KATY Loudon called out the “cheek” of the Tory candidate standing in the upcoming Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election during a clash on Scotland Tonight.
Tuesday night’s STV programme saw SNP candidate Loudon, Tory candidate Thomas Kerr and Labour candidate Michael Shanks given the opportunity to ask each other questions ahead of next week’s by-election.
When it came to Kerr’s turn to speak to Loudon (below), he started by saying she had told the BBC she would “always follow the party line”.
Loudon immediately replied, “that’s not what I said Thomas” before Kerr clarified the exact words which were: “I’m always going to follow the position of my party.”
The SNP councillor replied: “That’s now what I said and I will talk about the context of that because that isn’t what I said.
“I want to be elected to represent the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West and I will put them first.
“The question I had been asked yesterday was on council funding and my answer to that was I am a councillor, I will always stand up for local government funding.
“My party took that position in Cosla and I backed that position in Cosla, I back that position in council last week and I backed that position in a council meeting this morning because my priority is about local services for the people in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.”
Asking a ‘gotcha’ question
The conversation continued with Loudon accusing Kerr of asking a “gotcha” question in relation to congestion charges.
A proposal for a congestion charge could potentially see locals in South Lanarkshire have to pay a levy to enter Glasgow city centre.
When asked if she was supportive of this idea by Kerr, Loudon replied: “You’re a Glasgow City councillor so this is a matter for you, I’m a South Lanarkshire councillor and my concerns are for the people in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.”
Pressed repeatedly by Kerr (below) on whether or not she agreed, Loudon continued: “What you’re doing is you’re trying to ask a ‘gotcha’ question and you have the cheek to ask that question of me when the Tories have crashed the economy, you have pursued a hard Brexit, you have cost people in our area hundreds of millions of pounds.”
Council tax rises
Kerr then asked Loudon if she supported a rise in council taxes to which she said: “I support a conversation on this because I am in favour of fair taxation.”
The Tory candidate interrupted to say he wasn’t interested in a “pre-prepared” statement.
Loudon added: “When there’s support for people in place, which there is, what you’re actually asking is you’re asking for people like Rishi Sunak sitting in a band H or above house to be protected.
“I’m saying everyone needs to be protected and they need to be protected from cruel policies like the Tories at Westminster.”
