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Lies, hypocracy and new labour in Lanarkshire

Gus Abraham | 05.03.2004 17:23 | Anti-militarism | Ecology

Two years ago Union Jack McConnell used the people of Greengairs to promote his newly found commitment to ‘environmental justice’. Two years on and his commitment looks as laughable now as it was unlikely then. Responding to the political pressure from the election of seven Green MSPs, New Labour in Scotland cynically exploited the community of Greengairs and surrounding villages by latching on to the latest environmental crusade. Now, as the Scottish Executive announce the latest approval for further dumping in what is already Europe’s largest landfill, McConnell’s political manipulation of this issue looks mean-minded and pathetic.



New Labour Lies Exposed

LIES, HYPOCRISY AND NEW LABOUR IN LANARKSHIRE

Here’s an old joke. Q. How can you tell when a politician is lying? A. His lips move.

Two years ago Union Jack McConnell used the people of Greengairs to promote his newly found commitment to ‘environmental justice’. Two years on and his commitment looks as laughable now as it was unlikely then. Responding to the political pressure from the election of seven Green MSPs, New Labour in Scotland cynically exploited the community of Greengairs and surrounding villages by latching on to the latest environmental crusade. Now, as the Scottish Executive announce the latest approval for further dumping in what is already Europe’s largest landfill, McConnell’s political manipulation of this issue looks mean-minded and pathetic.

Here’s three hilarious big porkies from Big Businesses First Minister:

1) “SEPA is quite rightly tough on those few who persistently offend.” Tell that to the people of Greengairs, the communities of Kirkudbright where depleted uranium testing continues, or the communities of Grangemouth who suffer daily pollution from the industrial plants around them. The sad truth is SEPA is a useless toothless sop to big business which is as unaccountable as it is ineffective.

2) “Communities do not always believe the system is on their side and I would like to see more openness in dealing with complaints.” Was that why you refuse to meet representatives of Greengairs this week?

3) “We need to ensure that people who want to raise issues know who is dealing with it and organisations work together to deal with genuine concerns.” Is that why you’ve now agreed further dumps and further licences? Who has real clout with your McConnell? Big business or local people? The anser is clear and you’ve been exposed as a liar and a hypocrite.


Ironic that Lanarkshire – stalwart home of Labour – where it’s said you could put up a monkey and they’d be elected - is being dumped on again and again. But this week residents from Greengairs,Wattston, Glenmavis, and Plains protested outside the Scottish Parliament in an effort to persuade they Scottish Executive to stop approving further licences to dump.

The truth is they have been duped by the lies of New Labour. Here’s what Jack said two years ago, defining ‘environmental justice’:
“The people who suffer most from a poor environment are those least able to fight back, and I believe government is about standing up for them and changing that situation.”
For a real laugh (and insight) into the crudity of New Labour’s hypocrisy you can r4ead the full extract of his speech here:

 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/extras/00005700.aspx

Maybe the representatives of these communities (who have this week been refused an ‘audience’ with McConnell) may not take the Labour Party’s word again. What one wonders, will move people to reject Labour and all there spin and exploitation? Recent plans to dump thousands of tonnes of English shit on the community doesn’t seem to have done it.

Scottish Coal intends to dump thousands of tonnes of sewage at Dalquhandy opencast mine in Lanarkshire under a contract with a subsidiary of Thames Water. Under current planning laws, this does not require planning consent – leaving local residents with no way to block the plans.

For the moment the dumping will continue and big business will continue to make a fortune out of the misery and long term health hazards of the people of Lanarkshire.

As for Environmental Justice? At the moment it’s a just another buzzword perhaps soon to be consigned to the same dustbin as ‘sustainable development’ after being used and exploited by politicians for there own temporary popularity.

Gus Abraham
- e-mail: gus_abraham@hush.com


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