Councillor to complain about Twitter jibe
AN SNP councillor has claimed a senior Independent member of Highland Council is masquerading as a Tory, because of her views on OAP services.
Alex MacLeod criticised Margaret Davidson on Twitter after she spoke during the authority’s meeting in Inverness about a proposed £1 million investment on supporting elderly people.
The SNP-led coalition will use the cash to help prevent OAPs falling, provide care in their own homes and improve community wellbeing services, after it was formally approved by the full council.
The “preventative spend” measure is designed to try and reduce the amount of help and support needed by the region’s elderly population in the long term.
However Alex, the youngest councillor in the region, who is from Ross-shire but represents Landward Caithness, posted comments on his Twitter account claiming that the experienced opposition councillor – the former housing and social work committee chairwoman – was actually a closet Conservative and urged her to stand in an election for the party in the Highlands.
There have been often repeated claims from other parties over the years that the Independent ranks of councillors, the biggest group, actually contain Conservative supporters, an accusation which has been flatly denied by the opposition.
During the meeting, which saw a series of spiky clashes between the administration and Independents, Councillor MacLeod posted on Twitter: “Margaret Davidson doesn’t believe that HC or the NHS should run older people’s services. Indy? Aye right. Tories fullcouncil.”
A second tweet from him stated: “Indy cllr Davidson’s policies for older people are Tory. Let here [sic] stand as a Tory and test the popularity of those policies.”
Councillor Davidson (Aird and Loch Ness) angrily denied she was a Conservative and said she was “astonished” that Councillor MacLeod should brand her a Tory as she had never voted for the party in her life.
She said that she would complain about the comments to the council leader and SNP group leader Drew Hendry, who is her ward colleague.
“I haven’t done it in my life (vote Conservative),” said Councillor Davidson.
“What I said about preventative spending is that I believed some of the posts should be led by the communities because they are really driving the agenda. How is that right wing?”
Councillor Davidson said there were community-backed facilities in Ross-shire, Inverness-shire and Sutherland which played a key role in offering support to elderly residents, and she highlighted the Howard Doris and Glenurquhart centres.
“I will be complaining to his leader who knows my views are not right wing,” she said. “I usually batter the coalition government for not tackling the Highland housing debt.
“This is astonishing.”
But Councillor MacLeod insisted her views were Conservative in outlook. “I stand by my tweets,” he said.
“Margaret Davidson was talking about how these elderly people’s services should be run and made it clear we (the council) shouldn’t have a role. These policies are polices adopted by the Tory party. I have no qualms about calling out bad policies. The council has got an empowerment agenda but we are not looking to outsource. It is very bold and it is something we are trendsetting in Scotland with.”
