UK NEWS
‘WE NEED THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT PURCELL CRISIS’
Glasgow East SNP MP John Mason
By Kerry Gill
A FULL statement on the shock resignation of Steven Purcell, the former leader of Glasgow City Council, was demanded yesterday.
All 79 councillors should be recalled to a special meeting at which the chief executive, George Black, and the acting leader, Jim Coleman, should give a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding Mr Purcell.
The call was made by Conservative councillor David Meikle, who said he had been “stunned” by revelations about the former leader, who is believed to be in Australia.
Pressure is growing for the council’s leadership to divulge all they knew about Mr Purcell’s drugs and drink habits, and whether he could have come under undue pressure over any decisions he will have made in his position.
Mr Purcell, it has emerged, had been interviewed by the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) who warned Mr Purcell that he could leave himself open to blackmail. There is also mounting speculation leading Labour figures had known about Mr Purcell’s drug habit and that that was the reason he did not stand – as expected – in the Glasgow East by-election, won by the SNP.
Mr Meikle said: “I am stunned by the revelations in the media surrounding Steven Purcell’s departure from public life. I have taken until now to comment because of the amount of confusion and rumour in the past few days.
“Elected members and Glasgow citizens have the right to know the truth.” Others are asking why, if the SCDEA was aware that Mr Purcell was involved in drug taking, no action was taken against him.
Glasgow East SNP MP John Mason said Mr Purcell was experiencing a “personal tragedy” but there were “potentially wider ramifications”.
He said: “If it went back to 2008 that people knew there was a problem, how come he’s been running the council for the last two years?”
Mr Mason also demanded a full probe beginning with a council report, as the Express called for yesterday.
Labour accused Mr Mason of “peddling smears and fears in a desperate attempt for his own political survival”.
