A LEVEN councillor wants to ban The Sun newspaper being sold across West Dunbartonshire.

James Bollan is asking the council and shop owners to back a boycott of Britain’s biggest selling paper. He tabled a motion to be debated this week calling for a ban as a “show of solidarity with the people of Liverpool”.

Last month a similar motion was passed by Liverpool City Council as well as Derry and Strabane Council. Over 30 universities have also banned the paper, mostly for its use of topless models.

Cllr Bollan called for the ban in the aftermath of the Hillsborough inquiry which ruled that the 96 victims had been unlawfully killed.

His motion reads: “Due to crowd control mis-management those fans, whose ages ranged from 10 to 67 years old, had the life crushed out of them. Contrary to the facts, The Sun newspaper published a front page story with the banner headline “The Truth” which contained blatant lies.

“Here are just a couple of the lies: ‘Drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked workers as they tried to rescue victims and police officers, firemen and ambulance crews were punched, kicked and urinated upon’. This was printed in a British national newspaper.

“For this reason and as a show of Solidarity with the people of Liverpool, council invites all retailers and vendors of newspapers in West Dunbartonshire to stop selling The Sun. The suffering of the victims’ families was exacerbated due to the untruths told by the Sun. Council agrees to invite retailers and vendors, through the use of social media, to stop selling The Sun newspaper.”

Speaking before his motion is discussed on October 26, Cllr Bollan said: “Now the truth has finally come out at the recent Hillsborough inquest that The Sun newspaper lied consistently since the tragedy 27 years ago which took the lives of 96 innocent football fans. It is clear from the finding of the inquest that the Sun lied again and again about the role the football fans played in this tragedy.

“These blatant premeditated lies compounded the pain felt by the bereaved families. Having finally uncovered the truth the families have started a campaign to have The Sun banned. The motion is a small way of supporting the families in their quest for justice for their family members who lost their lives. The establishment are quick to tell us that the mainstream media and a ‘free’ press is a cornerstone of the democracy we live in, with that comes a responsibility to tell the truth. The News of the World was forced to close after the phone hacking scandal, let’s hope The Sun is next.”

After the Hillborough inquest verdict in April, The Sun again apologised for its coverage of the disaster. However, it was criticised at the time for being one of the few national newspapers not to run the verdict on its front page.

The paper’s leader column said: “We apologised prominently 12 years ago, again four years ago on the front page, and do so unreservedly again now. Further, we pay tribute to the admirable tenacity of the friends and relatives over so many years on behalf of the 96 who died.”