SNP MP Alison Thewliss has hit out at the leader of Glasgow Labour after he attacked the city's financial situation – but omitted that his own party's leadership had led to a £770 million bill that it is still having to pay off.
Councillor George Redmond claimed that the Scottish Government’s commitments to local government “have fallen far short of the financial realities” faced by the country's biggest city.
It comes after Birmingham City Council, which is Labour-run, effectively declared itself bankrupt.
Writing in his latest column for the Glasgow Times, Redmond (below) said he had previously warned it wouldn’t be long before a council found itself in deep financial trouble.
He said: “The challenges faced by Birmingham are certainly sobering. A deficit that has run into hundreds of millions of pounds, cuts to essential services, and a community struggling to reconcile with its local government’s financial imprudence. Remind you of anywhere?
“The reality is that Glasgow is also on the edge of a fiscal cliff. The ever-increasing demands on housing, public transport, healthcare, and social services are stretching our coffers to an alarming degree.”
He said the time had come to “reset the relationship with Holyrood” and called on Humza Yousaf to address the “financial realities” facing Glasgow.
“We need an open dialogue, free from political manoeuvring and full of practical problem-solving.”
Thewliss re-tweeted the column on Twitter/X and said: “The utter brass neck of this. George Redmond was part of the Glasgow Labour administration which caused the equal pay scandal.
“It was the SNP who finally put things right. The only parallel here is that Birmingham Labour also created an equal pay scandal.”
Her thoughts were echoed by Keith Brown, who said: "Labour helpfully reminding us of the appalling consequences of Labour control.
"Given the misery meted out over many years by Labour to Glasgow’s female employees, it has taken an SNP Council to deal with this injustice and keep the council solvent."
The row relates to an equal pay dispute involving female city council employees that goes back to a 2017 Court of Session decision, ruling that both the council’s payment protection scheme and its Workforce Pay and Benefits Review discriminated against women workers.
Last November, Glasgow City Council agreed to pay out a total of £770 million to settle the dispute.
SNP councillor Ruairi Kelly wrote: "£35 million a year for the next 30 years to clean up Labour's pay discrimination.
"That's £35 million every year not being spent on the services and fabric of the city thanks to Labour incompetence."
The plans meant that properties, including Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum and Art Galleries and City Chambers, will be sold to a council-owned property firm before being leased back.
