Young people in North Lanarkshire, eligible to vote for the first time, have been denied direct access to Scotland’s First Minister in a bizarre move by Labour run North Lanarkshire Council.
In denying our young people the chance to attend the question and answer event the Labour party has moved beyond desperation to hysteria.
This was not a ‘rally’ as the ill-informed Cllr Frank McNally suggests but an event, hosted alongside youth organisation Young Scot, for young people to engage with the First Minister in a question and answer session. It is similar to other such events previously held. A diverse group of young people with a range of ages from across Scotland were given the opportunity to attend the event on 21 March.
The event was a great opportunity for young people to discuss their future and what is important to them with the First Minister.
The invitation for two young people from each high school to attend was entirely optional and it is disgraceful that Labour politicians wanted to stop them having the chance to meet the First Minister for their own petty political reasons.
Regarding council budgets; prior to the SNP coming to office, Labour at Holyrood ring-fenced more than 60 local budgets which they controlled without a word of dissent from Cllr McNally & Co. Now they accuse us of being ‘undemocratic’ because we insist they spend additional resources given to them to maintain teacher numbers, free personal and nursing care for the elderly and the council tax freeze on those important areas.
Given their abysmal record while in office, Labour’s hollow indignation cuts no ice!