Cllr Marc Macrae said – “Moray MSP Richard Lochhead- The Scarlet Pimpernel – Just like the fictional character of the early 1900’s the people of Moray seek him here, they seek him there, they seek him almost everywhere, yet when the chips are down and Moray Council needs the loudest voices campaigning for a fairer financial settlement he and his cronies are nowhere to be seen.”
Lochhead was elected MSP for Moray first in a bi-election in 2006 and then again in 2007/11/16.
Between 2007 and 2016 he was a Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government, covering of all things fishing, farming and food.
Since September 2018 he is the Minister for Further and Higher Education.
Commenting, Councillor Marc Macrae (Fochabers Lhanbryde) said –
“It would be quite simple for people to assume that having such a powerful representative in Moray, one who plays a key role in the Government, that he would be best placed to champion the concerns of his constituents and to ensure that the area is treated fairly.
“During his time in office we have seen our fishing industry decimated, our farmers left out in the cold struggling to survive and being forced to take loans and our food manufacturers and suppliers faced with a barrage of abuse from his supporters if a Conservative dares to buy an ice cream cone or helps promote local marketing campaigns that do not fit the SNP’s liking.
“Time after time we have called for a fairer budget settlement for Moray to protect core local services, services which are vital to many given we are very much a rural area.
“Last year leaflets were distributed by the SNP across Moray accusing myself and colleagues of betraying the people of Moray. Suggesting we were damaging public services by ignoring a supposed £4million pounds additional funding from the SNP Scottish Government, a figure which only existed in their minds.
“Since the SNP took over minority control of the council they have done little to attract further funding to Moray. Their own membership rules prohibit them criticising the actions of their elected members and they put party politics first every time rather than the people they were elected to support.
“The record is wearing a bit thin and is permanently stuck with Mr Lochhead telling us it is all Westminster’s fault. This year the Scottish Government received almost £1 billion extra, that’s an incredible figure - £1 billion, when you consider amounts as small as £6000 could keep a library open.
“Whilst vanity projects look good on the CV of the SNP Government they do little to protect local authorities across Scotland and the services we all rely on daily. If they really do consider themselves to be stronger for Scotland, it’s time to put the money where their mouth is and demonstrate a commitment to the people of Moray.”
Councillor Donald Gatt (Keith Cullen) said “This year our MSP is telling us the council have £3.2 million more than expected yet our own Head of Finance tells us our share of the additional funding equates to £1.5 million.
“As we approach the budget setting meeting of the full council on Wednesday my colleagues and I call upon our representative at Holyrood to use every tool within his power to protect the services which are vital to many living in Moray and to ensure a fairer financial deal to protect our rural communities from continual cut after cut with next year’s budget gap being £12.1 million.
“One would hope the Minister for Education would understand simple arithmetic!
“Under the SNP – Moray is closed for business as the public are forced deeper into the abyss of pay more, get less.”
