Iraq war made me politically active.. now I want to win back the council for Labour
New South Lanarkshire Labour Group leader Joe Fagan says he was inspired to become politically active after watching Tony Blair lead Britain to war in Iraq.
The East Kilbride Central North councillor was elected to his role as part of a top-team shakeup earlier this month at the party’s AGM.
Despite having been involved in politics for over a decade, Councillor Fagan admits it has been a steep learning curve since he was voted in at last year’s local elections.
And he did not anticipate his sudden rise to prominence.
But in an interview with the News, Cllr Fagan has revealed what drove him to join Labour when he was 15, in the midst of Mr Blair’s premiership.
“A lot of people were politicised by the war in Iraq,” he said. “There was – quite understandably He was only elected as a councillor for the first time last year but Joe Fagan has been installed as South Lanarkshire Council’s Labour Group leader. He talks to Mark Pirie about his political influences, fighting cuts and taking on the SNP and Tories
– a reaction against Tony Blair.
“I was angry with what he did. I wanted the Labour Party to do well and win elections.
“The leadership of the party at the time was making a number of mistakes and chief among them was the war in Iraq.
“This was distracting from the fact that this was a Labour government who had been elected after all these years, had delivered a Scottish Parliament, delivers a minimum wage – and then goes and does something like that.
“I thought I’m going to get involved and try and change this; do my bit.”
Cllr Fagan is just a few weeks into his job which promises to be
challenging.
“When I was elected I did not expect that a year later I would be the leader of the Labour group,” he said.
“I always knew going into it that cuts would make it harder and harder to deliver services, but you have to fight for every penny you want spent in your ward.
“Some of the larger local authorities have maybe found it a bit easier to manage, like South Lanarkshire, because they have economies of scale that they can manage. “But it’s still brutal. “The fact is that councils don’t provide as many services as they used to and unless something changes at a national level then it’s quite possible that there are services which are provided now that won’t be in future.”
He continued: “The council for years had been under Labour control.
“What the big change last year has meant is that no single party has overall control.
“The SNP are the largest party – but they don’t have an overall majority – so it’s changed the dynamic of the council.
“I think even critics of South Lanarkshire Council and Labour would say that there was stability in the council that isn’t there now.”
The 30-year-old, who has grown up in St Leonards and East Mains, has lived beside the people he represents as a councillor his whole life.
But what of the future of East Kilbride and its citizens – with businesses closing their doors in the town, he has called for a fresh outlook.
“The economy in East Kilbride has changed dramatically,” he admitted.
“I think we need to look at the long-term future of the economy.
“That means looking at the role of the town centre, transport infrastructure and how do we influence that change.
“We’ve got to look at employment and the economy as a whole.
“For me, I want to make sure economic development continues as a good function of the council.
“All councils are making cutbacks but over the past year I have tried to speak up for economic development.”
Cllr Fagan states that ex-East Kilbride Central North councillors Chris Thompson and AliceMarie Mitchell have been among his political influences and still offer him advice when he picks up the phone.
“They were different types of councillors but brought a lot,” he insisted.
With his new role, Cllr Fagan is on the frontline of the battle with the SNP and Conservatives at every executive meeting – but has stated they won’t be doing backroom deals behind the scenes.
“I want to dispel any rumours that the Labour Party will be doing any deals with other parties,” he said.
“I won’t be doing deals with the SNP or the Tories.
“I will take it issue by issue, vote by vote and then I want to win the council through the ballot box. “Not through deals. “We need to make sure right now there is stability for the Labour Group and hold the SNP administration to account.”