How BBC Scotland tried to shift the blame for a Labour council’s ‘litany of failures’ in the Edinburgh Tram Project onto the SNP

The only references to any political party in BBC Scotland’s tram story

Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this:

From BBC Scotland yesterday:

Edinburgh council reaches settlement after suing tram law firm – The City of Edinburgh Council has settled its multi-million pound damages claim against a law firm that advised it over the first tram project. The local authority was seeking more than £200m in compensation, claiming DLA Piper failed to give adequate warnings that the price of the tram line would escalate.

and way down the page:

The £13m inquiry concluded in 2023 that failings by the City of Edinburgh Council and its arms-length companies were to blame for the delays in the tram project. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1k2p30028vo

In the 520 word report does the Labour Party running the council get an a mention? Not one.

In the above-mentioned £13m inquiry report – ‘Litany of avoidable failures’ in Edinburgh tram project – does the Labour Party get a mention in the 850 plus words? Not one.

Does the SNP, the minority party of government at the time, 2007, and which was against the whole thing but outvoted by the opposition parties? Three times.

What’s the biggest party in Edinburgh City Council? SNP.

Which party runs the council and has done since the beginning of the tram project? Labour backed by Cons and Lib Dumbs.

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7 thoughts on “How BBC Scotland tried to shift the blame for a Labour council’s ‘litany of failures’ in the Edinburgh Tram Project onto the SNP”

  1. What else do we expect from this shower about time the SNP called them out otherwise its going to be another 5 years of the same unless we grow a pair and get our Independence. We should all send a complaint to this new boss in London.

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  2. “Does the SNP, the minority party of government at the time, 2007, and which was against the whole thing but outvoted by the opposition parties? Three times“

    Indeed and the BBC website had an article on 23 November 2017 in the Edinburgh Trams “Edinburgh Tram Inquiry: Costs reach £7.2m”

    Included in that article was this:

    “The tram project was first mooted in 2003 when the Labour-led Scottish executive proposed building a network of tram lines at a cost of £375m by 2009.

    When the SNP minority government was elected in 2007, they planned to scrap the project.

    But that decision was overturned when the other parties in the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of pressing ahead.

    After that, the government said it would not provide additional funding beyond the £500m committed by MSPs.

    By the time the first trams started running on the 8.7mile (14km) route in May 2014, the total cost of the project had reached £776m“.

    So what has now changed where the BBC are now seemingly reluctant to name the main drivers of this project and also those who were against it but were outvoted by opposition parties that included the Labour party.

    Omission is something the BBC are adept at , especially when in comes to their news reports that have a tendency to exclude pertinent details , that as details could convey just how culpable the Labour party (and other UK parties) either are or were .

    Liz S

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    1. Thanks for that Liz remember it well also put it to an ex Lib msp also about the money sent back to London but his mind seemed to go blank.

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  4. BBC website top story Scottish politics page:

    “Swinney defends food prices policy ahead of first minister vote”

    “SNP leader John Swinney has denied his food prices policy is an attempt to force a fight with the UK government”

    “defends” and “attempt to force a fight with the UK government” ?

    So we are still in a cost of living crisis where it seems that the Labour UK government are not willing to do anything to help relieve the pressure on those families who are feeling the squeeze.

    Yet somehow the BBC (James Cook) thinks that Mr Swinney’s position in trying “to legally cap the price of some food items in supermarkets” is somehow something that needs to be “defended” and so is only being done, not to help families in need but just to “force a fight with the UK government”.

    So we know whose side the BBC is on, i.e. they are obviously not on the side of some of those families in Scotland struggling to make ends meet and so then finding it hard to feed their children , pay their energy bills and so basically just survive.

    Also apparently “The food price policy has received criticism from some, including trade association the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC), which described it as a “gimmick”.

    So a government trying to ease the burden for some families who are struggling to pay the high prices in the shops for so many food items, to then enable them to feed their families is a, checks bloody notes, “gimmick” ?

    Well perhaps in the UK State it would be seen as such , but in a civilised , caring and compassionate country it would be seen as a a positive action by a government, an action to show that they, as a government, want to try to help their people and so look after them (all of the people not just the wealthy ones).

    What the Hell are the shops doing to reduce their extortionate prices ?

    A “gimmick” ?

    Like some of those supermarket loyalty cards , where prices are through the roof on many food items and only if you have have a Supermarket loyalty card do you then (sometimes) get a reduced price on an item, that originally was priced far far too high anyway. (priced up).

    Of course Lee Anderson of Reform UK aka 30p Lee , he would argue that families could make a meal for 30p. No doubt James Cook of the BBC would concur.

    Apparently Lee thought that “nutritious meals can be cooked for 30p per day if people learned to cook and budget properly”…..when is his Victorian recipe book coming out to prove that is actually the case…..Lee’s potatoes and Onion scraps, Lee’s Gruel, Lee’s Boiled cabbage etc etc

    (While 30p Lee enjoys spending his annual salary of £86,584 as an MP , his £100,000 a year GB News salary topped up with smaller, ad-hoc payments for ad reads, social media posts, and appearances. So no need for 30p Lee to budget as his income allows him to buy only the best food and drink – plus the HOC restaurants are subsidised – so who really should listen to Mr Elite 30p Lee with his elevated earnings).

    Both James Cook and Lee Anderson need not worry about having to budget as they are well paid for spreading their toxic S****.

    It seems though that any and all positive and proactive ideas the SNP have to try to help people living in Scotland in this cost of living crisis is then to be attacked , challenged and so turned into something negative.

    Try asking families who are struggling whether they see this initiative from the SNP as something worthwhile or indeed those other families, who may not be struggling, but who have a social conscience and so see this as something at least being done by a (caring) government who wants to do something constructive and practical for some of it’s people who need their help as a government.

    Sick of the BBC incessantly talking down everything and anything the SNP do as political members, as a party and as a Scottish government.

    More so considering the BBC’s awful track record as those whose own decisions, as a corporation, very much lacked good judgement and morality. (yet another glass house player clutching their fake pearls).

    Liz S

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