GLASGOW lawyer Mike Dailly has quit the SNP’s Social Justice Commission branding it “useless”.
The principal solicitor at the community controlled Govan Law Centre - and a long term Labour supporter who recently switched to backing independence - was one of the key signings for the flagship body which is supposed to show how an independent Scotland can tackle poverty.
In a tweet last night, Dailly said: "I am resigning from @theSNP Social Justice Commission forthwith. My professional life has been about changing lives and using the law to tackle barriers to achieve fairness. The First Minister appointed me this body but it is useless. I cannot be associated with this.”
This morning he added: "If you are going to have a think tank. It needs to think. Have space, time and proper support to enable that.”
READ MORE: Andrew Wilson: This is my advice for the Social Justice Commission
It’s a blow for the body which has been tasked with producing a report showing how independence from the UK could reduce poverty and inequality in Scotland in time for the increasingly unlikely prospect of an autumn 2020 referendum campaign.
Shona Robison, who chairs the commission, thanked Dailly for his work.
The MSP said: “The Social Justice and Fairness Commission was established to develop a range of policies to eradicate poverty and make Scotland a wealthier, fairer country.
“The fact that so many powers in this area remain in the hands of the Tory UK Government is one of the strongest arguments for independence.
“The commission continues to engage with a wide range of people and organisations across Scotland to pursue, with urgency, solutions that will create a fairer society where every individual has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
“We thank Mike for his work on the commission.”
Sturgeon announced the forming of the body at the SNP spring conference last year, telling delegates the commission would show how the proceeds of economic growth under independence could be shared “much more fairly”.
The new group was seen as an attempt to rebut some of the criticism of Andrew Wilson’s Growth Commission report.
Both political opponents – and a fair number of party members – had attacked his calls for tighter spending controls to bring down the deficit after independence.
Other members of the commission include retired Scottish chief medical officer Professor Sir Harry Burns, activist and campaigner Chelsea Cameron, and former convener of the Scottish Women’s Budget Group Dr Angela O’Hagan.
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