THE new leader of Glasgow Council has hit out at Thomas Kerr’s comments about Govanhill.
Ricky Bell – who took over from Susan Aitken last week – said the Reform politician’s remarks about the Southside neighbourhood were “utter, utter nonsense” and accused him of simply pursuing his own political interests.
Kerr, who is Reform’s deputy leader in Scotland as well as an MSP and Glasgow councillor, recently described Govanhill as a “ghetto”.
He also described the area as an example of where “multiculturalism has failed and integration doesn't work” – further claiming that its reputation is now “nothing more than daytime drug dealing, child exploitation, mass illegal migration, and street gangs”.
Speaking during an exclusive interview on The National podcast, Bell said in response: “I’m kinda reluctant to answer anything to him because I don’t want to give him the oxygen, but it’s just nonsense, I mean it’s utter, utter nonsense.”
The SNP councillor, who was born in Govan and raised in Shawlands, said he regularly walks through Govanhill and praised its “vibrant” character.
“If you look at Govanhill 10 years ago and look at Govanhill today, it is absolutely on the up,” he said.
“I don’t know what Thomas Kerr had in his eyes that day when he thought, well, I do know what he had. What he had is his own self-interest, and that’s what drives his politics.”
Bell also criticised Kerr’s political journey, saying he had gone from being on the “Ruth Davidson-wing” of the Conservatives after being elected as a councillor in 2017 and now was on the “far-right”.
“If you were a cynic, which obviously I’m not, but if you were a cynic, you might think that was just about him trying to get the best political job for himself rather than actually believing in any of the rubbish that comes out of his mouth,” Bell said.
The council leader was also asked about growing concern over protests and racist incidents in Glasgow, including recent demonstrations which he said had been “amplified by the far right” – including the Unite the Clans rally on Glasgow Green in July.
Bell, however, also distinguished between those with “legitimate concerns” over housing and those seeking to exploit them.
Bell also said his understanding from police was that “most of the people that are arrested in these demonstrations don’t live in Glasgow, they don’t even live in Scotland”.
“So I think there is a tendency for the far-right to try and escalate these things,” he said.
He also criticised politicians attending demonstrations alongside far-right activists, saying it was “really shocking and really sad to see in our city”.
“You know, we’ve always been a city of immigrants,” Bell said.
“My great grandparents came from Ireland. Most of the people I know who live in Glasgow come from a background that involves an immigrant.
“So we’ve always been a welcoming city, but you can’t expect people to continue to be in that space when it’s impacting directly on their life.”
Bell said the council had called for Glasgow’s status as an asylum dispersal city to be paused, arguing that its homelessness services were under an unsustainable amount of pressure.
He said neighbouring areas around the city had empty properties while Glasgow had people it couldn’t house.
“It would seem to me to be completely logical to say, we should spread that out,” he said.
“Why should Glasgow have to pick up the cost of all of that?
“It is a Scotland-wide issue. You will listen to John Swinney and to other members of the Scottish Parliament saying Scotland welcomes refugees.
“The reality at the moment is Glasgow welcomes all those refugees and we just can’t continue to do that.”
Bell took over the leadership after Aitken announced in May that she was standing down. He had served as deputy leader and has been treasurer since 2020.
Asked what he would do differently, Bell said his leadership would place greater emphasis on listening to communities.
“I think my style is probably more, I want us to be in listening mode,” he said.
“One of the big criticisms people make of Glasgow City Council is that we don’t listen enough.”
