SMITH HITS OUT AT TORY "CROCODILE TEARS" AND HYPOCRISY OVER TOWN CENTRE MONEY
August 21, 2009 12:00 AM
North East Fife's MSP Iain Smith has hit out at Tory regional list MSP Ted Brocklebank for his recent spate of hypocrisy and for shedding crocodile tears over North East Fife losing out on Town Centre regeneration fund money.
Speaking recently Ted Brocklebank proclaimed that North East Fife had been "short changed" and that the fund secured by the Conservatives is only benefiting the central belt, despite the Fife towns of Kirkcaldy and Lochgelly receiving large allocations and his own party Leader hailing the fund as a nationwide success.
Local MSP Iain Smith said:
"Mr Brocklebank's criticism of this scheme comes as a surprise considering his readiness to vote for it without question a mere 6 months ago and that his own party leader is hailing it as an unbridled success.
"Ever since this fund was announced I have been highlighting the issues surrounding its limited availability and criteria, but both the SNP and Conservatives repeatedly raised the expectations of towns across the country who in reality had no chance of seeing a single penny. They have still to explain where the cuts will come from to pay for this fund and perhaps Mr Brocklebank could clarify what he would like to see axed next year to cover this cost.
"Mr Brocklebank's stance is all the more perplexing considering that it was the Tories who supported drastically cutting the funding to St Andrews for the projects in Market Street and the West Sands when they voted for the restructuring of Scottish Enterprise. After all, it was as a result of this restructuring that St Andrews needed to make an application in the first place.
"Again, perhaps he would like to clarify why he thought this was a good idea and why he is so sudden to shed crocodile tears over the matter."
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