Labour council leaflets promoting local businesses printed almost 500 miles away in Devon

Council candidates standing for Scottish Labour have been mocked by critics over election leaflets which were printed an eight-hour drive away from their local area.

Leaflets for Edinburgh candidate Katrina Faccenda state she will “support and promote locally-owned businesses”, but the small print states the leaflet were printed in Barnstaple, Devon.

Another leaflet from Scottish Labour was printed in Kettering, Northamptonshire, a mere 270 miles away from Edinburgh.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was accused of hypocrisy over election leaflets.

The Scottish Conservatives mocked Anas Sarwar’s party for the decision to print their leaflets so far away from home, accusing the Scottish Labour leader of “hypocrisy”.

Sue Webber, who sat on Edinburgh Council and is now an MSP for the Scottish Tories, said: “For all the talk of supporting local businesses, these ‘local’ campaign leaflets were printed in North Devon – a whopping 470 miles away.

“If Labour were really interested in supporting local jobs, perhaps the best place to start would have been a local printer in Edinburgh, such as the one just four minutes away from their local campaign HQ.

“Anas Sarwar likes to get on his high horse and say he supports Scottish jobs and businesses, but his actions here couldn’t be any further from it. Local people shouldn’t have to put up with this hypocrisy."

However, Scottish Labour laughed off the criticism and accused the Scottish Conservatives of checking the small print of leaflets rather than working to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

A spokesperson for the party said: “Today, thousands of people across Scotland will be spending the day worrying about their energy bills as the price cap lifts. We are in a national cost-of-living crisis and people are suffering.

“What are the Conservatives doing to help people during this difficult time? They are checking the small print of election leaflets. You would think an elected MSP would have more important things to be doing today of all days.”

The row comes after the SNP called on the Scottish Tories to withdraw a “sinister demand” for pro-independence councillors to be ditched in Edinburgh.

Karen Adam MSP said: “Not only are the Scottish Tories completely out of touch with Scots, who elected a majority of pro-independence MSPs at the election last year, but they want to erase the idea that people can support independence at all.”

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