McArthur welcomes SNP back to 'sane side' of retained firefighters opt out (Aberdeen South & North Kincardine Liberal Democrats)

Aberdeen South & North Kincardine Liberal Democrats <info@aberdeensouthlibdems.org.uk>

McArthur welcomes SNP back to 'sane side' of retained firefighters opt out

March 17, 2009 12:01 AM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

Commenting on an SNP motion calling for the opt out of the European Working Time Directive to be kept for retained firefighters, Liberal Democrat Rural Affairs spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said:

"Rob Gibson called our campaign to protect the vital services provided by retained firefighters in rural and remote areas 'unhelpful' and 'scaremongering'. These are the same words he used to criticise the Liberal Democrat campaign against the SNP government's forestry 'sell off' proposals, just before the Minister agreed to drop them. As with the forestry proposals, I welcome the SNP back to the sane side of this issue.

"At our spring conference in Perth, Liberal Democrats passed an emergency motion highlighting the potential risk to communities across Scotland and underlining our commitment to doing everything necessary to protect flexibility for our retained fire crews.

"Perhaps now that calmer heads have prevailed in the SNP, we can look forward to Mr Gibson and more of his colleagues joining our campaign to safeguard retained fire services across Scotland."