Boss class didn’t like this talk of rebellion
BEiNG out of power isn’t much fun but opposition has its condolences. For one, Scottish Labour, once the political establishment, can now claim to be the scrappy underdog taking on the SNP Goliath.
Anas Sarwar is learning to turn this dynamic to his advantage, and a First Minister’s Questions focused on Cop26 was another chance to get bolshie with the boss class.
Since ‘the eyes of the world will be on Glasgow’ next week, he limbered up, did the First Minister agree ‘that means leading by example’?
‘Yes, i do agree with that and Scotland does lead by example,’ she told him. What else could she have said? Sarwar was setting her up for something, which is no doubt why she added: ‘That is not to say that we do not have more work to do.’
Sarwar contrasted the First Minister’s rhetoric with her record. ‘While she talks about the need for more public transport and getting people out of their cars,’ he began, ‘her government is cutting hundreds of train services.’
Next was her tendency to ‘lecture the world on the global environment while cutting cleansing budgets and neglecting the local environment’. And that was before factoring in her government’s missed targets – on renewable heating, gas emissions and green jobs. When, he wondered, would she ‘stop talking about credible action’ and ‘start delivering it’?
The boss class didn’t much like this rebellious talk. Sturgeon maintained her government was making progress on climate targets. Then she pivoted to rail and her decision to take it into public ownership. Why she thought running an entire transport system easier than achieving a few targets wasn’t clear.
She said: ‘i am proud to say it is this government that is going to renationalise Scotland’s railways to make them fit for the future.
‘When Labour was in government, it did not even allow us the powers to do that.’ it’s a pretty backhanded compliment for the Tories but they’ll take it. Sarwar saved his best for the subject of Glasgow. ‘i love Glasgow,’ he professed. ‘it is my home. But, frankly, it has been let down by the SNP, which cannot even get the basics right.’
He cited the ‘tons of waste’ in the streets, the fly-tipping and the million-plus rat population. ‘Glasgow deserves better,’ he protested.
The Labour leader challenged Sturgeon to join him this morning to meet cleansing staff. Great idea, Anas. Tell Nicola she should be in front of the cameras more often.
‘i will be working hard to make sure that the Scottish Government is doing everything it can to support Cosla and local authorities to reach, i hope, an agreement with the trade unions to resolve the issues,’ she responded. it wasn’t a wholly unreasonable point.
What was unreasonable was her inevitable declaration that she would not ‘allow Glasgow... to be talked down for political purposes’.
LABOUR MSP Pam DuncanGlancy ‘called her out’, as the young people say. ‘Talking about the state of our streets and how rats are running around them is not talking Glasgow down,’ she said. Rather, it was Sturgeon ‘letting Glasgow down’.
Duncan-Glancy suggested the FM meet the bin men ‘and hear from them first hand what is happening’, before adding with a flourish: ‘i assure her there are rats in our streets. There are rats in my flat.’
Sturgeon informed DuncanGlancy that Glaswegians knew how much she cared about their problems. ‘That is, i presume, one of the reasons why they have elected and re-elected me.’
She couldn’t have come across more like Marie Antoinette if she’d been handing out Victoria sponges on the streets of Govanhill.