A TORY MP has been accused of trying to pass off another person’s litter picking as her own dirty work.
Kirstene Hair yesterday took to social media to share a picture of fly-tipped waste in a car park on Kirrie Hill in her constituency.
Her now-deleted tweet said: "Both the Letham Community Council and Keep Kirrie Clean work hard to keep their communities free of litter, it was great to join them at the weekend in their litter picks and to meet their fantastic teams of volunteers."
DT Kirstene Hair MP: Both the Letham Community Council and Keep Kirrie Clean work hard to keep their communities free of litter, it was… https://t.co/fmCysWi1Kb https://t.co/QVDTBdmtii
— Tweets MPs Delete (@deletedbyMPs) April 10, 2019
But the picture used by the MP was originally taken by SNP councillor for Kirriemuir and Dean, Julie Bell.
"That's actually my photo you've used, Kirstene,” Bell tweeted at the MP.
The councillor then tweeted pictures of the area after it had been tidied alongside a picture of the litter pickers. "Here's the finished job. AND those who actually cleared it #regular #community #KeepKirrieClean.”
Hair deleted her tweet late last night.
She told The National that it had been posted accidentally and described the SNP councillor’s reaction as “absurd”.
“I was delighted to take part in the Kirriemuir clean-up – and a similar event in Letham on Sunday morning.
“As is normal practice with this type of community event, we shared images via social media.
“However, an image taken by another participant was accidentally posted as part of a montage on my Twitter feed.
“This was our mistake and the post was taken down as soon as my staff and I realised, within a matter of hours.
“I have to say, however, that the reaction from some of the SNP members who took part has been absurd.
“I hope these antics do not discourage residents in future getting involved in these community events.
“This is not a party political issue – we all care about the environment and doing something about the scourge of fly-tipping in our local area, so it is disappointing that activists are using this to try and score political points.”
Bell told The National: “It's really sad that this silliness is detracting from the hard work of these communities volunteers that pitch up month after month and actually do loads of litter picking in between times as well.
“I've been involved since I got elected with the pride and place group on Angus Council and I'm just so blown away by the hard work and dedication from groups like Keep Kirrie Clean from across the whole of Angus that work so hard to keep our county looking amazing.
“That's the important thing for me. They're the heroes in all of this.”
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