STEWART PATERSON

Political Correspondent

THE SNP’s campaign to win control of Glasgow City Council is all about independence, Frank McAveety said.

The Labour council leader said instead of offering solutions to Glasgow’s problems SNP councillors are interested in stoking up grievance to bolster the independence campaign.

With just over a week until the council elections Mr McAveety said the SNP in the city take their orders from the national party leadership because the goal is not improving Glasgow but winning independence.

He said: “The running of Glasgow is a massive responsibility and standing up for the city should be the number one priority of anyone who seeks to be a representative.

“Over the last ten years they have demonstrated they have only been listening to the decisions being made by their ministers in Edinburgh rather than the interests of Glasgow.”

He said on big recent decisions at the council there was no questions asked or policy proposals made by SNP councillors on regeneration for Easterhouse and wider housing priorities across Glasgow.

He said: “Demonstrably in terms of the day to day business of the council they are not holding anybody to account with proper scrutiny and they are also taking their instructions from somebody else.”

That somebody, he said, is the First Minister.

Mr McAveety added “I’ll be blunt about it. I was shocked when I became leader the amount of times the SNP just want to defer decisions. It’s the party of delay and continuation in the same way it’s the party that continues to want to have another referendum.

“They don’t want to make a decision they want to just try and find whatever people are agitated about to try and get them round their one issue that one day enough people are angry about things that they will give them the benefit of the doubt on the one thing they really care about.”

That one thing, he said, is independence.

Susan Aitken, SNP group leader, said she will not hesitate to stand up for Glasgow and the campaign is about local not constitutional issues.

She said: “The manifesto we are standing on doesn’t mention independence once. It’s a manifesto for Glasgow.

“It doesn’t talk about the constitution at all because that’s not what we are standing for . We are standing to be local councillors and we are standing to be the administration of Glasgow City Council.

she said it was a set of policies about taking Glasgow forward.

Ms Aitken said there was no interference in the campaign or policy decisions form The Scottish Government ministers or SNP leadership.

She added: “It has been entirely written and designed by the pasty ion Glasgow led by myself and my depute, David McDonald, but worked with other colleagues in the city.

Not once has the First Minister or the First Minister’s office sought to interfere or to tell us what to say.”

So much so, she said, that when the manifesto was launched earlier this month it was the first sight of it Nicola Sturgeon had.

Ms Aitken said she would also not shirk from speaking up for the city with the SNP Scottish Government when it is necessary.

She said: “We will work in partnership with the Scottish Government and if we think Glasgow is getting a raw deal and if we think we are being held back in achieving some of our ambitions by things the Scottish Government is doing or is failing to do then I won’t hesitate to have those conversations. I wont hesitate to talk to Nicola or to Derek Mackay or to John Swinney or anybody else and say ‘C’mon guys this has to change’.”