NOTABLE over the past several weeks has been the sterling efforts of Scottish Tories from Douglas Ross downwards to distance themselves from Boris Johnson.

With Scottish council elections coming up in May this year, such efforts are hardly surprising. Glasgow Labour teams have been out at the doors across the city from before Christmas and it is perfectly clear that, even among traditional Conservative supporters, Boris Johnson is now a toxic brand.

A very significant proportion of the Tory vote could shift to other parties, or some loyal Tories will simply stay at home come May if Johnson is still in Downing Street.

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Here in Glasgow, we have witnessed over recent weeks Tory councillors attempting to portray themselves as champions of local government and bastions against cuts to services. If directly pressed they will say that Johnson must go. What they don’t say is that the UK Government’s policies of austerity and cuts should be reversed.

In conversation recently with one prominent Conservative councillor, he described himself as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. That is a statement which would comfortably describe Boris Johnson. In other words, despite the window dressing, councillor Thomas Kerr and his colleagues remain committed Tories.

They support and justify cuts to Universal Credit which will cause untold hardship to thousands of Glasgow families. They are enthusiastic cheerleaders for a massive hike in National Insurance which will take more money out of working people’s pockets. Increases in NI will also cost Glasgow City Council around £7 million per year on top of already draconian cuts to our budget.

Glasgow Tories were keen to be seen supporting the local community groups campaigning to keep libraries open in Maryhill, Whiteinch and Cathcart. Meanwhile, Conservative cuts led to the closure of more than 780 libraries across the UK even before the pandemic. They complain about the loss of sports facilities in Glasgow but fail to mention that Conservative cuts have led to the loss of more than 700 locally run football pitches in other parts of the country.

Where Conservatives are directly responsible for funding or running local government, they have overseen consistent cuts in funding and a huge diminution in services. Conservative governments have cut funding for English local authorities by 49% in real terms since 2010 according to the National Audit Office. In 2018, Conservative controlled Northamptonshire effectively ran out of money and all new spending on non-statutory spending was banned.

Glasgow Tories may be ashamed of Boris, but they are not ashamed of his politics or his policies.

Despite their protestations to the contrary, Tories are even more enthusiastic than the current SNP administrations at Holyrood and George Square in restricting both the funding and the services provided by local government. They like to call it “small government” rather than admit their true intentions.

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Over the next few weeks, I have no doubt that Kerr and his troop of Tories will continue to portray themselves as stalwart champions of their community. Most hypocritically they will claim to be the only true protectors of some of our poorest and most hard-pressed communities.

If one of them appears at your door, ask them this: “Which of the Tory cuts do you oppose and what are you going to do about it?”

Their answer will prove that the Conservatives that want to be your councillor are the same Conservatives that are currently in government.

Glasgow is being failed by two governments. Both Conservative and SNP.

Glasgow deserves better than this.