January 25.
So now we are into the second week of full-page cries for reassurance
from Strathclyde Regional Council (January 22).
In its advert the council fearlessly announces that we, the electors,
can have our say. It invites us to send for a free video about how
Strathclyde works. Free? Who are they kidding? We are paying for this
pathetic advertising campaign.
I haven't seen the video, but I am certain that it doesn't show how
Strathclyde works. It won't show the extent to which council meetings
are a sham, the important decisions having already been taken behind
closed doors in the Labour Group room. It won't show the slavish
adherence to political dogma in the policy-making, despite the wide
range of needs in a region as large and diverse as Strathclyde. It won't
show the arrogance of Scotland's largest and most unrepresentative
council.
In the creation of Strathclyde, the Labour Party in Scotland was given
a golden opportunity to serve a huge chunk of the Scottish population in
a fair, open, and democratic way. Since 1979 it could have demonstrated
that it had more respect for people and democracy than the Tory
Government. Instead the people have been as betrayed by it as by the
Tories. It has abandoned all but the pretence of democracy and has
resolutely resisted any attempt at reform.
Personally, I have long believed that Strathclyde was too large, I
could have lived with that if it had been run in an open and democratic
way. Instead it has simply afforded the Labour Party an opportunity to
abuse the undemocratic nature of our outmoded and unfair political
system on a grand scale.
Who knows what system of local government the Tories will foist upon
us in their quest to rid the country of a Labour power base as monstrous
as Strathclyde. I am certain that it won't be democratic,
representative, or accountable, but does anyone outside the Labour Group
room believe Strathclyde is?
The Tories may be annihilating Scottish local government, but the
Labour Party has given them more ammunition than they could ever have
dreamed of.
Sandra Grieve,
Vice Chair,
Scottish Liberal Democrats,
2 Gardenside Avenue,
Glasgow.
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