Glasgow Southside

Labour Party members in the new Glasgow Southside seat meet tomorrow evening to select our candidate for next May's Scottish Parliament election.

I have been shortlisted with another three nominees after we were proposed by members at meetings of local Party Branches and affiliated organisations such as the Co-operative Party and trade union branches.

I will be speaking to members at the meeting about my record of election success - running and winning campaigns in marginal seats - along with my experience over seven years as a local councillor in senior roles.


TUESDAY, 20 JULY 2010

Result: I was selected as candidate tonight with 65.5% of votes cast by local members. Thank you to everyone who took part.


Scottish Labour Party press release

CURRAN SELECTED TO FIGHT GLASGOW SOUTHSIDE SEAT FOR LABOUR
SNP 'RIPPING OFF' GLASGOW - STURGEON PUTTING 'PETTY PARTY POLITICS' BEFORE LOCAL PEOPLE

Councillor Stephen Curran has tonight been selected by local Labour party members to fight the Glasgow Southside seat in the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2011.

Councillor Curran will contest the new seat in which Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP is expected to stand for the SNP.

Speaking following his selection, Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate Stephen Curran said:

"The SNP are ripping off Glasgow and letting Scotland down."

"Locally the SNP have ripped off our Council with the worst grant settlement since devolution and ripped off Shawlands by refusing town centre regeneration funds."

"Voters increasingly see Nicola Sturgeon putting petty party politics first as Deputy First Minister in Holyrood."

"I am committed to always putting the Southside first in representing every community across Scotland's most diverse constituency."

"My key priorities are tackling anti-social behaviour and delivering improvements in housing because I know people locally feel particularly let down by the SNP on these issues."

"I am grateful for the tremendous encouragement and support shown across the Southside and delighted to be selected as Labour's candidate."

"I'm already working hard locally with a strong team of MPs, Councillors and party members in campaigning across the new constituency speaking to people and listening to their concerns."

"I'm not taking anything for granted and will fight for every vote."

Glasgow Fair - men at work

Glasgow's traditional Fair holiday weekend and it's 9.30pm on Fair Sunday, with the council's Land & Environmental Services team working to resurface Prospecthill Road.

This is a key route across the south of the city with the new surface being laid right next to the busy Asda Toryglen - open 24 hours a day - and the popular new Toryglen Regional Football Centre in an area where my council colleague Bailie James Scanlon leads the local authority work of Labour's team with the support of Councillor Anne Marie Millar alongside James Kelly MSP and new MP Anas Sarwar.

Key roadworks such as this are planned to cause the minimum disruption so it was important to use the holiday weekend for this vital work with the roads slightly less busier than usual and the new surface was ready for streams of traffic the following day.

It's important to praise the council staff who have gone through considerable service reform - including significant changes to shift patterns in Land and Environmental Services - for the important work they do all year round in communities across the city.

Uncollected council tax

The GMB trade union will shortly be releasing details of "uncollected council tax" in all local authorities across Great Britain. This is calculated by subtracting the council tax received last year from what was billed.

Councils can be defensive about this issue, but the GMB regularly points to legal restrictions which make it more difficult for local authorities to collect what is due promptly, for example when tenants rent from a landlord and also when they move from that property.

In Glasgow, the City Council recently announced that more council tax bills are being paid than ever before, with collection rates in 2009/10 at their highest ever levels.

The increase is particularly encouraging during the economic downturn and in securing major year-on-year revenue collection improvements, Glasgow is bucking the trend.

However, it is crucial that everyone pays their fair share and it is the council's duty to spend the public's money efficiently on what is important. In Glasgow, our priorities are education, jobs and the economy along with targeted support of our most vulnerable.

The Council is trying to make it as easy as possible to pay Council Tax and to claim any rebates, but it will also vigorously pursue those who try to dodge their share.

I am currently a member of Scottish Labour's Local Taxation Working Group and previously took part in the City Council's cross-party assessment of a wide range of taxes potentially able to fund local services for Glasgow.

The GMB again raises important issues as we consider the future of local taxation in Scotland.