Susan Aitken (born November 1971) is a Scottish politician who has served as Leader of Glasgow City Council since

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. A member of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

, she has been the leader of the SNP group on the council since 2014 and a councillor for the Langside ward since

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Early life

Aitken was born in Biggar,

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scot ...

in November 1971 to Glaswegian parents. After attending

Biggar High School Biggar High School (Local education authority: South Lanarkshire) is a secondary school located in the town of Biggar, South Lanarkshire. It is a mixed secondary school of non-denominational religion. The current headteacher is Robert Stewart. ...

, she studied English Literature at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

before completing a Masters Degree at the neighbouring

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal char ...

. Originally a member of

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

, she joined the SNP in 2000, while working as a researcher in the field of health and social policy.

Political career

Election to city council

Aitken was elected to represent the ward of

Langside Langside is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde, and lies east of Shawlands, south of Queens Park, west of Cathcart and north of Newlands. The district is residential and primarily middle-class ...

in the

2012 Glasgow City Council election Elections to Glasgow City Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the second using 21 new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward ...

. In March 2014, she was made leader of the SNP Group at Glasgow City Council following the resignation of Graeme Hendry. She was re-elected as a councillor at the 2017 Glasgow City Council election where the SNP became the largest party: breaking 36 years of uninterrupted Labour Party control of Scotland's largest city. Cllr Aitken became Leader of the Council, at the head of a minority SNP administration.

City council leader, 2017―present

Aitken took office as leader of the SNP-led administration on 9 May 2017, formally appointed as such on 18 May 2017, and immediately wrote to COSLA on behalf of Glasgow City Council, seeking to rejoin. On 19 January 2019, Councillor Aitken’s administration announced that it would meet equal pay settlements after

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh a ...

ruled against

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, largely with the boundaries of the post-1975 City of Glasgow district of th ...

in a long-running legal dispute which had begun under the previous administration, and which had been a central part of the SNP's 2017 manifesto. Workers later took part in industrial action with support of the GMB and Unison unions over delays to agree compensation payments and a new pay and benefits scheme.

Controversies

Refuse row

In the run up to the

2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...

, which was hosted by Glasgow, Aitken was widely criticised for the general appearance of the city, with many residents concerned about an increase in fly-tipping and rubbish around the city's streets. Aitken denied there was a refuse issue, claiming that Glasgow "looks great" which led to her being branded "out of touch". Concerns also arose relating to the level of

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

across the city, something Aitken said that Glasgow City Council was dealing with.

leader and Glasgow MSP

Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is a Scottish politician who has served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2016, having been Member of Parlia ...

said “Aitken needs to stop blaming Glaswegians for her own failures", leading a spokesperson for Glasgow City Council to issue a statement which supported Aitken, claiming "Far from dismissing the other user's concerns, Councillor Aitken repeatedly encourages them to report incidents of flytipping, graffiti and environmental damage". In October 2021, when questioned by the

Scottish Affairs Select Committee The Scottish Affairs Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Office of the Secretary of St ...

about council workers who had been attacked by vermin whilst collecting waste, Aitken replied: "All cities have rats." She also suggested that Glasgow's waste problems were the fault of former British Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

Proposed closure of libraries

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, libraries across Glasgow closed along with other businesses. During this time, Glasgow City Council had proposed a number of closures across the city's libraries, leading to backlash from the public, campaigners and other politicians. Aitken had earlier issued assurances that no libraries across the city would close.

Personal life

Aitken lives in the Southside of Glasgow with her husband. In 2020, Aitken was referred to the Standards Commissioner by her predecessor

Frank McAveety Frank McAveety (born 27 July 1962) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as Leader of Glasgow City Council from 2015 to 2017. He has been a councillor for the Shettleston ward of Glasgow. He was previously the Member of the Scottish ...

over allegations she should have declared an interest over a £1 a year rent given to a

Community interest company A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...

her husband was involved in. Aitken was later found to have broken no conflict of interest rules, having had no locus in the matter, and the Standards Commissioner cleared Aitken of any wrongdoing.

References

External links

Profile
on Glasgow City Council website {{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Susan Living people 1971 births Scottish National Party councillors Leaders of local authorities of Scotland Politicians from South Lanarkshire Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Alumni of the University of Glasgow Women councillors in Glasgow People from Biggar, South Lanarkshire