LABOUR councillors in Dundee were accused of performing ''political gymnastics'' yesterday after they applauded the Government's decision to send Georgian radioactive material to Dounreay.
Dundee, a long-term Labour stronghold, became a nuclear free zone in the late 1980s and is a member of the nuclear free local authority movement.
A motion by the SNP group on the council condemned the Government's actions and asked councillors to write to the Secretary of State demanding that no further shipments be accepted.
But the Labour group added an amendment, stating: ''Dundee city council applauds the action of the Government in ensuring that an amount of potentially dangerous material has been removed from a politically volatile part of the world in order that it can be dealt with safely.''
It continued: ''The incident at Chernobyl has shown that nuclear fallout recognises no borders. All responsible governments should play their part in reducing the risks associated with radioactive materials.''
Tory councillor Neil Powrie called for the anti-nuclear signs around Dundee to be taken down and replaced with U-turn signs.
Standing before one of the signs, he said: ''Not so long ago Kate McLean, the council leader, gave us all a lecture on the dangers of transporting nuclear waste. Now she is all for it. It is a breathtaking but clumsy piece of political gymnastics.''
He added: ''This year, yet again, for the 15th or 16th time, the council has paid over #1000 for membership of the anti-nuclear movement.
''They haven't even bothered to take down their daft anti-nuclear signs before abandoning their policies. Maybe we should replace these nuclear free zone signs with signs for a U-turn or even a dead-end.''
Mr John Corrigan, the SNP group leader, was angry at the defeat of his party's motion.
He said Labour had ''betrayed the people of Scotland by imposing on us the responsibility of 'safe' storage of highly volatile nuclear material. The hypocrisy of this beggars belief. Two years ago they would have screamed abuse at John Major for this action. Now they bless the dumping of this nuclear filth on Scotland's shores under the doubtful excuse that we must protect the world and in order to ingratiate themselves with Tony Blair.''
He said those responsible for the amendment ''should resign from the council and from the nuclear free local authority''.
Ms Kate Maclean, leader of the Labour-run authority, denied that the council had done a U-turn in applauding the Government.
She did concede, however, that the group's policy had ''changed slightly''.
She said: ''Since the nuclear free zone was set up, policy has changed slightly. There has not been a U-turn. It's just that in this particular case, nuclear material had to be moved to guarantee international safety. Nuclear free zones were set up to campaign against the threat of nuclear weapons.
''There were never any legal measures taken to enforce them. It was a matter of principle.''
She added: ''While I'm not happy about nuclear waste being brought here at all, in this specific case, it was a greater risk leaving the nuclear material where it was. It had to be moved.''
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