condemn the Labour Party for cronyism not when I see employees of SNP MSPs standing in same areas that they already work in and get paid a taxpayer’s funded salary.

Effectively these people get two taxpayer funded salaries, but that's 'okay' because their SNP members.

The SNP made a great deal of Labour MSP Hanzala Malik being both in Holyrood and on Glasgow City Council saying he should step down.

It’s a different tune when it’s the Glasgow SNP clique.

In Glasgow, some people I spoke to describe the SNP campaign as a ‘cronies election’.

Although Glaswegians will not approve of this, there is nothing that can be done and to be perfectly frank I don’t see the Scottish National Party in Glasgow being any different because of their ‘two jobbers’.

McCabe will be working really hard because it gives him options, a return to his seat next Holyrood election and to shut the SNP out in 2017.

Luckily for McCabe, he will have help……… Team Sturgeon!

And less we forget, unlike some Glasgow SNP councillors, McCabe only has one taxpayer funded job to their two.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University