‘Honesty and realism don’t win elections’

FORMER city council leader Jenny Dawe admitted to the Evening News that she had her bags packed long before the election results were announced.

The veteran politician, who had been Lib Dem leader since 1999, failed to get elected after 15 years as a councillor.

She chose to stand in her home district instead of her existing ward in Drum Brae–Gyle in an attempt to secure a larger vote and remain in office.

She said: “It was as I expected. I had a bad feeling about this election from the very beginning. I had my boxes all packed with notices of where they’re to go.”

As well as accepting the impact of the shambolic trams project, she added: “People didn’t like what was happening at Westminster. I don’t think it was so much the coalition as the deputy prime minister in particular.”

Of her time in office, she said: “I stuck to my ideals, I stuck to my principles, but honesty and realism don’t always win elections.”

She added: “I’ve done my best. I’ve been as honest as I can be. I’ve been realistic, I’ve not made false promises.

“We’ve turned the city around from a situation where we inherited £370,000 in reserves and turned that around to £13 million.”