Councillor accused of betrayal

Dear Editor

I should like to reply to Councillor Alan Beveridge’s letter [Advertiser, May 25].

Mr Beveridge betrayed the SNP when he was a member and did all he could to undermine the party at every opportunity.

Now he is betraying the people who voted for him in the council elections. He misled them into believing they were voting for a genuine independent who believes in independence for Scotland.

Neither is true. A genuine independent would never have betrayed his electorate by voting with the Tories, as he did.

Many of the people who voted for him in Airdrie North are living in destitution because of Tory policies, including their massive cuts in welfare benefits for disabled people. They elected him to fight the Tories, not join them.

And how can anyone who professes to believe in independence for Scotland vote with the Tories?

Mr Beveridge speaks with forked tongue. His excuses for voting with the Tories are feeble nonsense.

He has been promised a convenorship of a minor committee as the price of his betrayal. He will now be forever in the pocket of the Tories and the Tory-hugging North Lanarkshire Labour councillors who have also sold their souls to the Tory party.

Just as the people of Airdrie North should never forget Mr Beveridge’s betrayal of them, neither should the people of North Lanarkshire forget Labour’s sell-out to the Tories.

There is only one way to stop the Tories in Scotland at the general election on June 8. That is to vote SNP. A vote for Labour these days in North Lanarkshire is a proxy for voting Tory and for betrayal.

Alex Neil, Airdrie & Shotts MSP