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Scotland’s First Minister fired back at Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid reports Downing Street wants to cut her out of the COP26 summit to stop it being used as “an advert for an independence campaign”. According to leaked messages seen by the Independent, Government advisers are planning to sideline the SNP leader at the UN climate conference, which is being held in Glasgow. Ms Sturgeon said all that mattered was “that COP26 delivers an outcome to meet the Paris Agreement,” adding that “anyone who allowed politics to get in the way would be abdicating that responsibility”.
But, according to some, Westminster may have another reason to want to take over the reins in Glasgow.
Writing for MailOnline, author Guy Walters said: “If the US President would like a more accurate sense of the city that Glasgow is today, he should pay a visit to the reeking space below the junction of the M80 and M8 motorways, a short walk from the city centre.
“For there, stretching out for an acre and in places at least six feet deep, is an enormous pile of rubbish.
“And not just rubbish, but fly-tipping on an industrial scale.
“Nearly every item of household waste imaginable can be found: stained mattresses, broken baths, video tapes, splintered cupboards, old insulation fabric, smashed crockery and hundreds upon hundreds of black bin bags stuffed with things you would definitely not wish to smell.”
Mr Walters stated that “nothing could better capture the devastating irony,” as the city hosting the most important environmental conference is “in the midst of an environmental crisis”.
He added: “This vast mound of filth and junk is merely one symptom of how a proud and magnificent city has been left to rot, sometimes literally, by its woeful leaders from the Scottish National Party and a council that seemingly cares more about Scottish independence than the dull business of essential administration.”
But he is not alone.
Eva Murray, a city councillor who has lived in Glasgow all her life, said: “The other day, I was walking around the city centre, and I noticed that there was a genuine smell.
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“There’s just no doubt that the city is very dirty.
“We are in the middle of a waste crisis and it’s important that people should know that – including all the world leaders and delegates that are coming to COP26.”
And Chris Mitchell, GMB Scotland Convenor for Glasgow City Council Cleansing, agreed the city was in a “crisis”.
He said: “There’s a complete denial by the SNP that the city is in crisis.
“I’ve never seen a decline this horrendous.
“Over the past six to seven years, our budget has been obliterated. It’s a risk to public health and safety, and in the summer the city stinks.
“It’s actually embarrassing.”
Just a few hundred yards away from the waste depot in Kelvinhaugh where Mr Mitchell works, there is an alleyway between two smart tenement blocks where he says many of the bins are overflowing.
It is also claimed the city now has the fourth-highest rat population in the UK.
From January 2020 to March this year, more than 8,500 calls were made to the council’s pest control services in response to rats. The estimated cost of dealing with these cases is £800,000.
It comes after Labour leader Keir Starmer slammed the city for being in “crisis” also.
In a tweet posted last night, he added: “Workers and communities have been left to live and work in unsafe conditions.
“The eyes of the world are on Glasgow – the Scottish Government must intervene to ensure the city is ready to host COP26.”
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