Thomas Kerr

COUNCIL MEETINGS ARE MISSING THE HOT TOPICS

FULL councils – where all councillors meet in the City Chambers – should be the most crucial meetings in our calendar, but given the agenda put forward for Thursday’s meeting, it will be anything but.

Given the huge challenges facing our city’s families, businesses and communities, you would have thought councillors on all sides would not be short of important topics to put forward for us to debate.

How wrong was I? It appears as though SNP, Green and even Labour councillors want to use these meetings to audition for Who Wants to be a MSP, with topics never relating to Glasgow’s real priorities – or that are within and purely designed to chase cheap headlines.

Just look at Thursday’s agenda. Myself and John Daly will have the pleasure of hearing debates on changing our flag policy and a motion dressed up about council funding, which of course concludes that independence will make everything better.

Where are their motions about 450 teachers being cut from our schools? What about the parking charges that will hammer the hospitality industry?

Or what about a plan to restore our city centre?

Frankly, large chunks of Thursday’s meeting are a colossal waste of taxpayers’ time and money.

While Humza Yousaf tries to crow about his council tax freeze – after successful lobbying by Argyll and Bute and Inverclyde Councils – most people are looking at how his government are getting ready to criminalise freedom of speech through their dangerous Hate Crime Act.

Is it any wonder businesses, developers and job creators look at what we are debating and despairing?

Our city is unkempt and I find it hard to find any Glaswegian who is positive about it. We are in danger of letting our city centre in particular become a ghost town. Their latest extension of the parking charges until 10pm will only hurt our economy further.

Don’t worry readers, the Glasgow Greens have the solution. We only need to take down the Union flag on certain days and our problems will be solved.

This ignorant stunt sums up where the Greens – who are the Greens in name only – true priorities lie.

Does any Glaswegian really think we should be wasting our time discussing flags? And especially when what the Greens have put forward is only designed to stoke division.

Knowing certain councillors like I do, they’ll be happy with my column and other coverage as student- politics- type stunts like this will get them headlines.

Glaswegians who have far too much going on will be in disbelief at what is being debated before we break up for Easter.

Alongside my colleague John Daly, we will continue to be the voice of common sense and realism in a building slowly falling apart at the seams.