Can Glasgow really become Europe’s next Barcelona, Berlin or Copenhagen?
INTERVIEW: EDITORIAL COMMENT:
BY ANDREW WHITAKER
THE SNP politician tipped to take over as leader of Scotland’s biggest city has said she wants to make Glasgow as powerful and successful as Barcelona, Copenhagen and Berlin. Susan Aitken made the claim as she and Nicola Sturgeon launched their party’s manifesto to run Glasgow after May’s local council elections. Aitken, the SNP group leader in Glasgow, described parts of the city as “not liveable” under the ruling Labour administration, saying many people were denied the most basic of services.
The SNP is poised to take control of Glasgow after decades of Labour rule, in what is the UK’s third-largest local authority. Aitken, in an in-depth interview with the Sunday Herald, set out what she said was her vision to make Glasgow one of the “great cities of Europe”. She suggested Glasgow had the potential to be as influential and economically successful as the capital cities of Catalonia, Denmark and Germany. Aitken said the SNP would target resources aimed at improving basic services in rundown areas. She also promised public health improvements to reduce inequalities in areas such as life expectancy.
Aitken said such measures would be part of the first steps towards transforming Glasgow into a leading European capital city. She also said she wanted to reverse the trend of population decline in Glasgow and would seek to double its population to one million. Aitken said: “We have to be one of the great cities of Europe. Glasgow has everything and Glaswegians have everything we need to make our case. We just need to be ambitious and put our ambition into practice.”
Aitken said: “There are two one-million-people cities in the world that have gone backwards: Glasgow and Detroit. Now I’m not for a second comparing us to Detroit, which is an American tragedy. But I see no reason why we shouldn’t set a target for Glasgow to be a one-million-people city again.”
However, Frank McAveety, the current Labour leader of Glasgow City Council, accused Aitken of supporting Scottish Government cuts to council funding. He said: “These are disgraceful and, frankly, shameful comments by Susan Aitken. As an SNP councillor she has cheered on every single SNP cut to Glasgow’s budget – cuts of £377 million in the last 10 years. That’s £16m for every community in Glasgow – money that should be going on local services.
“Despite these cuts, Labour has invested more than £2 billion in housing and in the recent budget delivered an additional £6m employing 140 more cleansing staff – a budget that Susan Aitken voted against.
“It says something about Susan Aitken when she doesn’t even know the city she wants to represent. In the 2016 Glasgow Household Survey, 94 per cent of residents were either satisfied or very satisfied with Glasgow as a place to live and Glasgow ranks third-best city in the UK for quality of life. The best thing Susan Aitken could do is join with Labour and say no to the SNP government butchering Glasgow’s budget year on year, but she won’t. The choice in this election is now clear. An SNP councillor who will talk down Glasgow and drag Glasgow backwards with another divisive referendum, or a Labour council which will put Glasgow first and move Glasgow forward with an ambitious plan for jobs, schools and housing.” Unlike banknotes, which are issued in Scotland and infamously rejected by English cabbies and shopkeepers, coins are issued solely by the Royal Mint and are standard throughout the UK. “The“Th Scottish issuing banks have their own version of the polymer £5 note,not and later this year will be launchingla three versions of the polymerp £10 note, but there are no plans for a Scottish version of the £1 coin,” said Cregan. Colin Borland at the Federation of Small Businesses said its members are also concerned a about the cost of the 12-sided rev revolution, particularly those with coin coin-operated vending machines.