The Scottish Conservatives have been branded ”an embarrassment” after apparently forgetting that Perth has become the country’s newest city.
As new administrations are formed after last week’s local government elections, the Tories made what has been deemed a gaffe by opponents in a press release on their Twitter page.
It stated that ”council negotiations are still ongoing today with Scottish Conservatives holding the balance of power in 3 of Scotland’s 6 cities”.
In fact Scotland now has seven cities after Perth gained the status to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee, joining Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and Stirling.
The award was much heralded less than two months ago and the blunder is likely to have been the cause of much embarrassment among local Tories who did so much to secure city status.
The error was seized upon by political opponents, who used it to launch an attack on Ruth Davidson’s leadership of the Scottish Conservatives.
Ms Davidson played a significant role in helping Perth over the finishing line but SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing described the Tories under her as an embarrassment after ”forgetting about Perth being a city”.
The member for Mid Scotland and Fife said: ”This is another embarrassing blunder by the Tories in Scotland. Not content with trying to confuse the people of Scotland with their ever-changing position on the referendum, we’ve now got the Tories making factually incorrect statements about the number of cities there are in Scotland.
”In stark contrast the people of Scotland are clear about where the Tories stand in their opinion. They rejected them once again, which is why they have nearly 20% less councillors than they did in 2007.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman, however, suggested the SNP’s efforts would be better served by working for the people of Scotland.
”As Courier readers already know, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson helped to argue the case for Perth to be given city status by raising the matter with the Prime Minister himself,” he said.
”She knows from first-hand experience that Perth is a great place to work and do business with, and was delighted when Scotland’s first capital became a city once again.
”The SNP would do well to focus more of their energy on standing up for the everyday issues that matter to people such as schools, planning issues and potholes.”
The news that the campaign to restore Perth’s city status had been won was greeted with jubilation in March.
Perth’s next step is to secure restoration of the title of lord provost for its civic leader.