Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

I almost missed this hard-hitting editorial in The Scotsman newspaper until a kind reader drew the piece to my attention. I will have lots more to say about South Lanarkshire Council soon, but I think The Scotsman makes a very powerful point about the role of local politicians and senior council officials - and whether some of them have lost sight of democracy. Salary secrecy is not serving the public                                          The Supreme Court, Parliament Square, London. Picture: PA The Scotsman - Published on the 30 July 2013            What are local authorities for? They exist to serve the public. They are accountable, through elected councillors, to voters. Abo...

Council budget concerns should not trump justice Herald View   Tuesday 30 July 2013   SO South Lanarkshire Council has lost its Supreme Court bid to allow it to continue withholding information relating to pay scales. SO South Lanarkshire Council has lost its Supreme Court bid to allow it to continue withholding information relating to pay scales. Does the council leadership truly believe this legal battle amounted to £100,0000 of public money well spent? It is very difficult to see how. The local authority, which is currently fighting a £10m back- pay claim from 1500 female staff, must have known there was a high probability of losing. After its arguments had been rejected first by the Scottish Information Commissioner and then by the Court of Session, there was clearly a substantial risk that the Supreme Court too would rule against it, but the council ploughed on regardless. Now it faces a huge legal bill at a time when money is tight. ...

South Lanarkshire Council loses pay scale disclosure challenge The Herald - Monday 29 July 2013 A council had no right to withhold information on its salary scales from an equal pay campaigner, the UK's highest court ruled following a £100,000 legal battle. A council had no right to withhold information on its salary scales from an equal pay campaigner, the UK's highest court ruled following a £100,000 legal battle. Action 4 Equality Scotland campaigner Mark Irvine wanted to know if South Lanarkshire Council had paid more money for jobs traditionally done by men, and had asked the council for details about its pay scales in May last year. <p> The council refused claiming disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act, and ultimately took the Scottish Information Commissioner to the Supreme Court in London after the Commissioner said Mr Irvine had a right to the information.</p>< p> The council also accused the C...

Council’s £200,000 secrecy battle on equal pay Legal battle ... South Lanarkshire Council HQ   The Scottish Sun - By CHRIS MUSSON Scottish Home Affairs Editor   A BUNGLING council blew £200,000 of public cash on a failed secrecy battle involving equal pay.   Town hall chief Eddie McAvoy faced calls to quit last night after the cash-strapped authority was slapped down by the UK’s highest court. His South Lanarkshire council wrongly spent three years withholding staff salary scales from activist Mark Irvine, five judges ruled. Last night Mr Irvine, who campaigns for Action 4 Equality Scotland, said: “If Eddie McAvoy has any dignity, he should resign — he’s presided over the total mess the council has made of equal pay and is responsible for this terrible waste of public money.” The Labour-led council tried to bury data amid a legal battle by 3,000 women to find out if they were paid less than men doing similar jobs. The authori...

Council loses pay disclosure case The Scotsman - 30 July 2013 A council had no right to withhold information on its salary scales from an equal pay campaigner, the UK's highest court ruled following a £100,000 legal battle. Action 4 Equality Scotland campaigner Mark Irvine wanted to know if South Lanarkshire Council had paid more money for jobs traditionally done by men, and had asked the council for details about its pay scales in May 2010. The council refused claiming disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act, and ultimately took the Scottish Information Commissioner to the Supreme Court in London after the Commissioner said Mr Irvine had a right to the information. The council also accused the Commissioner of "a breach of natural justice" because he did not copy its officials into all of his correspondence with Mr Irvine and two MSPs who were following the case during the course of his investigations. Supreme Court deputy president Lady Hale dismis...

Council loses £200k pay secrecy battle A CASH-STRAPPED council has lost a legal bid to block information being released about its pay scales – at a cost to taxpayers of up to £200,000. By: Paul Gilbride   Daily Express: Tue, July 30, 2013                    South Lanarkshire Council spent £100,000 trying to keep the pay scales secret South Lanarkshire Council rejected requests for the information from equal pay campaigner Mark Irvine. When the Scottish Information Commissioner backed his case, the council appealed unsuccessfully to the Court of Session. And yesterday judges at the UK Supreme Court ruled against the Labour-controlled authority’s second appeal. It is currently embroiled in a legal dispute over claims it awarded extra bonuses for male workers while women on the same pay grade received nothing. If it loses it could cost the authority millions of pounds....

Here are just some of the encouraging messages I've received following yesterday's  UK Supreme Court decision - to unanimously dismiss the ludicrous FOI appeal by South Lanarkshire Council. "Congratulations, Mark on the Supreme Court result. Read it on BBC website and of course on your blog site." "Great news!" "Well done, Mark, this is now a really important case for future equal pay claimants." "Congratulations on supreme court outcome thank you on behalf of all my colleagues for your hard work  and support." "Congratulations on today's verdict, you must be feeling well chuffed with yourself today ." "Mark, I never doubted you would get the decision. Well done." "Excellent, will tweet!" "Brilliant!!!" "Excellent news. A celebration to be had." "Well done on South Lanarkshire." "Hi Mark, a big congratulations to you and your team on the great new...

I take my hat off to the UK Supreme Court which just a few minutes ago announced its decision on the big Freedom of Information case involving South Lanarkshire Council. The Court decided, unanimously, that South Lanarkshire's appeal should be rejected and that Mr Irvine (i.e. me) is 'entitled to the information he seeks'.  Yipeee! After three long years, justice and common sense have finally prevailed - although no thanks to South Lanarkshire Council which has wasted over £200,000 of public money fighting this case. The information I am seeking relates to the pay of traditional male council jobs - which will expose whether male council workers have been more favourably treated in recent years - than their women colleagues. As regular readers know, South Lanarkshire originally dismissed my request as 'vexatious' - but now it is one of Scotland's largest council's which is left looking rather silly and, after this dec...

I heard late last night via the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) that the UK Supreme Court is due to deliver its ruling on the South Lanarkshire FOI case this morning - at around 9.45 am.   Apparently, the decision will be issued by Lady Hale who acted as the Chair of the panel of five judges and the announcement can be viewed live on the Court's web site at - www.uksupremecourt.gov.uk   South Lanarkshire (6 July 2013) Here's a little reminder about the UK Supreme Court hearing next Monday 8 July 2013 which can apparently be watched live on 'Court TV' - via the internet - according to the following article from the Hamilton Advertiser. I haven't tried it out myself and won't be doing so personally as I plan to be in London on Monday for the hearing - but here's a link to the UK Supreme Court for any readers who might be able to tune in - www.uksupremecourt.gov.uk I am told that the hearing is being held in Court...

The news that Police Scotland will not be conducting a criminal investigation into the Falkirk vote rigging scandal removes the last lame excuse the Labour Party has been hiding behind - for not publishing its internal report on the matter. Publish Or Be Damned (4 July 2013) David Blunkett, the veteran MP and former government minister, got it right the other day when he urged the Labour Party to publish its internal report - on alleged vote rigging in the Falkirk constituency. What possible reason could there be for keeping the details secret - especially when Labour says it is keen for the business of politics to be conducted in an open and transparent manner?   None that I can see and neither can David Blunkett who sensibly pointed out that:   "We cannot have a go at the vested interests of the Tory party if we don't clear our own house."   And you can't say fairer than that of course - otherwise th...

Kevin McKenna writes regularly for the Observer newspaper and he's not always my cup of tea - I have to admit. But in a comment piece last week - to give credit where it's due - Kevin took a stick to the ridiculous scare tactics favoured by the Better Together campaign in the long run in to next year's referendum on Scottish independence. Whether Scotland votes Yes or No in September 2014 remains to be seen - but once thing seems certain to me even this far out - and that is that the SNP will continue to dominate Scottish politics once the referendum is over. Because labour and the other opposition parties have almost nothing positive to offer - and that's where Kevin McKenna hits the nail squarely on the head.     Scottish Nationalists can rest easy, given the opposition The Better Together campaign uses the sort of propaganda you normally only see when a country is gearing up to invade By Kevin McKenna ...

The completely unnecessary deaths of at least 70 people in Galicia the other day  throws a deadly spotlight on the crime of manslaughter - and the fact that those responsible for committing this offence often escape justice, in my opinion at least. Now I know that the investigation into this terrible train crash are at an early stage, but even now it seems clear that the drivers of this huge vehicle were behaving terribly recklessly - by speeding along at 190 kilometres an hour when the speed limit was only 80 kilometres an hour. The drivers escaped uninjured, presumably because they saw what was about to happen just before the train jumped the tracks - and were able to brace and save themselves. But the poor passengers had no warning, no time to react, as they sat back reading a book, phoning a friend or perhaps enjoyed the simple pleasure of a cup of coffee - before their lives were cruelly snatched aw...

Here's a great reader's letter from a recent edition of Private Eye - the UK's best and only fortnightly satirical magazine. Lookalike Cunningham Sir, Does anyone know if Lord (Jack) Cunnungham is by any chance related to his, er, father Andrew Cunningham, the trade union and Labour party fixer, who served the communityin the North-east so ably and unselfishly that in 1974 he was jailed for corruption for four years following his dealings with John Poulson, the dodgy architect?  Has one family ever given so much to the community without consideration of self? ENA B. FOOT Via email.  Cunningham

No wonder the standard of public debate in Scotland is at its lowest level for years. Just the other day the chief adviser to Scottish Labour leader - Johann Lamont - questioned whether the First Minister of Scotland - Alex Salmond - was 'an arse'. The chap concerned - Paul Sinclair - used to be a journalist of some sort with the Daily Record if I remember correctly and I'm pretty sure he also stood to become a Labour candidate somewhere. But if so his political ambitions seem to have exceeded his political talent - since he remains an appointed Labour spokesperson rather than an elected one. As a special adviser to the Labour leader I imagine Paul must be getting paid out of the public purse - though I'm sure he'd be the first to admit that his schoolboy insults were made up in his own free time - and not at the taxpayers' expense. In any event it's all too ridiculous for words and reflects the kind of personal attacks that Johann Lamont co...

Two years ago I wrote a post about the ridiculous Mr Anthony Weiner - an American congressman who found himself in hot water after sending lewd text messages to a young woman half his age.   Incredibly, the irrepressible Mr Weiner has gone and done it again - but even more depressingly Mr Weiner's wife - Huma Obedin - is standing by him as he campaigns to stand as the Democratic candidate for New York Mayor.    Politics drives people mad, you know, which can be the only reason for Mr Weiner staying in the race - because he must know, deep down, that he's toast.   The BBC reported that a n unnamed woman told website The Dirty she had an online relationship with the 48-year-old last year and in response Mr Weiner - who has been leading polls of Democratic mayoral candidates, said he was "very sorry".   If I were Huma, I would pay attention to the old saying: 'Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me'. ...

I have deliberately avoided the TV and newspapers for the past 24 hours - in the hope of escaping the dreadful wall-to-wall news coverage about the Royal baby - Prince Wotsisname. But as the weekend approaches, I realise that I am fighting a losing battle - just like that old episode of The Likely Lads in which the character played by James Bolam goes out of his way to avoid hearing an important football score - though ultimately to no avail. So let me throw my tuppence worth before reality comes crashing in - I think the new Royal sprog should be called Ralph - or Prince Ralph to give him his full title Because one day he will become King Ralph and that will inevitably lead to a remake of the 1991 film 'King Ralph' - starring the American actor John Goodman. Not a great film as I recall, so it could do with a completely new cast - and better production values.   John Goodman has been in some good movies by the wa...

According to a recent opinion poll only 22% of the voting public expects the Labour leader - Ed Miliband - to become  Prime Minister.   Which means that Ed is   lagging well behind his own party in the popularity stakes since Labour regularly hits around 35% in the opinion polls.   Wh ich must also mean - strange as it seems - that lots of Labour voters can't really imagine their man picking up the keys to No. 10 Downing Street either.   And that really is worrying, as Labour needs another leadership election - about as much as it needs another hole in its head at the moment.   Because it would lay bare the completely undemocratic role of the trade unions in these contests - and turn Labour into a laughing stock.   So while the reforms that Ed Miliband has announced to Labour's relations with the trade unions are long overdue - the promised 'opting in' changes will apparently be put to...