Big Thanks for Attending …

barton-460x380A statement from Graham Barton on the whole Labour for Independence ‘story’:

“The photograph that was used in the article written by Euan McColm  entitled ‘Labour for independence, really?’ which was published on Think Scotland was taken by myself on the afternoon of 15th of December 2012.

The photograph shows five people standing at the side of a gazebo which has a Labour for Independence banner tied onto it.

Euan McColm claims that this photograph is evidence that Labour for Independence are nothing but an SNP front.
His claims are based on the fact that four of the people in the photograph have connections with the SNP. This is indeed factual information.

Unfortunately for Mr McColm this is the only factual part of his article.

The gazebo in the picture is in fact a Yes East Ayrshire campaign stall. Yes East Ayrshire hold a stall in Kilmarnock town centre every third weekend of the month, alongside the local farmers market.

We had contacted Alex Bell from Labour for Independence and invited LFI to attend our stall for a bit of joint campaigning. He accepted this invitation and intimated he would attend the stall at some point during the day.

The Yes East Ayrshire stall was set up at around 10 a.m. by myself and three of the Yes Scotland volunteers that appear in the McColm photograph. When we are campaigning for Yes Scotland we wear our  T-shirts with the ‘Yes’ logo. I posted a photograph of the stall after it was set up on twitter and it can also be viewed on Wings Over Scotland website in the article ‘Running Scared’

This photograph clearly shows that this is a YES Scotland stall and manned by the same volunteers that Euan McColm claims are fronting for LFI.

Alex Bell turned up at the stall in the afternoon to represent LFI. We tied the LFI banner onto the side of our gazebo to highlight the fact that LFI were in attendance at the stall.

We had a very productive day and decided that a photograph was required to celebrate the Yes East Ayrshire/ LFI joint campaign day. This photograph was tweeted by myself with the comment “Big Thanks to @labourforindy for attending today’s Yes East Ayrshire stall”.

I also gave the photograph to Alex Bell who posted it on the LFI facebook page. Again with a comment clearly stating LFI were campaigning alongside Yes East Ayrshire.

How Euan McColm managed to conclude that LFI are an SNP front from that photograph is mind-boggling. The comments with the photograph, the Yes Scotland stall and T-shirts with large YES logo’s on would have alerted any competent journalist.

Yes East Ayrshire look forward to campaigning alongside LFI in the future to help secure a YES vote on the 18th of September 2014.”

Comments (0)

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  1. To think how much has been made of all that too! Lets see how much coverage the truth gets! But Graham, you could have really saved a lot of hot air being blown if you’d come out with this sooner!

  2. Andy says:

    I don’t think it would have saved any hot air.Remember the ones who jumped on this and doctored the photo had no interest in the truth. However what they did do was attract attention to LFI ,Attention which they weren’t really getting before.

  3. Juteman says:

    The true story was all over the internet within minutes of the MSM stitch up, TDB.
    It was a concerted smear attempt by the Unionists and their media.

  4. heathermclean19 says:

    Well every cloud has a silver lining! There must be hundreds of disillusioned and disenfranchised labour voters out there who had no idea there was such an organisation as labourfor indy! They do now!!

    1. jrmacclure says:

      Indeed. They have done themselves more harm than good by advertising the very small LSI group who will now receive donations and new members.

  5. Piobaire says:

    Can someone please send this to the BBC’s Gordon Brewer and the rest of the Newsnight Scotland editorial team?

  6. David McCann says:

    I doubt McColm will be accusing Margo MacDonald of being Alex Salmond’s front woman, lest he get himself a thick ear. He doesnt have the guts of course. Same goes for former Deputy General Secretary of the Labour party in Scotland, Tommy Sheppard, now a valued Council member of the Scottish Independence Convention, and Yes campaigner.

    1. Macart says:

      Oh Jeez, the thought of anyone taking on Margo. 😀

      Mind you I’d pay for the tickets and popcorn to see Mr McColm try.

  7. The roof of the stall which is the blue of the Yes Campaign is a bit of a giveaway that they are standing in front of a Yes stall, isn’t it. Why didn’t the Labour people crop that or recolour it? A bit of a bad photoshop job, to be frank. They need new people to do this disinformation stuff for them.

  8. Ceartas says:

    How do we justify the 3 Edinburgh SNP Councillors in the other Labour for Independence photo-op scoop? Surely not another unfortunate coincidence?Guess Labour for Indy have had their collars felt by Eck.Not heard a word since the story broke #jobdone

  9. Juteman says:

    Ceartas, have you read the article?
    It was a joint Yes day.
    A friend of mine is a filthyTory, (:-) , but I held his rucksack as he put on his crampons before a climb.
    We both had the same objective.

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