Edinburgh Trams - Officials Uneasy as New Administration Looms

Submitted by actionman on Wed, 2 May '12 12.25pm

Sue Bruce and her officials must be somewhat uneasy as the Local Authority election tomorrow (Thursday, 3 May) draw closer.  

They have managed a virtual take over of the Council during the tram malaise which gripped the LibDem led joint administration with the SNP.

With all the squabbling and in-fighting that has gone on the officials have quietly taken control. 

Residents enquiries are ignored routinely, Councillors are denied information - and what information they are given is frequently very questionable.

For instance the inflated figures that were produced which influenced the Council to change its vote and take the tram to St Andrew Square (or is it to York Place now?) instead of stopping at Haymarket, were nothing short of downright deception.   

Add to this the clever intervention of John Swinney, who threatened to withhold £70 million and so forced the Council to then itself have to borrow an extra £231 million to get to St Andrew Square. This left  the City Council looking at a further thirty years of payment of £15 million a year in interest.     Which clever official financier in the Council managed to convince Jenny Dawe and Gordon Mackenzie that this would be a really good deal?    

Or was this a clever SNP ruse to get the Council so much in debt that they would be able to say, "look at the shambles this LibDem led lot have created - we will just have to clear it up for you" ?      It is very clear  that Sue Bruce and her gang of officials have torn this city apart,  not only by destroying so many main transport  routes, but also financially.    

She will be leaving a bankrupt city to lick its wounds when she moves on.   But there will be some disquiet in Waverly Court until the make up of the new administration is known - Jenny Dawe and Gordon Mackenzie have been so grateful to Sue Bruce for saving their political reputations (as they see it anyway) by getting work started on the trams again,  that they have given her free rein to do just what she pleases.  

The day of reckoning may just be at hand!