Following the lack of response by Labour's Leadership over calls for an investigation into Glasgow Labour, Glasgow SNP Leader of the Opposition Councillor James Dornan said: "After months of revelations and a distinct lack of action, I wrote to Labour Leaders in Scotland - Iain Gray MSP, Jim Murphy MP and the Secretary of the Labour Party in Scotland- calling on them to instigate an investigation into Glasgow Labour.

"After two weeks I am still waiting for an acknowledgement never mind a full response.  Murphy, Gray and co. should recognise that hiding behind a 'wall of silence' will not do anything to deal with Labour's problems in Glasgow, nor see a change in the way this city is run.

"Time and again, scandal, corruption and criminality have been revealed in Glasgow City Council's Labour Group and for the sake of the city - and even the Labour Party - it has to be dealt with.  An important part of Labour's rehabilitation is to first of all recognise they have a serious problem, and then be open about the need to clean up the mess they have created. The way to do this is to have a full investigation into the murky goings on in Glasgow Labour highlighted over the last months. I urge them to get their heads out of the sand and take up this challenge immediately.

Notes:

1. The latest letter, dated Friday 27th of August 2010, is appended below:

Dear

I write to you again today, as the Leader of the Opposition in Glasgow City Council, to raise the matter of the conduct of a number of your Labour Party elected members in recent months.

I wrote to you on Friday the 13th of August 2010 regarding the serious allegations of criminality and misconduct made against members of the Glasgow Labour Council group.  I have yet to receive a response from you.

As you are no doubt well aware there have been a number of unsavoury incidents uncovered involving Labour councillors in Glasgow during 2010, beginning with the forced resignation of Alistair Watson as Chair of SPT and the resignation of the Council Leader Stephen Purcell. Since then there have been numerous allegations of:

• drug taking
  
• drug dealing
  
• dodgy business relationships between Labour councillors and Glasgow businessmen
  
• questionable land deals involving Commonwealth Games sites, developers and the Labour run council
  
• cronyism in the appointment of Arms Length External Organisation chairs
  
• corruption regarding the awarding of council tax payers’ money to the Castro organisation, run by a then Labour councillor and a close friend of the then Council Leader Stephen Purcell,
  
• accusations of sexual harassment by one Labour Councillor on two of his female Labour colleagues and now
  
• the closing down of a much needed LGBT Centre as a consequence of, at best, the ineptitude of the council in awarding the contract to an organisation not fit for purpose.

Furthermore, there is the extremely serious matter of three Labour councillors being investigated by Strathclyde Police with offences   relating to some of the examples above. Indeed, just this week one of these councillors was arrested by the Strathclyde Police for Breach of the Peace because of his inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature.

As a senior member of the Labour Party in Scotland I’m sure you agree with me that this string of misconduct cannot be allowed to continue in Scotland’s largest city. It adds to the continual diminution of a once great political party but, more importantly, is casting a pall over this great city of Glasgow.

I urge you to use your good offices – at the earliest opportunity, given that time has been lost due to your inaction - to instigate an investigation to discover what has gone wrong within Glasgow Labour and support me in my call to Audit Scotland for a full and independent investigation into Glasgow City Council’s Labour Administration.

I look forward to a speedy response on this matter.

Yours sincerely

Councillor James Dornan
Leader of the Opposition
SNP Member, Langside Ward

2. Cllr Dornan has called repeatedly for a full independent investigation of the Council’s decision-making under former Cllr Purcell’s leadership.

3. An SNP motion to Council in April 2010, calling for a full independent investigation into the decisions of Glasgow under Purcell’s leadership, was voted down by the ruling Labour administration with the support of the Lib Dems.

4. Cllr Dornan wrote to Audit Scotland on the 6th of August 2010 following further revelations surrounding land deals in the east end of Glasgow.

5. The full text of Cllr Dornan’s letter to Jim Murphy MP and Iain Gray MSP can be found below:

Dear

I write to you as the Leader of the Opposition in Glasgow City Council to raise the matter of the conduct of a number of your Labour Party     elected members in recent months.

As you are no doubt well aware there have been a number of unsavoury incidents uncovered involving Labour councillors in Glasgow during 2010, beginning with the forced resignation of Alistair Watson as Chair of SPT and the resignation of the Council Leader Stephen     Purcell. Since then there have been numerous allegations of:

• drug taking
  
• drug dealing
  
• dodgy business relationships between Labour councillors and Glasgow businessmen
  
• questionable land deals involving Commonwealth Games sites, developers and the Labour run council
  
• cronyism in the appointment of Arms Length External Organisation chairs
  
• corruption regarding the awarding of council tax payers’ money to the Castro organisation, run by a then Labour councillor and a close friend of the then Council Leader Stephen Purcell,
  
• accusations of sexual harassment by one Labour Councillor on two of his female Labour colleagues and now
  
• the closing down of a much needed LGBT Centre as a consequence of, at best, the ineptitude of the council in awarding the contract to an organisation not fit for purpose.
  

Furthermore, there is the extremely serious matter of three Labour councillors being investigated by Strathclyde Police with offences relating to some of the examples above. Indeed, just this week one of these councillors was arrested by the Strathclyde Police for Breach of the Peace because of his inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature.

As a senior member of the Labour Party in Scotland I’m sure you agree with me that this string of misconduct cannot be allowed to continue in Scotland’s largest city. It adds to the continual diminution of a once great political party but, more importantly, is casting a pall over this great city of Glasgow.

I urge you to use your good offices to instigate an investigation to discover what has gone wrong within Glasgow Labour and support me in my call to Audit Scotland for a full and independent investigation into Glasgow City Council’s Labour Administration.

Yours sincerely

Councillor James Dornan
Leader of the Opposition
SNP Member, Langside Ward