Opposition politicians slam council leader
Labour,Tories and Lib Dems condemn tweets
The leader of South Lanarkshire Council has been accused of behaving “like a conspiracy theorist” in a row over tweets in which he called for“civil defiance” to support independence.
John Ross also insisted that there should be another independence referendum if a majority of SNP MPs are returned at the next General Election – without any need for Westminster approval.
And the council boss reckons the “British state” has already started a “campaign” to stop Scotland breaking away.
His claims prompted scorn from opposition politicians, who argued that the nationalist representative was not acting in a manner befitting a council leader.
On September 13, he tweeted: “We need to realise that the British state has already started it’s campaign to thwart Independence.
“Bold measures need to be considered, we need to start acting as if we are already independent.
“More walkouts at WM [Westminster] and more acts of civil defiance are required”.
The following day he tweeted, while replying to another independence supporter: “If the Tories call another election we should make it clear that a vote for the SNP is a vote for independence and seize the prize if we have a simple majority of SNP MP’s returned.”
Mr Ross told the Reformer the tweets were made in a personal capacity. However, his Twitter page does not make that distinction.
Rutherglen MP Ged Killen accused Mr Ross of ignoring local issues.
He said: “John Ross sounds more like an antidemocratic conspiracy theorist than the leader of the fifth largest council in Scotland.
“He should be concentrating his efforts on what bold measures he needs to consider to improve the lives of people in South Lanarkshire starting with reversing his plans to close care homes in Blantyre and Larkhall.”
Mr Ross was appointed council leader last year after the SNP won most seats at the local authority elections but fell short of an overall majority.
Robert Brown, the Liberal Democrat Rutherglen South councillor, said that the Tweets suggested an obsession with conspiracy theories.
He stated: “I am astonished at John Ross’s comments.
“The SNP have clearly lost the plot entirely and seem obsessed by some sort of conspiracy theory.
“This sort of nonsense will put off most reasonable people in Rutherglen and Cambuslang who will not take the SNP seriously. It is hard to believe that we are getting such comments from the Leader of our Council.
“The SNP wanted the independence referendum and duly got it. They lost it by a substantial margin in 2014 when Scotland decisively rejected independence. All the SNP spokespeople said it would be a “once in a generation” referendum.”
Central Scotland Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “As leader of South Lanarkshire Council, Councillor John Ross is in a unique and privileged position to improve the lives of local people.
“But he is utterly consumed by Scottish nationalism and creating disharmony and division.
“He’s entitled to his loud views on breaking up Britain but real courage would be putting the people of South Lanarkshire first by standing up to Nicola Sturgeon’s cuts to our council.”
When asked to clarify his tweets, Mr Ross appeared to backtrack and told the Reformer: “You ask what I meant in my tweets by civil defiance, simply the peaceful and very public display where possible of support for Scottish independence.
“For example my participation in the AUOB (All Under One Banner) marches which have been taking place throughout the major cities in Scotland.”
He also expanded on his comments regarding SNP MPs being returned at the next General Election and a second independence referendum.
“This is a personal view,” he added. “But should another General Election be called and the SNP make it perfectly clear that a vote for them is a vote for an independent Scotland and Scotland returns a majority of SNP MPs then, in my opinion, the ‘prize’ of another referendum on independence cannot be denied to the Scottish people by whatever party wins that election.”
This isn’t the first time Mr Ross has come under fire for his use of Twitter. Last year he was labelled “disrespectful” for encouraging Labour’s Jackie Baillie to “bile yer he’d” (sic) for talking “pure mince”.
John Ross sounds more like a conspiracy theorist than leader of the council