3 days Ago By David Mackay
Moray Council talks had to be suspended after leader Kathleen Robertson broke down in tears during an apology following chaos surrounding proposed library closures. The Conservative councillor was handed tissues to wipe away tears as she said sorry if “trust had been eroded” in her leadership. After a short pause, interim chief executive John Mundell stepped in to suspend the meeting to allow her to regain her composure before it resumed roughly a minute later.
The suspension came just moments after Mrs Robertson confirmed herself and depute leader Donald Gatt had signed up to refresher training on the code of conduct. Why was Moray Council leader Kathleen Robertson apologising? The apology came during a special Moray Council meeting demanded by the SNP group after a press release was issued by the central office of the Scottish Conservatives stating controversial library closures “would no longer be taken forward”. Campaigners have been fighting to save facilities in Lossiemouth, Burghead, Cullen, Dufftown, Fochabers, Keith and Tomintoul.
However, that e-mail was retracted within hours with a replacement one issued removing mention of that. The change was necessary due to council officers tabling the proposals themselves and the Conservatives not having the votes in the chambers themselves to reject them outright. Accusations later emerged that neither Mrs Robertson or Mr Gatt had seen the initial press release prior to it being sent.
During today’s meeting Mrs Robertson confirmed the fallout had been taken up internally with the Conservative party, but declined to go into details describing it as an “internal matter”. She said: “We all recognise mistakes happen, I want to reiterate that once we recognised the party’s mistake we reacted to remedy the situation, including with a sincere apology to the public, written apology to staff and to elected members. “I can guarantee that Councillor Gatt, myself and the wider Conservative party have learned lessons from this and have proactively taken steps to ensure it does not happen again.
“We totally understand the distress caused by this, and for this we are terribly sorry.” How confusion over library closures unfolded ‘Library closure confusion has damaged reputation of Moray Council’ While the , SNP group leader Scott Lawrence felt it was important for the council to discuss how they had been handled. The Forres councillor explained the mixed messaging had He said: “What was deeply concerning about the whole issue was any press release could be issued with quotes from the leader, depute leader without any prior sight of the administration group and this council.
“It is important that the stated position of the council reflects the majority of elected members, not by the Conservative party attempting to play party politics poorly. “Their press release has damaged the reputation of this administration and this council.” ‘This is the season of goodwill’ In response, Moray Council councillors reacted with a mixture of anger about why the meeting had been called in the first place while some also praised the “collaborative spirit” of Mrs Robertson before the library closures apology.
Speyside Glenlivet councillor Derek Ross said: “Clearly mistakes were made. We all make mistakes. “My experience is that the council leader has worked tirelessly to make this a more collegiate and inclusive council.
This is party politics at its very worst.” Elgin South councillor John Divers said: “I’ve been in six councils with nine different administrations. “This administration and the previous SNP one have been the best two at working collaboratively in 26 years.
” Forres councillor Draek Van Der Horn said: “We talk about mistakes we make, I think it’s all incumbent on us to search for forgiveness within us for those mistakes.” Heldon and Laich councillor John Cowe said: “There were mistakes made, but not by the council leader or depute leader. They’ve done their best to address it.
“This is the season of goodwill, it’s time to put a close on this and move forward.”.
