A WAR of words over equal pay has broken out as council leader Susan Aitken accuses Scottish Labour of being 'as bad as Boris Johnson'.

With the prime minister embroiled in a bitter row over Downing Street parties during lockdown, Ms Aitken said Labour's hypocrisy over equal pay in Glasgow is a "brass neck" to rival Mr Johnson.

In today's Glasgow Times column, the SNP politician says her administration has battled to clear up the mess of Labour decisions that led to women being chronically underpaid in the city.

And she threatens that Labour actions will live long in the minds of female voters.

In 2019 a £500 million deal was struck to try to right these wrongs, but the pay claims and decisions about new pay structures are still ongoing.

Her comments come as 14,000 workers are being balloted by unions Unison, Unite and the GMB over equal pay strike action.

Ongoing discussion between the unions and Glasgow City Council aim to resolve the pay dispute, but representatives of the women involved say they are being let down by the council.

But Ms Aitken today said: "I’m confident that settlement of this second phase of resolving this shameful episode of Glasgow’s recent history will happen.

"I must be clear.

"My administration remains 100% committed to delivering pay justice every step of the way.

"But as we emerge from the pandemic, the scale of the cost of Labour’s discrimination, not just to the women and the council, but to the entire city, is becoming ever clearer.

"A generation of Glasgow Labour politicians either directly oversaw or did nothing to challenge this discrimination.

READ MORE: Susan Aitken's column on Glasgow's equal pay battle

"For them to pretend now that the financial challenges that are the direct consequence of their actions are nothing to do with them is a brass neck to rival Boris Johnson’s.

"Glasgow – and especially Glasgow’s women – won’t forget what they did."

But Scottish Labour retaliated by referencing leaked proposals to cut the budgets of services across the city, including English as an Additional Language in schools and teacher numbers.

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "On the day when unions announced they were balloting to take strike action against Susan Aitken's administration over equal pay claims this is a pretty desperate attempt to distract from the brutal realities of SNP cuts to Glasgow.

"Leaked plans from inside Glasgow City Council show Ms Aitken's officials drawing up plans to cut the equivalent of up to 1200 full time teachers in Glasgow's schools.

READ MORE: Glasgow workers to be balloted over equal pay dispute

"In December, Susan Aitken was very clear who was to blame when she joined all of Scotland's 32 council leaders in writing to Nicola Sturgeon begging the First Minister to stop SNP plans to go ahead with a £371mi real terms cut to funds for local government.

"This is predictable party politics from a failing council leader, dragging her feet on equal pay and carrying the can for SNP austerity.

"Glasgow deserves better."