Glasgow council under fire over 'breach' of ethical events policy

It comes four years after the Glasgow Conventions Bureau removed the area of defence from the key sectors it is focussing on following council intervention in the wake of "legitimate" concerns over a military fair staged at the SEC five years ago.

Promotional material for the latest event to be staged at the SEC Armadillo states that experts would be on hand to talk on "the opportunities for the manufacturing and supply chain sector to engage with the aerospace, defence and maritime sector".

Among those speaking at the event organised by Dublin-based Premier Publishing and Events are two representatives of UK’s Defence and Security Accelerator (Dasa) who will be promoting a multi-million pound fund to Scottish businesses to find, fund and fast track innovative ideas that might benefit HM Armed Forces and National Security.

READ MORE: Cost of Scotland's growing army of civil servants soars by £600m

Anis Mourad, DASA's access to mentoring and finance partner and Debra Carr its innovation partner are due to talk about how the UK Government body supports the defence supply chain in Scotland.

DASA staff based in Scotland have agreed funding for 113 Scottish projects worth £19m. And the duo are due to discuss the opportunities available through this for Scottish businesses.

Five years ago research into fully autonomous drone weapons by the campaign group Drone Wars UK stated that Dasa was funding research for developing weapons able to kill without direct human input.

It comes four years after a row surfaced over the staging of an arms fair in Glasgow which saw dozens of firms from around the world gather to promote defence and security equipment.

The city council said at the time that the Undersea Defence Technology event had previously been held in Glasgow and stressed conferences and exhibitions are worth £130 million to the local economy each year.

A number of activists groups and peace organisations staged demonstrations at the Scottish Events Campus with Church of Scotland representatives leading a prayer calling for peace.

Two people were arrested for minor public order offences during the demonstration.

Glasgow City Council and its events arm Glasgow Life faced criticism for appearing to support the fair.

The council's arms-length leisure services charity Glasgow Life added its support to the event, lending its 'People Make Glasgow' city branding to the promotional material.

In the wake of the row, the use of the People Make Glasgow branding from the event was removed.

The council leader Susan Aitken said at the time that the Glasgow Convention Bureau had been asked to re-examine its policies and procedures over support associated with winning convention and conference business for the city.

She said the policy would examine "wider strategic aims including being a human rights-supporting city and other ethical concerns".

The following year, David McDonald, then deputy council leader and chairman of Glasgow Life, the arms-length organisation which runs culture and leisure services for the local authority told campaigners of the changes that had been made to remove the area of 'defence' from key sectors for attracting conferences.

He said it was the result of the re-examination of policies and procedures "with regard to any support associated with winning convention and conference business for the city, so that, in addition to financial and economic criteria, the policy will examine wider strategic aims including being a human rights-supporting city and other ethical concerns"

He had met staff at the Glasgow Convention Bureau, which is part of Glasgow Life, to discuss the changes.

The changes also involved ensuring that where a conference is considered to have "any reputational risk to the city" there would be "multi-stage approval process involving Glasgow Life and the city council".

He added: During this process the following points will be considered. What is the focus of the event and might the subject matter or title be controversial or present the risk of reputational damage to the city or city council?"

He said that the decision to remove the branding of support for the Undersea Defence Technology event has been based on "legitimate concerns" expressed by the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and others.

And in telling campaigners about the changes he said: "I hope that you can see... that we have take the concerns you have raised seriously. I hope you are assured by the steps we have taken to date."

Campaigners are angry that the establishment of the latest event associated with defence is a breach of the policy.

The city council say that while it owns the SEC, neither it or Glasgow Life have been involved in bringing the event to Glasgow and has not extended any support to the event. A spokesman said that the booking was a matter for the SEC.

Sean Clerkin of the Scottish Peace Network said: "The council appear to have broken their promises made in 2019 that they would not host a defence sector event in Glasgow after the furore generated over the UDT arms fair in 2018.

"This is a betrayal to the citizens of Glasgow and we are demanding that this event is cancelled and no more events of this kind are put on in Glasgow."

Melanie Scott of the Edinburgh Campaign Against Arms Trade who was "horrified" by details of the new event has lodged concerns with the council and added that its response "sounded like disingenuous doublespeak".

“It is extremely disappointing that the council are hosting another showcase of militarism in the city as it is completely incompatible with the values that the people of Glasgow hold," she said.

"We cannot allow this exhibition to go ahead unchallenged and if the conference organisers, Glasgow City Council, or the Scottish Events Campus do not end this event then people across the country will need to take action.”

Emma Cockburn, Scotland co-ordinator of the CAAT added: “It was just five years ago big promises were made that there would be policy changes to ensure that no more arms fairs would be hosted in our city and yet now the Scottish Events Campus, a jewel in the council’s crown, is being used yet again to promote the arms industry in Scotland.

"At a time when the council leaders are being celebrated for standing against the UK government’s barges housing people seeking asylum on the Clyde, we need council leaders, especially those who sit on the board of the Scottish Events Campus, to cancel this event immediately and stand by their commitments from 2018 to fully champion peace and human rights and not allow the arms and military industries to tighten its grip on our city.”

In promotional material for the event through online fliers and its website, the organisers state: "Scotland’s aerospace and defence industry is one of the most vibrant and successful sectors of UK business. Recognising the opportunities for growth amongst companies which have a key role to play in the 21st century marketplace, the industry and Scottish Government have worked closely to develop and deliver a strategy aimed at maximising Scotland’s potential in the sector.

"A number of factors have combined to position Scotland as a key player and world-famous manufacturers such as BAE Systems, Spirit Aero Systems (Europe) Ltd and Rolls Royce are already based in Scotland alongside specialist companies such as Thales and Raytheon and major names in MRO [maintenance, repair and operations] including British Airways, GE [General Electric] and the Goodrich Corporation."

Campaigners say the likes of Thales, Raytheon and BAE Systems were all significant arms dealers.

A council spokesman said the local authority did not say that no defence events would take place.

He said the issue being addressed by Mr McDonald was not a policy for events held at the SEC – which he said Glasgow Life has no say in. He said he was commenting on a policy to scrutinise support given by Glasgow Life to encourage conferences and conventions to locate in Glasgow.

He said there would have been no point at which that approval process could have been used.

A spokesman said: “Neither the council or Glasgow Life has any involvement in the event.”

Premier and the SEC was approached for comment.