Susan Aitken, SNP group leader in Glasgow City Council, talks Glasgow down as we enter the local government election campaign (The ex-Labour Party member who plans to take Glasgow from the SNP, News, March 26).
Her comments shine a negative light on Glasgow's reputation. To say our city is “not liveable” is insulting to the people of Glasgow. In last year's Glasgow Household Survey, 94 per cent said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with our city as a place to live. Glasgow also ranks third-best city in the UK for quality of life.
Ms Aitken makes the ridiculous remark that “we have to be one of the great cities of Europe”. Glasgow is already one of the great cities of Europe.
In Langside, where Ms Aitken is currently a councillor, the Labour administration have invested over £7m in local primary schools; add in the other schools following the ward boundary changes, and that figure reaches £11 million.
Our party will put our city first and fight against Scottish Government cuts to Glasgow’s budget. Ms Aitken cites her left-wing credentials but has cheered on £377m of cuts to our city’s budget by her party over the last decade.
Glasgow has one of the fastest-growing economies outside of London. We’ll help the city’s economy to continue to grow by creating 50,000 new jobs and increasing city businesses by 1,000. We’ve also committed to build 25,000 new homes and will cut Glaswegians’ energy bills by establishing a Glasgow Energy Company.
For young people and families we’ll deliver 30 hours a week free childcare for every three and four-year-old. The benefits of this would be enormous value to Glasgow communities. It allows both parents to work and have time for home and leisure activities. For children it provides not only education, but the ability to learn social skills and be active with other children.
That’s just some of the positive pledges for Glasgow we’ve outlined in our manifesto. So I’ll leave the SNP to talk Glasgow down while I’ll continue to campaign in Langside on our positive message which will move Glasgow forward and put Glasgow first.
Steven Livingston
Labour Candidate, Langside Ward
Glasgow City Council Election 2017
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