London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Oct 26, 2025

Margaret Thatcher is at fault for Glasgow’s rat and rubbish issues, according to ridiculed SNP’s council leader

Margaret Thatcher is at fault for Glasgow’s rat and rubbish issues, according to ridiculed SNP’s council leader

A Scottish National Party (SNP) politician has been labelled “completely delusional” after claiming Margaret Thatcher was responsible for the city’s rubbish and rat problem. Glasgow is about to host the COP26 climate summit.

During a parliamentary committee session on Monday to assess Glasgow’s preparedness for the UN conference, the city’s SNP council leader, Susan Aitken, insisted the former British prime minister – who left office more than 30 years ago and died in 2013 – was responsible for the “historic challenges” facing the city. Known as the ‘Iron Lady’, Thatcher launched sweeping economic reforms, including deregulation, the privatisation of state-owned companies and a scale-back of trade union influence.

Aitken had downplayed concerns raised by Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee over the “filthy” state of the city and claimed “all cities have rats”. Insisting it was “entirely gratuitous” to suggest Glasgow was strewn with litter and infested with vermin, she told MPs that, over the years, there had been “one, possibly two” occasions when refuse workers had been hospitalised after “small incidents” involving “very minor contact” with rats.


Defending her previous comments about the city needing only a “spruce-up”, Aitken said the problems facing Glasgow had “been around for many, many years” and added that she was not embarrassed by the city’s current appearance.

"Much of [the challenges are] a legacy of our post-industrial past when the Thatcher government walked away and abandoned Glasgow and left in neglect communities right across this city."


Later, Aitken repeated her allegation from last week that the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, was actually dirtier than Glasgow, despite the remark having caused a row between the two cities. She also claimed to have a “phone full of pictures of rubbish” from a recent visit to London.

Regarding the COP26 summit, which begins on Sunday and will see 120 world leaders descend on Glasgow, Aitken said it was ready to host the conference, albeit with “caveats”. She noted that the residual issues were “mainly technical”, and not “enough to cause panic”.

However, Scottish Tory MP for Glasgow Sandesh Gulhane said Aitken needed to “stop the excuses” and “urgently produce some solutions”. He described her comments about the legacy of Thatcherism as “completely delusional”.

Many social media users agreed with that assessment, with one person tweeting that Aitken’s Thatcher comment “sums up all that’s wrong with Scotland”. Other commenters said the SNP-controlled city council needed to “take ownership of the decline of Glasgow’s image and cleanliness in the last decade.”


A number of people mocked the comments linking the purported rat infestation to the Thatcher era, joking that, if that were the case, the critters had a “longer lifespan than the locals”.

City council communications head Colin Edgar defended the city’s record, opining that Glasgow was not the “dirtiest city in the world or in the UK or even in Scotland” and countering allegations that the city was “dirtier than it ever has been”.

Some Scottish commenters agreed with this view, with one claiming it had looked “far, far worse” before and dismissing the rumpus over Aitken’s remarks as a “Tory distraction”. Others said rubbish and rats were a “UK-wide problem” that was “only being highlighted” at this point to “[smear] the SNP’s leadership” ahead of the summit.

Aitken’s comments about Thatcherism were defended by several people, who noted that the former PM’s policies of “starving local authorities of funding” had had “long-term consequences”.


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
×