Stop Digging


I dropped a note to the Labour leader of South Lanarkshire Council yesterday - Councillor Eddie McAvoy - with some timely and helpful advice.

Here's what I had to say - I hope he listens.

Dear Councillor McAvoy

Freedom of Information

I refer to the previous exchange of emails and FOI request regarding the pay of traditional male jobs within South Lanarkshire Council.

As you know, the Council refused to accept the independent adjudication of the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) that this information should be published, and appealed the SIC's decision to the Court of Session where three senior Scottish judges unanimously dismissed the Council's arguments. South Lanarkshire Council has since appealed the case again to the UK Supreme Court where it is due to be heard on 8 July 2013.

However, in the light of recent developments at the Employment Tribunals, I would like to invite South Lanarkshire Council to abandon this appeal as it is an terrible waste of public money and makes a mockery of the Council's alleged commitment to open and transparent local government.

I understand that South Lanarkshire Council has advised the Employment Tribunals that the Council does not have the evidence to support its previous stated claims about the validity and non-discriminatory nature of the Council's local pay structures. In other words, the Council is unable to present a viable defence of its previously stated position, despite what it has been saying to the contrary all these years.

In which case the proper and decent thing to do now, clearly, would be to withdraw South Lanarkshire Council's appeal to the UK Supreme Court and provide the pay information I asked for in my original FOI request.

As a well-respected veteran of the Labour Party, Denis Healey, once said: 'When you're in a hole, stop digging' - and to my mind that's very sound advice which South Lanarkshire Council would be foolish to reject at this stage.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards



Mark Irvine

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