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SNP spending cuts are real reason for Glasgow’s ‘disgusting’ streets, says former Lord Provost

Mounds of rubbish dumped underneath the M8 motorway in Glasgow - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty
Mounds of rubbish dumped underneath the M8 motorway in Glasgow - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty

Swingeing spending cuts by SNP ministers are the real reason for the “disgusting” state of Glasgow’s streets on the eve of Cop26, a former Lord Provost of the city has said as he lambasted “ridiculous” attempts to blame Margaret Thatcher.

Michael Kelly, who was Lord Provost of Glasgow in the early 1980s, ridiculed claims by the SNP’s current council leader that the Thatcher government was responsible for rats and overflowing bins.

He accused Susan Aitken of remaining silent while the SNP government at Holyrood “starved Glasgow of funds for years” and argued she did not want to “rock the boat” in case it jeopardised the party’s independence campaign.

Mr Kelly, who was a Labour councillor and later Glasgow University rector, said the result was “the disgusting state of Glasgow today” and argued Thatcher was no more responsible than the Victorians. She left power more than 30 years ago and died in 2013.

As Lord Provost, a role similar to Lord Mayor, he was instrumental in the city’s adoption of the Glasgow’s Miles Better campaign, which was credited with playing a pivotal role in the city’s cultural renaissance during the 1980s.

His intervention came as a city council union leader said refuse workers were encountering rats “every single day” and rodents were “absolutely everywhere” in the city.

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Chris Mitchell, whose GMB union represents cleansing workers, said the infestation was “absolutely horrendous” and would get even worse if the council “continues to make cuts”.

More than 120 world leaders and tens of thousands of delegates are due to arrive in Glasgow in the coming days for Cop26, the largest conference of its kind ever to be hosted in the UK.

However, widespread concerns have been expressed about overflowing bins, fly tipping and a rat infestation in parts of the city, including Nicola Sturgeon’s Glasgow Southside constituency.

Ms Aitken this week defended the state of the streets, telling the Commons Scottish affairs committee that “all cities have rats” and she had a “phone full of pictures of rubbish” from a visit to London.

She said many of Glasgow’s problems could be traced to its “post-industrial past” when the Thatcher government “abandoned, and left in neglect, communities right across the city”.

Although she admitted there were “possibly two” recent occasions when council workers had been hospitalised, she insisted they had only had “very minor contact with a rat”.

Glasgow streets - Stuart Nicol
Glasgow streets - Stuart Nicol

But Mr Kelly, who was Lord Provost between 1980 and 1984, said: “It’s ridiculous to blame Thatcher. The truth is the Scottish government has starved Glasgow of funds for years. The SNP administration in Glasgow has not dared to say a word about it.

“As a result, we see the disgusting state of Glasgow today. The SNP leader could have asked the Scottish government to ease the cuts and thereby help the city. But it’s just not on her agenda.”

He added: “The SNP does not want Glasgow to flourish – the greater goal for them is independence. They just shut up because they don’t want to rock the boat.”

Mr Mitchell told BBC Radio Scotland that two of his members had been scratched by rats and two bitten, arguing this was “quite serious” because of the diseases they could contract.

Although he said many cities have a rodent problem, he said it had been estimated there were three million rats in Glasgow and “it is only getting worse and worse and worse”.

He said 200 people a day had reported rat sightings when the GMB started a register, adding: “People walking about the streets are seeing rats, they’ll be going to their back garden and seeing rats, there’s rats in their houses, so they are absolutely everywhere.”

Dr Sandesh Gulhane, a Tory Glasgow MSP, said: “The upsurge in vermin numbers is not just unpleasant and embarrassing on the eve of Cop26, it endangers Glasgow’s hard-working cleansing staff.”

Councillor Ricky Bell, Glasgow City Treasurer, said: “Michael Kelly appears to have completely forgotten his own public views of the impact of Thatcherism in Glasgow in the 1980s.

“Just a few years ago he was describing the city during his time as Lord Provost as a ‘dirty and dismal dank place’, overrun with violence and deprivation.”

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