THE convener of Dumfries and Galloway Council has this week been accused of being prejudiced.
Ronnie Nicholson, leader of the council’s Labour group, made the accusation of Dee councillor Patsy Gilroy, along with fellow Conservative Peter Duncan following last week’s resources committee meeting.
The pair both deny the claims.
The Tory administration led a move at last week’s meeting of the resources committee to get rid of funding for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgendered Youth Scotland (LGBT) group and instead give the money to other groups, a move which was successfully opposed by the Labour group.
The LGBT group instead received £32,445 they had been recommended to receive, although this was well below the £86,247 they had requested.
There had also been talks about cutting funding to the Dumfries and Galloway Multicultural Association (DGMA), although they received the £40,000 that they were recommended to receive by council officials. The Labour group had moved for them to receive the £54,813 they had requested.
Afterwards Mr Nicholson said: “There should be no place for prejudice in politics in this day and age. But I’m sad to say this move by the Tories appears to be exactly that.
“Peter Duncan and Patsy Gilroy must now make a public statement explaining their position. If, as I suspect, there is no proper explanation as to why they singled out these groups in the way they did then they should resign.”
However, this claim was vehemently denied by Councillor Gilroy, who said: “I’m not prejudiced at all - we have got a lot of diverse communities in Dumfries and Galloway.
“It is part of the debate to have different opinions - if everyone thinks the same there would be no debate. I’m happy with that and won’t be resigning. There are a lot of other local groups that need help.
“We have to prioritise. I would have said we needed LGBT 20 years ago - I’d like to think that we have moved on and don’t operate so stereotypically.
“They are also funded by the Big Lottery fund and they are holding quite a lot in reserve at their head office, but they said they wouldn’t fund local work.
“I would have to ask why are the head office holding the funds?
“I think we realised we needed to keep the DGMA fully funded although Labour wanted it funded fully to their request.
“We felt the need to support other groups such as Dumfries and Galloway Citizens Advice Service and also South West Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre, who are equipped to cope with women’s rape but not men’s rape, which is on the rise.”
Councillor Duncan, who is chair of the resources committee, added: “In the face of Labour’s recession, now hitting families across Dumfries and Galloway, I supported a move by other members of the committee to find some scope to increase funding to Dumfries and Galloway Citizens Advice Service.
“Local families are feeling the pinch in the recession and money has to be found to help them. I’m only sorry that Labour seem unwilling to do that.
“Instead of playing their tiresome petty party politics, local Labour politicians should be working with others to improve access to advice services.”
