In March 2009, Steven Purcell took his party by surprise on the eve of Labour's Spring Conference by announcing that Glasgow Council staff would have a £7 minimum wage, an increase of 22% for many of them.Later that same month, Purcell called for the Council Tax to be scrapped, putting him at odds with Labour leader in the Scottish Parliament, Iain Gray.
Clearly, the leader of Glasgow Council has a habit of jumping the gun and speaking his own mind to the potential detriment of his own party and I wonder if he has done the same thing over the draft budget these past couple of days.
John Swinney hadn't even stood up in Parliament yesterday afternoon before Purcell attacked the SNP as being 'anti-Glasgow' and this charge continued after learning of the dropping of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.
Consequently, almost all Labour MPs and MSPs that have taken to the airwaves have had to face the silly question: 'Are the SNP anti-Glasgow?' when they probably have more valid points of their own they wish to make in the short air time at their disposal.
Most notable was David Whitton MSP this morning on Radio Scotland who flatly disagreed with Purcell's analysis of the situation and struggled to make clear his own views on why dropping GARL was a bad idea as his time rapidly ran out.
Callers from all over Scotland have rubbished Purcell's anti-Glasgow suggestion with one caller from Aberdeen making the pertinent point that Glaswegians receive £500 a head more than Aberdonians do.
Derek Brownlee, who has been excellent in calmly stating that budget negotiations is a 4 month process so he won't be drawn into a knee-jerk reaction, has already dismissed Purcell and Andy Kerr's oversimplification of the issue as "daft".
So I just wonder if in so nakedly playing to the home crowd Steven Purcell is not only harming his party's electoral chances outside of their West coast heartlands but also feeding disquiet amongst his political colleagues.
Personal ambition should always be tempered by prioritising teamwork and I reckon Steven Purcell still needs to find that balance with his political posturing.
UPDATE - It gets worse. Brian Adam MSP has labelled Purcell's words as an attack on the North East. It's becoming a giant Scottish game of Risk now!
Let's all settle down shall we, factionalism is what tore Scotland apart in the early 1700s. Let's not go back to those days.
Mind you, 'they may take our GARL, but they'll never take our M74 extension' would make a decent(ish) headline.
10 comments:
Ahem - you may be overlooking the slight matter of the NE by-election.
Labour hopes that by constant repitition of "anti-Glasgow SNP" people may come to believe it.
David Whitton is actually the odd one out - he is not using the mantra.
Ahem, you may well be right there Indy. I daresay a new batch of leaflets are getting printed up as I type.
But even if it does work, winning the battle but losing the war springs to mind in that case.
They've not set a good tone for themselves over this budget so far and that resonates longer and deeper than any short term gains they hope to seek.
I know. Frankly a lot of the rest of the country would say hurrah if they thought the SNP Government was picking on Glasgow!
But it's not.
There were a lot of people saying the equivalent of 'hurrah' on the radio this morning, that's for sure.
But oh dear, I've had to add an update.
It seems Brian Adam thinks Purcell is attacking the North East.
I wonder where the factionalism will end...
GARL is a luxury, widening the A9 is a necessity.
Purcell is a gobshite and Glesga canny always have it her way.
I wouldn't be surprised if some bitter Unionist is trying to place a cat among the pigeons here - Scotland won't tear itself apart - there's too much at stake this time around.......
CD
I noticd that Stephen Purcell is accusing the SNP of 'bribing' the North-East.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2530359.0.we_must_fight_this_bribe.php
Thanks for that Anon, it's tragic isn't it.
I do like how the loaded poll on the same page doesn't spit back the answer the Evening Times clearly wants:
Should Aberdeen and Edinburgh get a £3m payout from Holyrood while Glasgow gets nothing?
Yes - 74%
No - 25%
Love it.
As for the "bribe". Edinburgh and Aberdeen contribute significantly more money in business rates, it's only fair they get a little bit back. And it is just a little bit.
Jesus...the section in Friday's Evening Times where they usually display the results of the poll from the previous day simply says:
"Due to technical difficulties we are unable to bring you the results of yesterday's poll."
Unbelievable.
It's about Purcell and his profile, and it's divide and rule tactics by Labour, pitting Glasgow against the rest of the country for electoral gain.
I am just wondering why, when referring to Lyon employing his GF, there was no mention of the fact that the SNP's top MEP employs his wife?! Newbies follow example, so it seems. I certainly don't condone the first or the latter case.
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