City's Lib Dems have no vision and no ideas

Published on Wednesday 9 January 2008 09:25

Council needs detail, discussion and dialogue, says Ewan Aitken

I AGREE with Jenny Dawe's recent comment that we have had a momentous year in Scottish political life, but sadly that's where our common ground ends.

Of the long list of "achievements" claimed by Councillor Dawe since becoming the leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, only the return to the committee system is an actual Lib Dem policy.

She claims commitment to a school building programme, yet not only did the school building programme begin under Labour but she and her colleagues voted against it – again and again. And, of course, the SNP Government at Holyrood has now cancelled five schools planned by Labour.

Cllr Dawe claims her Lib Dem/SNP administration has increased park-and-ride capacity, yet these park-and-ride schemes were begun and virtually completed under Labour. She says she is committed to the use of schools for community activity, again a Labour policy that was being implemented prior to May 2007. She also welcomes the appointment of neighbourhood managers and the 12 new Neighbourhood Partnerships – a model devised and delivered by Labour before she was in power.

Unlike her SNP partners, Cllr Dawe lauds the arrival of trams – another policy outlined and developed by Labour. She wants more early intervention for vulnerable children, yet Labour delivered two significant projects in the city and funded more in the voluntary sector – a sector which will be decimated through the cuts being implemented by this Lib Dem/SNP council.

Our role as the capital city is crucial to the nation but obtaining the "potential" of extra funding is not enough. Our city needs a plan for its role, yet I see no plan from the administration.

Proportional representation, (delivered by Labour), has changed the face of Scottish local government. But what this administration has conspicuously failed to grasp is that proportional representation is not just a new way of voting, it was supposed to herald a new way of doing politics. Despite its return to the committee system, it seems unable or unwilling to engage with the opposition parties in any meaningful way.

In a council of minorities, that will have to change or the city will suffer, as we have already seen with the flawed schools consultation and the inability to take big decisions on issues such as Meadowbank.

We need detail, dialogue and discussion in the City Chambers. It should be about looking for common ground; not necessarily compromise but sharing ideas and working together for common solutions. I am pleased for the city that it is Labour policies that are still being implemented but I am deeply saddened that this is because we have an administration without the vision and ideas to take our city forward.

&#149 Ewan Aitken is the leader of the Labour group at Edinburgh City Council