LABOUR MIRED IN CRONYISM ROW ON EVE OF LOCAL ELECTIONS
Some employers are really almost ‘get yourself to f**k, we are not in the business of allowing blah, blah blah’, without actually realising that if an elected member is close to an organisation, 99.9 per cent of the time they will be advocating on that organisation’s behalf
LABOUR’S local election campaign in Glasgow is in crisis after a leaked recording plunged one of the party’s top councillors into a cronyism row. Alistair Watson, who is council leader Frank McAveety’s enforcer in the City Chambers, tried to interfere in a charity over a change in the working hours of another Labour councillor.
In the secret recording, Watson told a top figure at the Dalmarnock Legacy Hub that Labour had a “knife-edge” majority and wanted to know if his party colleague’s “work-life” balance could be addressed. He also said he had spoken to a council official about an internal audit into the charity in order to “expedite” the release of grant money that had been withheld. He added that elected members advocate on behalf of organisations they are close to, or are employed by, “99.9 per cent” of the time.
Susan Aitken, the SNP group leader on the council who hopes to topple Labour in this week’s council election, contacted the local authority’s Internal Audit team on Friday after being given the recording by a whistleblower. Aitken accused Labour councillors of “routinely and casually putting pressure on organisations and manipulating council procedures to serve their own personal and political ends”.
Run by the People’s Development Trust (PDT) charity, the Hub received £3 million from the Scottish Government, nearly £1.3m from the Big Lottery Fund, £1.23m from Clyde Gateway, as well as support from the council.
The Commonwealth Games legacy project has attracted negative headlines in the past, but this fresh row comes in the same week as Labour attempts to hold on to Glasgow City Council.
In 2016, the PDT was employing a Labour councillor in the city, Maureen Burke, and a proposal emerged to change her hours in a way that made it harder for her to juggle her councillor duties. It was also a difficult time for the Hub, as over £40,000 in Integrated Grant Fund (IGF) money was being withheld by the council and an audit of the charity’s finances was also in the pipeline. In the summer of that year, a senior figure in the Hub was asked if he would meet Watson in the City Chambers, a meeting that took place in August.
Watson, a Labour councillor in the southwest of the city, had no ward interest in the Hub. His job, as business manager, was to make sure Labour got its vote out in the council. Also at the meeting was Burke, who was a councillor in the northeast, but whose workplace at the Hub was outside her ward.
A secret recording of the meeting reveals Watson’s opening gambit: “Just wanted a wee chat just to see if there was any scope for some latitude in terms of work-life balance, which is something we all want, in terms of Maureen, in her job but also what she does in here.” The senior Hub figure can be heard saying that the change of Burke’s hours followed a review by the Trust board and a human resources company. He added that the IGF grant bid had been resubmitted in April but said the “goalposts” had changed, adding: “They [the board] feel as if they have been let down.”
Watson said: “It’s not usual for an outside organisation to almost have that perception, that the council would be obstructive, or whatever. What they won’t know is about how Maureen networks, or how the elected member networks on their behalf while behind the scenes. You know, like sitting down with somebody for a coffee, or bending somebody’s ear and saying ‘ what the f**k’, you know, let’s get this sorted out.”
He said: “I’ve had umpteen conversations with many people on behalf of members. Some employers are really almost ‘get yourself to f**k, we are not in the business of allowing blah, blah blah’, without actually realising that if an elected member is close to an organisation, ie sometimes even employed by an organisation, 99.9 per cent of the time they will be advocating on that organisation’s behalf, whether that is directly, but probably more indirectly.”
He added: “And IGF is probably just a classic example about how, you know, you can release that current suspended money, as quickly as possible and get that relationship back on track.”
Watson continued: “I certainly want to do what I can to assist a member of the current group, you know, to achieve that work-life balance, right. We are sitting on a knife-edge majority in here, in which I have to watch the numbers.”
The senior councillor said the IGF issue “probably” couldn’t be resolved until the Audit was completed, but said: “What I said to [council official] no less than 20 minutes ago, I said [council official] ‘I want you to give me a time-frame when Audit are going out, I want you to tell me how long they are going to be, I said, and I want to you to tell me how long they are going to deliberate’.” Watson resumed: “I said I want you to tell me how long they are going to deliberate. I said, and what I want is I want the process of reinstating the IGF expedited as quickly as possible.”
At one point of the recording, Burke also said: “I was pounding the doors of City Property, pounding the doors of [council department] DRS constantly, and then also the heritable consent, all that different stuff. And I wasn’t caring when I was being told ‘you need to watch what you’re doing’, because I work for the organisation and I could see what was happening. And I could see that the process of the council can take forever, as you know, but what I did was dedicated to the PDT.”
On the Audit, Watson said of his chat with the council official: “He said
‘are you asking me to expedite this?’ and I said yes.”
Watson and Burke are both seeking re-election this week. Aitken said yesterday: “This is clear evidence of what the people of Glasgow have long suspected: senior Labour councillors routinely and casually putting pressure on organisations and manipulating council procedures to serve their own personal and political ends. It’s too late for Alistair Watson and Maureen Burke to be removed from ballot papers but the Labour Party must take action and suspend them immediately while an investigation takes place.”
A council spokeswoman said: “I can confirm a complaint has been raised with the council’s audit section and the matter will be looked into.” A Scottish Labour spokesman declined to comment.