A business leader who backed a failed City of Culture 2017 bid has been urged to visit Dundee after branding the city a “token Scottish dump”.
Clive Galbraith, chairman of Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce, made the comment in a local newspaper column.
Hastings and Bexhill’s joint bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2017 fell by the wayside when it was announced Dundee, Leicester, Swansea Bay and Hull would battle it out for the prestigious title.
Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie has now written to Mr Galbraith asking him to clarify his remarks and, in conjunction with The Courier, invited him to visit the city in an attempt to change his view.
Mr Galbraith claimed he was joking and defended his choice of words as “Python-esque”.
He had written in the Bexhill Observer: “While we may have lost out on the City of Culture 2017 bid to the good burghers of Hull, Leicester, Swansea (and some token Scottish dump) it matters not, for we will carry on anyway.”
After being made aware of the article, Mr Hosie wrote to Mr Galbraith to express his “enormous disappointment and bemusement” regarding the statement.
In his letter, the SNP representative said: “It would be interesting to know your reason for choosing to single out the City of Dundee for characterisation in such uniquely disparaging terms.
“But I am prepared to believe that such petty name-calling is an aberration borne of disappointment resulting from the failure of the Hastings-Bexhill bid to proceed to the next stage of the competition and is not indicative of your general approach to matters concerning commerce and economic development.
“I am sure that in your role as chair of your local Chamber of Commerce, you will be aware of Dundee’s leading role at the forefront of life sciences innovation, as one of the UK’s leading biotechnology clusters and a main centre for the UK video games industry.
“In addition to our two world-class universities, there is Scotland’s only full-time resident company of actors at Dundee Rep Theatre, which is also home to Scotland’s national contemporary dance company and the award-winning Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre and McManus Galleries.
“The city’s exciting role as the future home of V&A Dundee, in a world-class building on the waterfront, underlines its already significant position as a powerhouse of the culture and heritage scene.
“The people of Dundee are proud of our city and in conjunction with The Courier newspaper I am happy to facilitate a visit, which I am confident will lead you to revise your unflattering and ill-informed view of what we have to offer and why we are a real and worthy contender to be awarded the accolade of the 2017 title.”
When The Courier called the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce, we were told Mr Galbraith was on annual leave and would not be contactable until next week.
However, he did contact Mr Hosie with an assurance his comment was “entirely light hearted” “based on a Python-esque running theme” in the paper.
He added: “I would be delighted if Dundee won and will explain my comments better when I return!”