South Lanarkshire Labour Group
The newspapers reported yesterday that the Scottish government has withdrawn a costly £100,000 appeal to the Court of Session - against a decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC).
SIC had previously ordered the Scottish government to disclose the information - under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act (FOISA) 2002.
But the Scottish government refused - initially at least - to accept SIC's decision and instead registered an appeal with the Court of Session.
A move which caused great controversy at the time and drew much criticism - from the Labour party in particular.
And to be fair, the Labour party has remained very vocal on the subject - here's what the Scottish party leader - Iain Gray - has had to say about this latest turn of events:
"Alex Salmond should not only apologise to for misleading the Scottish public about his plans to hike up tax bills, but he should make sure the SNP pay back every penny of public money spent on this cynical cover-up campaign."
Strong words from Iain Gray, you have to admit.
But it strikes me that this is a very similar situation to the one in South Lanarkshire - where the Labour-led council has also refused to accept a clear decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner.
In South Lanarkshire the council also ran off to the courts in a cynical effort to block the release of information that - according to SIC - clearly belongs in the public domain.
Apparently the cost of the Scottish government going to the court of appeal has cost the taxpayer £100,000 - split roughly 60/40 between the government and SIC's legal costs.
Which is a terrible waste of public money.
So my question is this:
'Will the Labour leader in Scotland - Iain Gray - support a similar call for the Scottish Labour party to pick up all of the legal costs involved, if South Lanarkshire Council's FOISA appeal fails or gets withdrawn?'
Because that's the logic of Iain Gray's position.
And what's sauce for the SNP should surely be sauce for local politicians - in Labour-led South Lanarkshire Council.
SIC had previously ordered the Scottish government to disclose the information - under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act (FOISA) 2002.
But the Scottish government refused - initially at least - to accept SIC's decision and instead registered an appeal with the Court of Session.
A move which caused great controversy at the time and drew much criticism - from the Labour party in particular.
And to be fair, the Labour party has remained very vocal on the subject - here's what the Scottish party leader - Iain Gray - has had to say about this latest turn of events:
"Alex Salmond should not only apologise to for misleading the Scottish public about his plans to hike up tax bills, but he should make sure the SNP pay back every penny of public money spent on this cynical cover-up campaign."
Strong words from Iain Gray, you have to admit.
But it strikes me that this is a very similar situation to the one in South Lanarkshire - where the Labour-led council has also refused to accept a clear decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner.
In South Lanarkshire the council also ran off to the courts in a cynical effort to block the release of information that - according to SIC - clearly belongs in the public domain.
Apparently the cost of the Scottish government going to the court of appeal has cost the taxpayer £100,000 - split roughly 60/40 between the government and SIC's legal costs.
Which is a terrible waste of public money.
So my question is this:
'Will the Labour leader in Scotland - Iain Gray - support a similar call for the Scottish Labour party to pick up all of the legal costs involved, if South Lanarkshire Council's FOISA appeal fails or gets withdrawn?'
Because that's the logic of Iain Gray's position.
And what's sauce for the SNP should surely be sauce for local politicians - in Labour-led South Lanarkshire Council.
