The leader of Glasgow City Council has admitted the rat population exploded by 25% during lockdown but insisted it was an issue affecting all major urban areas.
Susan Aitken was again forced to deny the SNP-run administration has failed to tackle cleansing issues including overflowing bins, graffiti and fly-tipping just days before the city hosts COP26.
Council chiefs have been locked in a row with the GMB trade union - which represents most refuse staff in Glasgow - for months over who is to blame for a marked increase in litter and spraypainting on city streets.
It comes as the city is preparing to host the largest political gathering in UK history, with 25,000 delegates expected to arrive next week for COP26.
MPs on Westminster's Scottish Affairs committee travelled to Glasgow today to quiz Aitken on the council's preparedness for the showpiece climate summit.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross - who currently serves as both an MP as well as an MSP - raised reports of refuse staff having to seek hospital treatment after encountering rats.
But Aitken claimed all UK cities are struggling to deal with the impact of suspended public services during lockdown.
During heated exchanges, Ross asked: "So your employees have not been taken to hospital while collecting rubbish? There are no bins overflowing? There are no rats in the streets of Glasgow?"
Aitken hit back: "I've already described the issues and challenges we as a city, in common with cities right across these islands, have experienced as a result of the pandemic."
Pressed on whether refuse staff had been taken to hospital, she added: "There was I think one, possibly two, small incidents where an employee where there was a health and safety incident and they were taken as a precaution to hospital for a very minor contact with a rat.
"I have to say it is not unheard of. And it's not been unheard of for decades that our cleansing employees occasionally come into contact with rats.
"It's not something that is unique to Glasgow. It is something that is happening right across the UK. All cities have rats.
"There is evidence just now there has been an increase of around 25% in the rat population during the pandemic. All cities are struggling with this right now.
"You could look at the headlines of any local paper and find similar issues.
"What I would say is we treat any health and safety issue with our employees extremely seriously."
Malcolm Cunning, leader of the Labour group on Glasgow City Council, said: “This is yet another gross insult to the residents of Glasgow from Susan Aitken.
“She clearly has no idea of the state of our city, with overflowing rubbish and an epidemic of rats caused by SNP cutbacks to refuse collections.
“Cllr Aitken should be embarrassed, but frankly she has no ambition for our great city."
The Record has previously reported how the leader of the GMB union had described Glasgow as "filthy" and claimed the city wasn't ready to host COP26.
Gary Smith, newly-elected general secretary of the GMB, said it was “hypocrisy” for Glasgow to stage the event when the city is “crumbling” and streets are “filthy”.
He said: “The hypocrisy around this event coming to Glasgow is staggering. Glasgow has suffered huge cuts to public spending, the streets are filthy, the infrastructure is crumbling, the public realm is in a terrible state of decay.
“Working class communities around Glasgow have been absolutely abandoned by the [ SNP -run] council.”
He said: “We’ve got filthy streets and kids going to school hungry, and here we are welcoming the world to talk about this big new future. I am deeply uncomfortable with that. We don’t even have a publicly-owned, clean public transport system in Glasgow.”
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