"Scottish" Labour - Shady Dealings in Glasgow and Lanarkshire - Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

"Scottish" Labour - Shady Dealings in Glasgow and Lanarkshire


Recommended Posts

You can bet that these would make the front page of the Daily Record if they involved the SNP.

Glasgow & Lanarkshire Labour have been up-to their old tricks again.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14324335.Glasgow_Labour_councillor_behind_troubled_Commonwealth_Games_project__put_on_leave_/?ref=ar

Quote

A GLASGOW Labour councillor who was central to a £5 million Commonwealth Games legacy project has been put on leave while the scheme is investigated by auditors.

Yvonne Kucuk is off work amid questions about how a lottery grant for the Dalmarnock Hub in the city’s east end was spent.

The Hub, opened last year by football legend Kenny Dalglish, provides GP, dental, pharmacy and nursery facilities under one roof.

It has been overseen by a charity, the People’s Development Trust (PDT), and bankrolled with taxpayers’ money.

The Scottish Government provided around £3m, the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) awarded £1,295,000 and Clyde Gateway gave £1.23m. Glasgow council sold the land to the Trust for £1.

Kucuk, a local councillor, was given the £35,000 a year job of “regeneration manager”, while fellow party councillor Maureen Burke also landed employment there.

A number of Kucuk’s relatives have, at various stages, either been appointed to the Trust board or employed at the Hub.

However, various Trust board members resigned last year, fuelling speculation of splits. Outgoing chair Alison Davidge contacted the BLF about the departures and the lottery body launched a review. It was then revealed that an international firm of auditors had been hired to examine whether the BLF grant had been spent appropriately.

The Sunday Herald can now reveal that new management was brought into the Trust before Christmas. An internal review of finance was conducted and passed to the BLF. It is understood that the subsequent BLF decision to call in auditors also had the agreement of the Trust.

In recent weeks, the Trust agreed to put Kucuk on leave while the probe is ongoing. The auditor investigation is believed to be focusing on the revenue funding provided by the BLF, rather than the part of the grant earmarked for capital costs.

In another development, former PDT vice-chair and founding director David Stewart filed a complaint against the Trust last week to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

In his letter, he wrote that he had previously been in touch over his concerns about “cronyism, financial mismanagement and unlawful employment/recruitment practices”.

In light of the audit being carried out, he called on the OSCR to appoint a new interim board to “ensure that the Legacy Hub can mitigate the current financial, operational and legal challenges it faces and therefore secure a sustainable future”.

He also said he did not want the Hub to become like the scandal-hit Kids Company charity south of the border.

“I urge the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator not to allow this to become Scotland's version of the Kids Company charity scenario in England and for the community facility to end up being left closed to the local residents of Dalmarnock – we have already lost so much as a community,” said Stewart.

Kucuk was elected to serve the Calton ward after the 2012 local authority elections. She is a political ally of Glasgow council leader Frank McAveety and listed as a member of the Regeneration and the Economy Policy Development committee. 

SNP MSP John Mason said: “Putting councillor Kucuk on leave sounds like a sensible move. If something has gone wrong, then the Trust should act. I think local people see the Hub as being part of the council, which has a reputation for presiding over a jobs-for-the-boys culture. Politically, we need a change in the council.”

PDT chair Tracy Spence said: “We are currently working with the management team to take the organisation forward, ensuring we are delivering services and projects that will support and develop the Dalmarnock community. “The board are working closely with all our funders and welcome the audit by Big Lottery. Yvonne Kucuk is currently on leave from the organisation. We've no concerns with David writing a letter to OSCR. The board are open and transparent and have nothing to hide.”

Kucuk did not respond to requests for comment.

And remember Brian Roy, former MP for Motherwell & Wishaw ?

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14324284.Scottish_Labour_s_top_official_and_his_father_in_party_cash_row/?ref=mr&lp=3

Quote

 

KEZIA Dugdale’s top official is at the centre of a cash row that has split one of Labour’s most marginal seats.

Scottish Labour general secretary Brian Roy is facing questions over how his dad Frank Roy spent around £1400 owed to Scottish Labour HQ on his own re-election campaign.

The money represented two years of affiliation fees owed to Labour HQ by Frank Roy's constituency Labour party (CLP) in Motherwell & Wishaw.

First elected an MP in 1997, Frank Roy stood again in the seat again last May.

At the time, Brian Roy had newly taken over as Scottish general secretary and treasurer.

However a leaked internal audit shows the Motherwell & Wishaw CLP hadn’t paid its annual subscription to Labour HQ since 2013, despite having funds to do so.

The report states: “No Labour affiliation fees have been paid since 2013 despite having a balance of £8737.70 in the CLP account in 2013. This leaves the CLP in debt of around £2000. The balance of the CLP account on 28/9/15 was £109.48.”

Although failing to pay the fees to HQ didn’t disqualify Frank Roy from standing, it did leave more in the CLP account to spend on the election.

The fall-out from the audit is now dividing the CLP and the Labour administration on North Lanarkshire Council, with many members furious at Frank Roy’s election agent Paul Kelly, who has been accused of failing to explain the state of the CLP’s finances.

Kelly, last week elected the council's deputy leader, was CLP chair during the election.

The audit report says that in early 2014, the CLP’s general purpose bank account of around £3200 was merged with a previously separate election account of £2800.

“There are no minutes recording that this change of policy was agreed by the CLP,” it says.

The resulting single account was then cleaned out in the election - again without any minutes of the CLP agreeing to it - as Roy defended his 16,800-vote majority.

The report states: “There are no minutes of the CLP agreeing to the level of expenditure to be used on the General Election.”

Roy’s campaign cost £13,701, compared to £6,852 for the SNP’s Marion Fellows, who nevertheless won by 11,900 votes.

Roy got £4703 worth of staff support from Scottish Labour HQ, but the bulk of his campaign money, around £8600, came from draining the CLP account.

The total outlay was twice that of the 2010 election, when Roy’s campaign cost £6766.

The political co-ordinator of Better Together, Roy is now campaign director of the Scottish arm of Britain Stronger in Europe.

The failure to pay affiliation fees emerged last week after an audit into Motherwell & Wishaw CLP, which found “total unknown deposits” of £4474 were paid into its bank account last year without explanation, and “total unknown expenditure” of £2108 left it.

The auditor noted: “These matters were raised by CLP members on several occasions from July 2015 and as far as I am aware the issues have not been properly addressed.”

A senior Labour source said the draining of the CLP account in election, including affiliation fees, had left the local party struggling going into the Holyrood election, when Labour MSP John Pentland is defending a 587-vote majority in Motherwell & Wishaw.

The insider said: “There are very unhappy people here. The council Labour group is very fractious. We can’t even pay our bills far less run an election campaign.”

Kelly did not returns calls. Frank Roy could not be contacted yesterday.

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: "The Labour party is working with this CLP to address any outstanding issues, including payment of affiliation fees."

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, ErsatzThistle said:

 

And remember Brian Roy, former MP for Motherwell & Wishaw ?

 

Frank Roy...?

Yes I remember him - and it still hasn't quite sunk in that he's the ex MP

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another one that got in purely on account of the "I'll just vote for who ma parents voted for." crowd, many of whom finally woke up during the referendum and faced reality.

See also - Willie Bain, Thomas Docherty, Michael Connarty, Tom Clarke, Gordon Banks, Russell Brown, Gemma Doyle, Shelia Gilmour, Tom Greatrex, Jimmy Hood, John Robertson, Sandra Osborne, Graeme Morrice, Ann McKechin, Jim Sheridan, Fiona O'Donnell, Michael McCann, Gregg McClymont and Pamela Nash.

Complete non-entities. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, ErsatzThistle said:

Another one that got in purely on account of the "I'll just vote for who ma parents voted for." crowd, many of whom finally woke up during the referendum and faced reality.

See also - Willie Bain, Thomas Docherty, Michael Connarty, Tom Clarke, Gordon Banks, Russell Brown, Gemma Doyle, Shelia Gilmour, Tom Greatrex, Jimmy Hood, John Robertson, Sandra Osborne, Graeme Morrice, Ann McKechin, Jim Sheridan, Fiona O'Donnell, Michael McCann, Gregg McClymont and Pamela Nash.

Complete non-entities. 

Add Brian Donohoe to that list. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Alan said:

Oh I'm sure its for balance.

I can assure you that anything the SNP, or any other party, have done wrong it pales into insignificance when it comes to the red tories corruption, nepotism, cronyism, crimes, alleged paedophilia, sleaze, expenses claims, lying, uselessness and fraudulent crimes.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...


×
×
  • Create New...