SNP, Politics and Equal Pay

Glasgow claimants are still in dispute with the SNP led City Council and Scottish Government over equal pay.

In 2017 a long awaited report from the Accounts Commission, Scotland's public spending watchdog, declared the equal pay scandal to be the result of a 'decade long failure' by central as well as local government.

But up till now the Scottish Government has played no part in finding a solution to this long-running dispute.

    

Glasgow Appeal Sunk (23/12/21)

The Court of Session hearing in Edinburgh earlier today was a unexpectedly lively affair which resulted in Glasgow City Council's application for leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court being thrown out on its ear - in record time, as far as I know.

The advocate representing A4ES clients, Jonathan Mitchell QC, described Glasgow's pitch to the court as a 'kitchen sink' appeal which indeed it was if you ask me, since the case was made up of different grounds of appeal, all of which were given very short shrift by the three judges: Lady Dorrian, Lady Paton and Lord Menzies. 

Glasgow's submission included the desperate plea that settling its outstanding equal pay claims would cost the City Council a great deal of money, but the judges rightly observed that this was not a competent ground of appeal - and not even a valid point of law. 

Quite simply it was the most fun I've had in ages, as the judges went into a brief 'huddle'  after hearing from both sides and before delivering their quite devastating verdict.

I swear it was like the final big scene from the movie 'Scent of a Woman' when Al Pacino's character (Frank Slade) makes an impassioned speech to a disciplinary panel at Baird School in which he demands they stand up and 'do the right thing' by his young companion, Charlie Baird.

So here's a clip from YouTube which sums up today's situation rather well, albeit with a slightly different cast of characters:

1. Baird's bullying head teacher (James Rebhorn) - GCC's senior officials
2. Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell) - Glasgow's equal pay claimants
3. Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino) - Action 4 Equality Scotland
4. Baird School's disciplinary committee - Lady Dorrian, Lady Paton and Lord Menzies

Watch the clip all the way to the end - for best effect.