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Sunday, 5th September 2010You are in: Home > News > TRADERS URGE VOTERS TO REJECT LABOUR IN GLASGOW EAST AFTER DODGY LAND DEAL UNCOVERED
TRADERS URGE VOTERS TO REJECT LABOUR IN GLASGOW EAST AFTER DODGY LAND DEAL UNCOVERED
On the eve of the Glasgow East by election, traders of Paddy’s Market in the city have expressed outrage as a Freedom of Information Act request has uncovered firm evidence that leading Labour councillors have misled the council and the public over a lucrative land deal. Traders, most of who live in the Glasgow East constituency are urging voters not to back Labour in tomorrow’s by election.
Councillor George Ryan who was originally tipped be Labour's candidate in the Glasgow East by election until he failed to turn up for the selection meeting earlier this month, was the councillor responsible for presenting a factually incorrect and misleading report regarding the land deal which would see the closure of Glasgow's 150 year old Paddy's Market.
Council minutes as well as emails show that claims by Councillor Ryan in his report that the landowners would be prepared to give the council a much reduced rate, have been revealed to be incorrect. Documents also reveal that leading Labour Councillors were also fully aware of the inaccuracies when the report were presented to Council but failed to have the information corrected.
The report, which Councillor Ryan presented to council, recommended that the council give the go ahead for negotiations commence with the landowners which would see the council to take over the prime development land. However, the documents revealed under FOI show that a number of Labour councillors and officials were already well on the way to closing a deal without any authority to do so.
One trader said:
"I have been a Labour voter all of my life but in view of the underhanded and dishonest way in which Labour have attempted to pull the wool over everyone's eyes; I won't ever be voting Labour again. If they can do this sort of thing to everyday people, the very people they claim to represent, then Labour cannot be trusted at any level of government."
Spokesperson for Paddy's Market traders and tenants, Brian Daly said:
"There has been a sustained approach by some Labour councillors and council officials to make unsupported claims both in council and through the media locally in an attempt to gain public and council support for their project.
"The whole affair has been one of misrepresentation of the facts to the public, the media and to the council itself. We live in a democratic society yet, some of those who we trust to carry out duties on our behalf have chosen to make decisions and disregard the wishes of the electorate.
"Labour councillors refused to share vital information with other elected members from other political parties who also represent this area or include them in the vital stages of the decision making process.
"Elected members who behave in such a way should and must be held fully accountable for their actions, and whilst it would be inappropriate for me to pre-empt the findings of the Standard Commission investigation, I believe the evidence against those Councillors involved is pretty damning. We won't put up with the bully boy tactics of the council any longer."
Documentation also shows that eleven Labour councillors, including the Council leader, Steven Purcell, failed to declare possible conflicts of interests at a meeting which decided on whether or not the land deal should be negotiated.
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