Labour councillors defend newspaper boycott

by Joe Sutherland

Furious Labour councillors have defended a move to boycott a city newspaper.

Aberdeen City Council's finance convener Willie Young says his party is outraged over a report claiming a convicted drug dealer was a Labour activist.

Willie Young has defended his party's decision to boycott the paper. (Image courtesy of ACC)

Hameed Khan was convicted of dealing cannabis and ecstasy worth £30,000 last week.

Councillor Young told STV: "It's never a good thing to get involved in boycotts, but you have to stand up for yourself and the way in which this story was covered has caused genuine anger.

"Of course, there are negative aspects to boycotts, but whereas this would have been a very dangerous game to play a decade ago, there are lots of other media outlets and, to be honest, the P&J isn't as powerful as it once was."

He has rubbished reports that his party plans to take the issue up with the Press Complaints Commission.

The ruling Labour party are now refusing to respond to the newspaper's requests for comment.

He added that the paper's behaviour was likely to intending to "attack" them for their role in ditching the City Gardens Project last year.