Councillor’s swipe at charity group over tweet thanking Nicola Sturgeon for Made In Stirling visit

Creative Stirling’s remarks on social media following Wednesday’s visit by the First Minister has come in for criticism.

A tweet posted on the social enterprise’s Twitter account, shortly after Nicola Sturgeon’s stop at Made In Stirling, was taken by some political rivals as tacit support for the SNP in the coming election campaign .

It read:‘Thank you Nicola Sturgeon and Alyn Smith for making @ madeinstirling at 44 King Street, Stirling the first stop on the campaign trail.

‘An honour and a pleasure! #Stirling #Creative #Community.’

The tweet was noticed by Stirling East Labour councillor and Stirling Council culture and third sector spokesperson Chris Kane who said:“I’m disappointed that Creative Stirling would implicitly support any candidate by saying it is an‘honour and a pleasure’to be‘the first stop on the campaign trail’.

“Creative Stirling are there to represent all the creative community in Stirling, not the supporters of any one political party at the start of a General Election.

“‘Made in Stirling’should be a welcoming place for everybody, but today they failed customers and artists.

“Many within Stirling’s creative community will understandably be upset by today’s event and I can’t blame them.”

Creative Stirling founder and director Joe Hall however said:“Creative Stirling is an independent small charitable organisation and we are delighted to have had such a high profile guest as the First Minister of Scotland visit our hub, to champion the work that we do.

“As the leader of our country, she is an inspiration to many women. Our aim is to promote Stirling as a thriving cultural place and footage of the First Minister surrounded by happy children interacting in a buzzing creative environment, reflecting a positive image of our city on national news, can only be to the benefit to the city as a whole. We continue to be grateful to all the councillors in Stirling who are supportive our work, including Councillor Kane.”

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