On Tuesday 4 June the SWP led Stand Up To Racism campaign in Glasgow held a protest on Buchanan Street steps against US President Trump’s visit to the UK.
Disgracefully one of the speakers given a platform by the SWP / SUTR was Labour councillor for Cardonald Matt Kerr who spoke as a ‘Communication Workers Union’ representative. This is the same Matt Kerr who in 2011 supported, oversaw and defended the closure of the popular Accord day care centre in Dalmarnock, as Glasgow City Council’s executive member for social care. When an FRFI supporter heckled Kerr last night about his role in the closure of the Accord centre he was told to be quiet by police and was very aggressively approached by one of Kerr’s supporters (artist Sharon Thomas pictured above left) who was eventually led away by police.
The Accord centre provided specialist support and care for more than 120 adults with severe learning difficulties and was eventually closed and demolished in order to build a car park for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The Labour councils promise to replace the centre was reneged on and service users were relocated to cramped and unsuitable rooms in the Bambury community centre. Kerr publicly defended this decision in the Evening Times (see here) and was reported by carers, protesting to save the centre, to have been aggressive and confrontational towards them. From a Glasgow Games Monitor article at the time which quoted Accord carers after a meeting with the council;
“Some carers attended the Working party, day service reform for LD meeting in Glasgow City Chambers. Cllr Phil Greene and Cllr Margo resigned from the committee. At the end of the meeting Cllr Matt Kerr became aggressive and confrontational towards a young carer regarding the Accord Centre. He screamed: ‘YOUR NOT GETTING A CENTRE.”
“Cllr Matt Kerr was bang out of order today with the way he treated carers and continues to treat carers and for today to stand and shout and point in the face of a carer who knows more about the situation than he did was a disgrace.” (See full article here).
It is a disgrace that the SWP, which formally supported the Save the Accord campaign, is prepared to forgive and forget the history of such individuals in order to maintain their alliance with the anti-working class, racist, imperialist Labour Party. The Save the Accord campaign, led by carers and service users, fought a brave and inspiring campaign to save the centre and we will not forget them or those suffering the consequences of the Accord’s closure today. See one of FRFI’s 2011 reports of the campaign here.
Written by Glasgow FRFI
