Labour's leader of Fife council should go

6.54.30pm GMT Sun 5th Feb 2006

Willie Rennie in Dunfermline city centre

Willie Rennie, Liberal Democrat candidate in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, has called for the resignation of the Leader of Labour-run Fife Council over its historic failure to regenerate the old Co-op site and the High Street.

Willie Rennie believes that Labour must take responsibility for years of inaction over the abandoned former Co-op site and only the resignation of Labour's leader of Fife Council will dampen local fury on this matter.

The Lib Dem by-election candidate is leading the local campaign to get something done. Hundreds of people have already signed Willie Rennie's petition urging the Council to restore the city's High Street and it is a key concern on the doorsteps.

Speaking today, Willie Rennie said:

"Dunfermline has a great heritage - but thanks to Labour you'd hardly know it.

"The derelict old Co-op site is a symbol of the years of Labour's neglect and lack of investment in Dunfermline city centre. Many people have told me how ashamed they are of this eyesore on our High Street and they are desperate for action to tidy it up.

"My Liberal Democrat colleagues on the council have been fighting for action for years but time and again their calls have fallen on deaf Labour ears - that's why Labour's Leader of the Council must go.

"Local people haven't seen such wanton disregard for Dunfermline centre since Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, razed Dunfermline Abbey to the ground seven hundred years ago.

"Fife Council's Labour group have to take responsibility for the state of our city centre. We deserve a High Street to be proud of and I am determined to make this happen."