Glasgow SNP Councillor Grant Thoms has described the attacks made on the Glasgow Commonwealth games bid by Labour politicians in Aberdeen as "small minded" and an attack on Glasgow.

Yesterday Aberdeen Central Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald and Aberdeen Labour councillor Gordon Graham attacked the Scottish delegation to Sri Lanka to lobby for the Commonwealth Games to be brought to Scotland.

However this delegation not only includes former Labour First Minister Jack McConnell's wife Bridget but three prominent Labour councillors from Glasgow - Council Leader Steven Purcell, Council Executive Member for Culture and Sport Archie Graham and Lord Provost Bob Winter.
 

Cllr Thoms said: "Only today at a council committee, Labour's Alasdair Watson was accusing the SNP of being a party of the rural north east. Now we have Aberdeen Labour politicians  accusing the SNP Government of putting Glasgow first. Labour can't have it both ways.

"The 2014 Commonwealth Games Bid is Scotland's Bid for Glasgow to host the friendly games. I had thought the Labour Party were 100% behind the bid throughout Scotland but obviously not.

"Glasgow City Council is sending a number of Labour councillors to Sri Lanka as part of Scotland's delegation and I am sure Councillor Purcell and the Lord Provost will not take the comments of Lewis McDonald or Councillor Graham lightly.

"It's time for Scottish Labour to face the reality they are not in control of everything but some things, and that the 2014 Games Bid is above party politics."

Notes:

The comments by the Aberdeen Labour politicians were as follows:

Aberdeen Central Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said: "I think it's very poor to claim poverty, then send a large party for an extravagant trip abroad."

Aberdeen Labour city councillor Gordon Graham said: "They shouldn't be paying to go on expensive junkets and not paying for new facilities."

Aberdeen Evening Express, 8th October 2007