A SUSPENDED Labour councillor has been slammed for making a “sickening claim” that the Tories have done more to help people in disadvantaged communities “than the SNP have ever done”.
Gordon Graham was one of nine Aberdeen councillors suspended from the Scottish Labour Party for entering into a power-sharing pact with the Conservatives in May last year following the council elections.
Graham made the bizarre claim about the SNP during a debate yesterday about the Fairer Aberdeen Fund, which was set up “to tackle poverty and deprivation”.
He boasted of the work the administration does with organisations such as credit unions, food banks and disability services to “alleviate” the effects of the Tory Government’s own Universal Credit benefit system.
WATCH: Labour councillor says Tories help poor more than SNP
Graham said: “I am amazed that members opposite [the SNP] congratulate the work of the Fairer Aberdeen Fund and then lambast this administration, which provides funding and administrative support for that fund.
“Despite the rhetoric from the SNP, the Tories have done more to improve the lives of people in disadvantaged communities in Aberdeen than the SNP have ever done.”
The leader of the SNP group, Councillor Stephen Flynn, said: “To suggest that the Tories have been good for disadvantaged people living in Aberdeen is a sickening slap in the face for every person who has been driven further into poverty by the UK Government’s punishing austerity regime.
“It’s no wonder Councillor Gordon Graham remains suspended from his own Labour Party when he publicly declares his support for Tory policies.
“Richard Leonard has shown a shocking lack of leadership regarding these suspended councillors – will he continue to sit on the fence whilst they all turn true blue?
“Not only do we have a ludicrous situation where suspended Labour councillors refuse to condemn payment delays for Universal Credit claimants, but they then vocally support their Tory colleagues.
“Labour voters will be disgusted by this carry on, and the party’s leadership must answer to it.”
The nine councillors were suspended by Leonard’s predecessor as Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale.
Leonard said earlier this month he was looking to find “a way forward” in the dispute between the party and the Aberdeen councillors.
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