Council leader is blasted for tweet
Labour call for John Ross to apologise for comment
The SNP leader of South Lanarkshire Council has come under fire for a tweet he sent on Friday night.
Councillor John Ross was responding to a tweet about comments made by Jackie Baillie MSP which suggested she was a “proven liar”.
Replying, Councillor Ross wrote: “Jackie Baillie, epitomises everything that the labours branch office in Scotland stands for Awa an bile yer he’d wuman ye talk pure mince.”
The tweet was immediately seized upon by Twitter users, with some people suggesting it was sexist.
One person wrote: “Wuman”... why even bring her gender into it? It’s hard enough for “wuman” to be seen as equals across the board.”
Another said: “Are you really a council leader John, you should be ashamed?”
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservative group said:: “These comments are clearly disrespectful and fall beneath the standard people would expect of the leader of the council.
“Politics has become increasingly divisive and the sad fact is almost everyone who stood in recent elections experienced abusive comments on social media.
“This puts good people off taking part in our democracy and it is simply unacceptable.”
East Kilbride Central North Labour councillor Joe Fagan said yesterday: “This is just the kind of petty and partisan response to fair criticism that cost the SNP half a million votes last month.
“This is a time for mature and inclusive leadership in South Lanarkshire, not this sort of nonsense from Mr Ross and the SNP.”
Councillor Ross was referring to comments made by Ms Baillie on the performance of the Scottish economy.
The Labour MSP for Dumbarton said the council leader “should know better.”
She added: “Personal abuse should have no place in our political debate.
“Councillor Ross would do well to reflect on the comments of those in his own party – including Target most recently Alyn Smith MEP – who have called for SNP members to treat people with decency and respect, including on social media.”
A spokesman for the SNP group refused to comment on the language used in the tweet.
In a statement, he said: “The story Councillor Ross was referring to was the assertion that Scotland’s growth rate - four times the rate of the rest of the UK - was somehow a bad news story.
“The fact is, as a result of action taken by the SNP in government, we are seeing an improving picture across the country – the economy is growing, the number of people in employment is rising and unemployment is at historic lows.”