SCOTS Secretary Donald Dewar yesterday trumpeted Labour's spending on cash-strapped Glasgow and immediately sailed into hot water.
Mr Dewar, addressing the Urban World '98 Conference in Glasgow, announced that the Government had spent #1000m on the city since being elected.
However, his figure included every last pound allocated to every public body in Glasgow including the local authority, health board, and development agencies. Critics were quick to point out the vast majority of the money would have been spent anyway - even by a Tory Government.
SNP leader Alex Salmond dismissed the announcement as evidence that Labour's new Scottish spin doctors were doing their work. ''The reality is that Labour have imposed cuts of over #40m in local government budgets this year on top of the previous Tory cuts which have had a devastating impact on local authority services,'' he said.
''All they have done here is add up budgets that would have been spent anyway.''
Surprisingly, support for the Scots Secretary did come from Glasgow Council, the local authority which until recently had been complaining vociferously about cuts being imposed on it.
Leader, Councillor Frank McAveety, defended Mr Dewar's interpretation of the figures, saying: ''There has been additional money in terms of the new deal for schools, in terms of public realm strategy. There has been less money taken out under the local government settlement. You're never going to get me to say that we have enough money. But there has been a welcome change in direction.''
Mr McAveety, who is putting himself forward for selection as a Labour candidate for the Scottish Parliament, said there were still issues regarding social incorporation that had to be tackled.
Mr Dewar said the Government had revitalised Glasgow with a #1000m package of initiatives in education, housing, health and training since coming to power last year. Investment at this level would continue to provide assistance tailored to the city's needs.
He said: ''Since coming to power, this Government has repeatedly signalled its commitment to the regeneration of Glasgow. The Government's key policy priorities - education, social exclusion, health and unemployment - are also the major challenges facing this city.
''The investment of the Government in Glasgow is already considerable. Over #1000m of public sector funding is invested in Glasgow's agencies each year.
''In addition to this core expenditure, the Government has already directed over #150m to Glasgow for employment, education, health, and housing.''
Mr Dewar added: ''The need for a strategic approach to the regeneration of a city is clearly demonstrated in Glasgow. There is no point in tackling isolated pockets of urban deprivation without keeping sight of where the city as a whole is going.
''I have therefore asked the Glasgow Regeneration Alliance to develop a comprehensive city- wide strategy for Glasgow.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article