 | 'She has the mouth of Marilyn Monroe and the eyes of Caligula.' French President François Mitterand describes Margaret Hilda Thatcher. |  |
| 'She has the mouth of Marilyn Monroe and the eyes of Caligula.' French President François Mitterand describes Margaret Hilda Thatcher. | |
Mr Hague also used his fleeting visit to attack the Scottish Executive for cutting the numbers of police officers and allowing crime to rise in Anniesland itself.
He said there was no disagreement over Labour plans to cut the number of Scottish MPs in Westminster but there was disagreement over whether they should vote on matters affecting only England while English MPs could not vote on matters devolved to Edinburgh.
"The question is whether an MP for Anniesland should vote on education and health in Gloucester or Birmingham when he does not vote on these issues in Scotland," Mr Hague said. "People will understand why this causes a legitimate sense of grievance in England."
His remarks were promptly ridiculed by Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace, who is also Justice Minister, who responded: "Scotland always welcomes tourists. I can understand him wanting his candidates in Anniesland to win - but if they do, he must tell them he does not want them to vote in Westminster."
Mr Hague said Scotland had lost 338 policemen with Labour in power and crime had risen. In Strathclyde, there had been 85 murders, a rise of 26. Crime in Anniesland itself was up 15% since the Tories lost power, he said, calling for a tougher approach to criminals. He called for tougher measures against drug pushers who caused untold misery in Scottish families and said the Tories would tackle crime and the drugs problem with renewed urgency.
Mr Hague unveiled a poster at Anniesland Cross showing the shoulder of a policeman with the number P45. He posed with Tory candidates Dr Kate Pickering (Holyrood) and Dorothy Luckhurst (Westminster) while Labour students heckled.
Scotland Office Minister Brian Wilson also unveiled a campaign poster and concentrated his attack on the Tory leader:"You have to admire William Hague's brass neck in coming to Glasgow to talk about crime. In fact the latest police figures show crime in Strathclyde is at its lowest for 25 years.
"The long fightback after 18 years of contempt for people and places like this by Mr Hague's party is well under way. People know that the Tory Party is part of the problem, not the solution."
Mr Wallace described Mr Hague's law and order policy as a "charter to cut police numbers" and said police recruitment was at record levels.
But the Tory leader's visit, however fleeting, appeared to raise the temperature in a hitherto dull campaign entering its final week.
The SNP joined in with renewed demands for Labour's two candidates "to come out of hiding" and take part in a public hustings to discuss the government's privatisation of air traffic control, a subject relevant to Anniesland which lies under the Glasgow Airport flight path.
Labour's Westminster candidate, Mr John Robertson, has said he still has to hear all the arguments before deciding on grounds of safety whether to vote with the Government.
Nationalists sought to exploit Labour's Commons rebellion on air traffic control and electoral reform in councils. Holyrood SNP candidate Tom Chalmers recalled Mr Wilson when in Opposition denouncing privatisation of the service as "doctrinaire nonsense" and other Labour figures saying air was not for sale.
Mr Chalmers demanded to know if Labour Holyrood candidate Bill Butler supported the Government on the issue and added: "The Labour candidates can either support safety and public control or back the discredited London Labour privatisation policy. Either way, they must say which in this by-election campaign."
SNP Westminster candidate Grant Thoms warned profit and not safety was the number one priority of a privatised air traffic control service. An SNP win in Anniesland would rock the system but a Labour win would change nothing, he said.
Shadow Transport Minister Bruce Crawford said under Labour's plan Britain would be the only country in the world to operate a privatised air traffic control system.
Mr Chris McGinty, Liberal Democrat Westminster candidate, said he was astonished Mr Robertson had refused to say how he would vote on privatisation. "I find it incredible that someone who wants to represent the people of Glasgow Anniesland in Westminster is avoiding the most important decision facing the House of Commons at present."
Green candidate Alastair Whitelaw voiced support for postal workers striking in the constituency. "As a long-time union activist myself, I feel the part time postal workers have been shamefully treated by the Royal Mail. I am delighted to see the strength of feeling of all the workers at the depot, full time and part time, in supporting their colleagues demands for back pay owed to them."
-Nov 17th
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