4
Is it Leith no more?
By PHYLLIS STEPHEN AND STEPHEN RAFFERTY
THE FIRST SNP COUNCILLOR to lead The
City of Edinburgh Council has launched a
blistering attack on what he calls the
“underhand” coalition governing Scotland’s
capital.
In a candid interview, Adam Nols-McVey,
who last month stepped down as SNP leader,
alleged that while the minority Labour
administration publicly denies being in a
formal coalition, behind the scenes they are
working hand-in-glove with the Liberal
Democrats and Conservatives to push through
policies.
He told The Edinburgh Reporter: “The dogs
on the street know it’s a stitch up and that when
it comes to budget time, appointments, major
decisions - they all vote together as a Labour-
Tory-Lib Dem coalition.”
He accused the three parties of deliberately
trying to “hoodwink” Edinburgh residents
about the true nature of their relationship. As
an example, he cited the council leader,
Labour’s Cammy Day, repeatedly refusing to
specify which party is accountable for the
controversial short-term lets policy, with
responsibilities split between Tory and Lib
Dem conveners.
“They are not being honest with the people
of Edinburgh about how decisions affecting
them are being taken,” McVey claimed. “There
is a problem with the democratic functioning
of the council.
“It’s this dishonesty that I think breeds
mistrust, and also just looks like bare nakedgameplay. For the Lib Dems to pretend that
they are not in coalition while receiving
£100,000 pounds of additional salary
allowances for being in administration, looks
ridiculous to people. That like somebody’s
trying to tell everyone that the sky is purple
when they can look outside and see that it’s
actually blue.”
The former leader also slammed Labour
politicians for lacking the “dedication” to
properly scrutinise officials and drive change
on major issues like nursery provision and
damp/mould in council housing.
He added: “It is patently obvious to everyone.
Joan Griffiths (education convener) is a nice
person, but is essentially asleep at the wheel
and is doing nothing to challenge officers who
take decisions ‘off table’.By PHYLLIS STEPHEN
THE REMOVAL OF LEITH from the
name of the two new Holyrood
constituencies proposed to replace
Edinburgh Northern and Leith “must
be reviewed” according to former
councillor Rob Munn.
Rob was a Leith councillor for a
number of years, and being
passionate about the port, he is
keen that The Scottish Government
keeps Leith in the constituency
name as it reviews election
boundaries.
But the current proposal is to
have two new election areas called
Edinburgh Northern and Edinburgh
North Eastern - removing any
mention of Leith.
Rob explained to The Edinburgh
Reporter that this is a rerun of a
2004 situation when he was
involved in a campaign to have the
name retained in the title of the UK
election area. At that point the
Assistant Commissioner was
persuaded (as he had also been a
decade before) that Leith should be
incorporated and now the UK
constituency is called Edinburgh
North and Leith. The new boundary
and name were first used in the
2005 election.
Deidre Brock MP for Edinburgh
North and Leith has set up a petition
to save the name. She said: “Leith is
a historic town with a rich and
vibrant history. For decades, our
name has been included in the
Scottish and Westminster seats,
reflecting our distinct identity and
significance. However, recent
proposals by the Scottish Boundary
Commission threaten to literally
delete Leith from the landscape.
“Leith is a centre of tech, film,
literature with an increasingly active
port that is deeply intertwined with
the history of Scotland. The
inclusion of “Leith” in our
constituency name is not just
symbolic; it represents our shared
past and community’s identity.
“The proposed change by the
Scottish Boundary Commission
would not only disregard our
historical significance but also
undermine our sense of place and
community now.
“We urge the Scottish Boundary
Commission to reconsider theirproposal and retain “Leith” in the
name of the new Edinburgh North
Eastern Scottish Parliament
constituency.”
SNP MSP for Edinburgh Northern
and Leith Ben Macpherson said: “In
its current review, Boundaries
Scotland’s revised proposals would
split my current Edinburgh Northern
and Leith Constituency across two
new constituencies.
“Dropping “Leith” as a description
is a mistake and it should be added
back into the name for theconstituency that would include
Leith. Leith’s distinct identity and
history matters. I encourage Leithers
to help feed this message back to
those considering these Scottish
Parliament boundary changes.
Please support the petition, respond
to the consultation, and encourage
others to do so too.”
Deidre Brock added: “I don’t know
what Boundary Scotland were
thinking, but they will have to think
again about wiping Leith from the
electoral map at Holyrood.“Leith has always been a distinct,
diverse community with a rich
history and heritage of its own - we
must make sure this remains the
case for future generations.
“Previous attempts to absorb
Leith into Edinburgh have never
gone down well. I expect the
community will stand together
again to protect Leith’s unique
identity, and I’ll be right there with
them. I will be making my
objections clear and urge others to
do the same.” POLITICS
John Preece“Decision are getting rubber stamped by
Labour politicians who are not even bothering
to read the briefings that are put in front of
them. And it’s being nodded along with the
Tories and Lib Dems who are going along with
it because they don’t want to upset the
applecart.
“I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say that they
can’t be bothered to drive forward change.
We’re seeing this day in day out right across
committees, with Labour politicians who can’t
really sit still long enough to actually get into
the issue and create the right solutions
“So officers are creating the solutions they
think are best and sometimes they might be
right - but often we are finding they’re not
driving forward with the change that I think
people of Edinburgh would expect. The two
other parties are quite happy with things the
way they are regardless of how terrible the
outcome is for people in Edinburgh, so just
vote along with it time after time after time.”
McVey, who led the SNP group for seven
years, will continue to represent Leith from the
backbenches and is looking forward to
spending more time with his young family, but
vowed to support the next leader in continuing
to hold the administration’s “feet to the fire”
from the opposition benches.
In 2019 when he and his partner welcomed
their adopted sons he became the first
councillor to take paternity leave. It is family
life which he now cites as the main reason for
taking a back seat. He is enjoying spending
more time with the “two wee bundles of chaos”
doing pickups and drop offs and has a role as
parliamentary assistant to Tommy Sheppard.
The next group leader will be either former
transport convener Lesley Macinnes and
Westminster hopeful Simita Kumar.Stepping down
with broadside
at ‘coalition’
Leith has a long history of
fighting its corner