RICHARD Leonard has been forced to apologise to a homelessness charity after it condemned him for using a picture of their soup kitchen for “political gain”.
The Scottish Labour leader, who had initially refused to comment on the criticism, tweeted a photo of a queue at the Homeless Project Scotland’s centre in Glasgow.
His post read: “While the SNP rattle their sabres over independence, this is the scene outside a soup kitchen in Glasgow.
“The SNP has failed the people of Scotland and have no desire to take the radical action that we need to eradicate poverty and inequality in Scotland.”
It later emerged that the picture, which was originally posted on Instagram by Missing Records Glasgow, had been shared by various Scottish Labour politicians – including party chair Cara Hilton and MSP Neil Findlay – in posts attacking the SNP.
We are appalled & disappointed that @NeilFindlay_MSP would use our charity image of our soup kitchen for political gain. He never contacted us & has never shown our charity any interest. didn't have the courtesy to acknowledge our charity in his tweet. Do u even know who we are? pic.twitter.com/DvlXL9WyoV
— Homeless Project Scotland (@hp_scotland) November 29, 2020
The Homeless Project Scotland, which runs the soup kitchen, was angered because Scottish Labour had not approached it before using the image.
It tweeted: “We are appalled & disappointed that @LabourRichard would use our charity image of our soup kitchen for political gain. He never contacted us & has never shown our charity any interest.
“Didn't have the courtesy to acknowledge our charity in his tweet. Do u even know who we are?”
Chairman Colin McInnes told The National it felt like Leonard had “walked over the top of us”.
“I think Leonard has a cheek to use and image of a charity he knows nothing about and has never contacted,” he said.
“He’s putting pictures like that on Twitter to slag off the Government. But these are people who are coming out because they’re vulnerable, they’re lonely, they’ve got mental health issues, they want to chat to somebody – all sorts of reasons.”
The charity chief added: “What really irritated me is that he didn’t have the courtesy to thank the dedicated volunteers who travel all over the country to come and do that soup kitchen.
“We were just nothing [to him]. We feel as if we were nothing. We feel as if he just walked over the top of us. He should have credited us for what we do.”
READ MORE: Richard Leonard slammed by charity for using soup kitchen picture to attack SNP
After initially refusing to comment on the story, Leonard was eventually forced to issue a grovelling apology.
He said: "I am sorry that my tweet did not credit the work of Homeless Project Scotland, and the exemplary work of its volunteers in supporting people affected by homelessness.
“Under my leadership, Scottish Labour is committed to eradicating poverty and homelessness in Scotland, and we support the work of all charities working to this end. I have helped out at Glasgow soup kitchens before, and I hope to again in the near future.”
After taking aim at the Scottish Labour leader on Twitter, Homeless Project Scotland issued a statement inviting all political leaders to engage with the charity.
Leonard added: “I am looking forward to engaging with Homeless Project Scotland and discussing how Scottish Labour can support its work across communities and in Parliament."
Homeless Project Scotland was launched in October last year as a temporary winter project but has since expanded, and was registered officially in June. Between March and August it distributed 3500 meals to vulnerable families and homeless people across Scotland every week.
Despite criticising Leonard for his post, McInnes thanked the Scottish Labour chief for doing a “fabulous job” of raising the charity’s profile.
Responding to Leonard's tweet, SNP MSP Linda Fabiani said: "Instead of upsetting charities by trying to exploit their commendable good work in a shoddy attempt to score cheap political points, Richard Leonard would be better advised to use his position and platform more constructively.
"So instead, I invite him to join with the SNP in demanding all the powers necessary to combat the appalling Tory austerity policies that have created the abhorrent need for soup kitchens.
"Then together Scotland could eradicate such social injustice and help the homeless, struggling families, vulnerable and less fortunate across our country."
To donate to Homeless Project Scotland, click here.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel