City leaders hit back in row on Gathering

Published on Thursday 24 February 2011 14:50

COUNCIL leader Jenny Dawe and deputy Steve Cardownie today hit back at a Scottish Parliament committee which dismissed their evidence on the controversial Gathering event as "not credible".

Facing the threat of a no-confidence vote, the two councillors at the head of Edinburgh's Liberal Democrat-SNP coalition issued a statement accusing Holyrood's audit committee of political opportunism and point scoring.

Councillor Cardownie said he was taking advice on possible legal action.

The committee's report on the Gathering, published yesterday, highlighted contradictions in the oral evidence of the two councillors and senior council officials and written evidence from council media manager Stewart Argo.

At the centre of the controversy is a "misleading" press release which said council-backed tourism body DEMA would cover the 344,000 private sector debts of The Gathering 2009 Ltd, the company behind the two-day clan event in Holyrood Park.

DEMA quickly made clear it could not take on such liabilities and the deal fell through, leaving a host of small firms out of pocket.

Councillors Dawe and Cardownie said they had not cleared the release, but Mr Argo said they had.

Yesterday, audit convener, Labour MSP Hugh Henry said it was unprecedented for a Holyrood committee to use such strong language and deputy convener, Tory MSP Murdo Fraser described the councillors' evidence as "shocking".

He added: "The function of parliamentary committees depends upon people giving accurate accounts. It's disappointing that in this case, that did not happen."

Cllr Dawe said: "I am appalled at the committee's report and the political comments made by members of the committee. Never before have I been accused of demonstrating anything other than the highest standards of honesty and fairness. I take this as a serious and unwarranted affront to my integrity.

"Why the committee should choose to favour the written evidence of one junior member of staff over the oral evidence presented by two of the council's most senior members of staff, two senior politicians and the written evidence of a further senior officer is mystifying.

"This smacks of being a shabby political attempt at point scoring."

Cllr Cardownie said: "I stand by the evidence that I gave. I am disgusted that a parliamentary committee has allowed itself to be turned into a political soapbox.

"It is extremely disappointing that the motivation behind these attacks is straightforward political opportunism rather than a genuine attempt to make good the debt left by The Gathering 2009 Ltd."City Tory leader Jeremy Balfour said unless they could give satisfactory answers by next Tuesday next, he would table a motion of no confidence in Cllrs Dawe and Cardownie.

He said: "The report is very serious and leaves a number of questions which both Cllr Dawe and Cllr Cardownie have to answer quite quickly for the sake of the integrity of the whole council."

Council Labour leader Andrew Burns called on the council to mount its own investigation, but indicated his group was likely to back the Tory motion.