IT had to happen - but many of us sitting in the council chamber wished it hadn't.

 

Earlier this year, city councillors asked council chief executive George Black to prepare a report on the impact of independence on Glasgow.

He did as he was asked and presented his lengthy document to a meeting of the full council, attended by almost 80 of the city's elected representatives.

It was the day they had been waiting for. A chance to argue the impact of independence on Scotland's largest city.

A total of 21 of the great and good from Labour, the SNP and the Greens leapt at the opportunity along with the sole Tory and Glasgow First councillors.

Each of them was allowed to talk for no more than three minutes, meaning the debate lasted for more than an hour.

Council leader Gordon Matheson attempted to set a dignified tone by pointing out the independence vote would be the most important constitutional decision the public was ever likely to make .

However his fellow councillors could not resist the temptation to air party politics.

The SNP's Shabbar Jaffri used the debate to savage Mr Black's report itself, claiming it was imbalanced, lacked worthwhile evidence, was not credible and was inaccurate. And he wasn't done there.

The chief executive had suggested Glasgow could lose 64,000 jobs as a result of a 'yes' vote.

But Mr Jaffri insisted the figure had been plucked out of thin air and accused the report of scaremongering.

Labour's attack dog, Alistair Watson, was having none of it, insisting the problem was not down to Mr Black's report but to lack of detail from the SNP Government. And so it went on, and on and on.

Eventually it came time for the vote and the council's sophisticated electronic voting system decided to break down in protest.

That resulted in someone quipping: "The only way to settle this is a fight."

Fortunately, an old fashioned show of hands resolved the matter peacefully and Labour's motion to support Mr Black's report won the day.

The council meeting wasn't all political bluster and you could hear a pin drop as Labour councillor Malcolm Cunning recalled a conversation with his father during a debate on whether white poppies should be made available in the City Chambers.

In a powerful speech, he admitted he had asked his dad if he had ever pointed a gun at anyone and pulled the trigger.

Mr Cunning told the silent chamber: "He didn't reply, but the tears running down his face told their own story."

Politicians do a hard job and need to be tough but many were close to tears as the moving story drew to a close.

For many who heard it, it will be a memory which will remain long after the independence debate has faded.