Apology call from Dundee Council over debt legacy

The leader of Dundee City Council has called on Jeremy Corbyn to apologise for the “legacy of debt” he says Labour left while in power in the city.

SNP council leader John Alexander says the previous Labour administration pursued a “build one, pay for two” policy on building schools, leaving the current council with an £11.6 million bill next financial year.

Kevin Keenan, who leads Labour in the city, earlier accused the Nationalists of breaking jobs promises to the city.

Labour built eight schools in the city under Private Public Partnership (PPP) funding, with the bill making up almost threequarters of the £15.7m deficit in this year’s council budget.

PPP involves private companies paying for a public building then renting it back.

Mr Alexander said: “It’s quite galling that the Labour Party conference is being held metres from my office, at a time when our administration is still grappling with Labour’s mismanagement.

Opening the conference, Mr Keenan said Alex Salmond’s 2011 promise for 700 renewables energy jobs boom has yet to be delivered.

Mr Keenan said: “I think it’s really disappointing that a former first minister made a memorandum of understanding to bring renewable energy jobs to Dundee and we are still waiting on these jobs.

“That was a pretty useless bit of paper.”