Vote Richard Cook

WEBSITE LAUNCH

2010-05-28T16:45:00.002+01:00

This website is under development and will be fully operational from 10am on Saturday 29th May 2010.

Thank you!

Help us expose Labour's 2010 Budget for what it is!

2010-03-25T01:16:00.007Z

Even by Alistair Darling's standards this was a Budget that was instantly forgettable.

We now know that Labour have no new ideas, no energy and no plans to get the economy moving.

There was nothing in this Budget except political positioning. No credible plan to deal with the debt. No serious plan to boost growth. All the spending decisions have been put off until after the election, and all the big tax rises concealed in the small print.

The only new policies were ones stolen from the Conservatives - like the stamp duty cut and new university places. It was the day Labour were found out.

It's clear that only the Conservatives have the energy, leadership and ideas to Get Britain Working.

George Osborne has published the entire Budget online, in an open and interactive format. So if you want to help pick apart Gordon Brown's deceptions - take a look at the documents and post us your comments (http://www.yourbudgetresponse.co.uk/).

If you spot a dodgy figure, come across a hidden tax rise or see anything else that you think might be helpful, just let us know. With your help, we can expose more of Labour's deceptions - and ensure this empty Budget is Labour's last Budget for a long time.

A crime is a crime no matter how you categorise it!

2010-03-11T23:40:00.006Z

Dumbing down crime to try and make some supposedly minor offences sound inconsequential is ruining our country and driving the law abiding mad with anger.

The death of David Askew, a 64 year old man with learning difficulties who was being persecuted in his own home by young thugs, is being talked of as being a result of "anti-social" behaviour.

NO, it is as a result of criminal activity - pure and simple.

No doubt those arrested will be afforded a range of human rights they did not afford to their victim. These people take no responsibility for their actions and yet expect society to bow to them when they demand special treatment. For me, to earn rights in our society you need to take a reasonable amount of responsibility for your actions and this is clearly a principle our authorities have lost complete touch with.

Local Police and Council officials were well aware of the issues faced by Mr Askew but clearly treated them as being a series of minor offences which did not merit intervention. By not treating low level crime as being a precursor to more serious events our authorities let Mr Askew, and all of us, down.

No matter what language you choose to use to describe the events that led to Mr Askew's death our criminal justice system must show no mercy for those neighbours say "tormented" Mr Askew "to death - like bear bating".

The important thing now is to learn the lessons these events teach us and to treat anti-social behaviour as the crime it really is. Mr Askew's memory deserves nothing less.

David Cameron's speech to Spring Forum 2010

2010-02-28T22:22:00.002Z

David Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party Spring Forum today demonstrated clearly his readiness to serve his country as Prime Minister.

You can watch David's speech by clicking here: Davids speech to Spring Forum 2010

Why not tell me what you think by posting a comment!

2010 - A Year For Change

2010-01-01T23:52:00.005Z

A Happy New Year to you and all your family!

After a year and a decade of disaster for our country, 2010 is a year of hope and opportunity for us all because this year the people of East Renfrewshire and the UK will get their chance to elect a government with a vision for the future.

For me this means we need change, real change and the sort of change only David Cameron and the Conservatives as offering.

Why so? Well not because Labour, in the form of Tony Blair, boast the first Prime Minister in British political history to have misled parliament into sending our troops to war, nor is it simply because East Renfrewshire has suffered greatly under Labour rule for nearly 15 years. It is because Labour are led by Gordon Brown who led us into the economic recession that is hitting East Renfrewshire so hard.

Want proof? Well here are just 10 financial mistakes made on Gordon's watch, all of which helped the UK achieve the unenviable distinction of being the first major economy into and the last major economy out of recession - hardly making us the "best placed" major economy in the world as Gordon Brown would have had you believe:

1. Ruining Our Pension Funds by Abolishing Taxing Dividend Payments

Before 1997, dividends issued by UK companies and paid to pension funds were tax-free - that is, the tax could be claimed back via a system of tax credits.

Immediately after Labour's election in 1997 Gordon Brown decided this system would be abolished. Tax relief was scrapped, reducing the amount collected by pension funds by around £5 billion a year.

Pension funds holding the cash that you, me and almost everyone else in the country making provision for old age plan to use for our retirement have lost around £100 billion over the last 12 years. One big stealth tax that decimated a UK pensions industry that was once considered to be the best in the world.

2. Selling "OUR" Gold

In May 1999 Gordon Brown planned to sell some gold. There were two problems with this, which concerned his advisers. The price of gold had slumped after a decade of stagnation, but was likely to increase in the proceeding years. Added to this, the announcement of a major sell-off would drive the price down further. Not that this deterred the Chancellor. Experts believe that the poorly timed decision to flog our national treasure has cost us all around £3 billion.

3. Establishing Inadequate Regulation

The system of financial regulation dividing powers between the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, established by Gordon Brown as Chancellor in 2000, missed what amounted to the biggest financial crisis of our lifetime.

Today most sensible and respected commentators conclude that the system set up by Gordon Brown failed and should be replaced.

The Commons Treasury Select Committee’s report on the collapse of Northern Rock said that the Financial Services Authority had “systematically failed in its duty” to oversee the troubled bank’s activities. Little did it realise that Northern Rock was not alone and only a tiny tip of a titanic sized iceberg.

4. Creating a Complicated Tax Credit System

While the tax credit system works for some there is no doubt it is too complicated and prone to mistake.

Take the example of Simon Blackmore, 38, who was pursued for £6,057 in over-paid tax credits. He says, “Gordon Brown claims the tax credits system lifts children out of poverty, maybe it does, but only to plunge them and their families into debt two years later.”

Millions of low-income families have had to pay back the Treasury after receiving too much money in tax credits, putting them under huge financial and emotional strain. Meanwhile, 40 per cent of workers and families who deserved tax credits left billions of pounds unclaimed in the 2008-09 tax year for fear of being chased for the cash later on. Introduced in 1999, reformed in 2000, tax credits have been "a complete disaster zone", according to tax experts.

5. The £10,000 Corporation Tax Threshold

In 2002, Gordon Brown introduced a new tax regime to help small businesses. He announced a new zero per cent rate of corporation tax on profits below £10,000. It was designed to boost the ability of small businesses to grow and prosper. But instead of doing what it was intended to achieve it became a vehicle for massive tax avoidance as sole traders such as taxi drivers or plumbers found it became advantageous to turn themselves into limited companies to take advantage of the new rules.

A Treasury Minister later commented that "the Government did not realise how many people would engage in abusive tax avoidance", despite the fact that it was "blindingly obvious" to tax experts "within 5 seconds" of the budget announcement that this would happen.

Gordon scrapped the rules a few years later, raising the rate from 0 per cent to 19 per cent when he released how much money was being lost.

6. Abolition of the 10p Tax Rate

Gordon Brown is not known for his apologies and very rarely admits "mistakes".

Over the abolition of the 10p tax rate in 2007, Mr Brown told Radio 4's Today programme that "we made two mistakes. We didn't cover as well as we should that group of low-paid workers who don't get the working tax credits and we weren't able to help the 60 to 64-year-olds who didn't get the pensioner's tax allowance."

Experts use stronger language to describe the Budget of 2007, which was designed to produce positive headlines for the 2p cut in income tax. Accountants calculated that the scrapping of the 10 per cent tax rate, coupled with the increase in the proportion of tax credits withdrawn from higher earners, would leave 1.8 million workers earning between £6,500 and £15,000 paying an effective tax rate of up to 70 per cent.

7. Failing to Spot the Housing Bubble

Gordon Brown said he ended boom and bust, and in those innocent days before the collapse of the global finance system many believed him.

In 1997, he outlined his plans. "Stability is necessary for our future economic success", he wisely informed an audience at the CBI. "The British economy of the future must be built not on the shifting sands of boom and bust, but on the bedrock of prudent and wise economic management."

The other components of that bedrock including a trillion-pound debt mountain and a decade of unchecked and unparalleled house price inflation presumably slipped his mind.

In 2003 a mild-mannered Liberal Democrat MP by the name of Vince Cable dared to question the mantra of "the end of boom and bust". He asked Gordon Brown: "Is it not true that...the growth of the British economy is sustained by consumer spending pinned against record levels of personal debt, which is secured, if at all, against house prices that the Bank of England describes as well above equilibrium level?"

Gordon replied: "The Honourable Gentleman has been writing articles in the newspapers, as reflected in his contribution, that spread alarm, without substance, about the state of the economy..."

We all know what happened next and it is Vince Cable who earns plaudits for having the foresight to question Gordon Brown's claims of infallibility. Credit where credit is due!

8. Creating a 50 per cent Tax Rate

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the tax hike which heralded the end of the New Labour project may actually end up losing the Government money. "If you look at what happened when higher rates were last changed in the 1980s, that might lead you to suggest that such a move might actually lose you revenue, rather than gain it, as people actually declare less income for tax,". In the meantime significant numbers of high net worth individuals are abandoning the UK for lower tax economies depriving our exchequer of even more revenue.

9. Cutting VAT

"It would be funny if it wasn't so serious," said a tax accountant when asked about the Brown-Darling brainwave to cut VAT by 2.5 percentage points. As a nation of shoppers, rather than shopkeepers, a chopped down sales tax sounds like a good idea, providing a vital boost to hard-pressed families at a time of financial hardship. There were two problems. It costs £12.5 billion a year and it has made little discernible difference to those hard-pressed families because it is shopkeepers, rather than shoppers, who have pocketed much of the benefit.

10. Public-Sector Borrowing

If we had only saved a little more in the good times, we might have had a little more to fall back on in the bad. Last month saw public-sector net borrowing hit £19.9 billion, the highest on record, according to the Office for National Statistics. Alistair Darling has forecast Government borrowing will reach £175 billion this year. It is forecast that total government debt will double to 79 per cent of GDP by 2013, the highest level since World War 2. The Institute for Fiscal Studies recently warned that "the scale of the underlying problem that the Treasury’s detailed forecasts identify will require two full parliaments of mounting austerity to repair.”

So here's to a year of hope, opportunity and change. I am sure East Renfrewshire is ready to play its part in setting our country on its way to recovery although, as I hope you can see, it is now inevitable we will all be paying for Gordon's gaffes for many years to come even in he leaves office in 2010.

A Very Merry Christmas One And All

2009-12-25T01:50:00.004Z

Christmas is a magical time and I can think of nowhere better to celebrate it than right here in East Renfrewshire.

I have hugely fond memories over my years at Carolside Primary, at Williamwood High, with the 128 Boys Brigade, at Giffnock Tennis Club and with family and friends across the district.

Today my wife, Elaine, and I celebrate our first Christmas as parents. Myles is too young to really understand what is happening, although he seemed very excited to meet Santa for the first time earlier this week. While family and friends will undoubtedly spoil him rotten I want more than that for Myles. I am determined to ensure 2010 becomes the year that East Renfrewshire plays its part in sorting out the economic disaster we face as a result of Labour's recession.

Unless we act now our children and grandchildren will be the ones left to pay for the mistakes of today. Every child now owes £23,000 thanks to Labour's debt crisis, and that simply isn't fair on future generations or in the best interests of our country. We owe it to each other to choose a path of stability and responsibility in government and we will get our chance to help make this change at the polls in the coming year, by voting for David Cameron and the Conservatives.

I know just how difficult things are for so many people in these difficult economic times, particularly as unemployment has rocketed across East Renfrewshire over the past year. On behalf of my family and all at East Renfrewshire Conservatives can I wish you a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2010.

Political credibility relies on displaying good judgement

2009-11-30T01:15:00.009Z

At a time when politics and politicians are widely discredited it is vital that those seeking to rebuild the reputation of politics demonstrate good judgement in order to prove to the electorate that they are capable of representing them honestly.

I met up with Jackson Carlaw MSP and Bill Aitken MSP yesterday with every intention of taking part in the STUC's march and rally against racism in Scotland. Make no mistake, after our participation in the impromptu march against the BNP a fortnight ago, Scottish Conservatives are more than willing to stand up and be counted in the political coalition against racism. However, on our arrival in St Andrews Square it became apparent to us that many of those attending had their own very personal agendas that had little to do with protesting against racism in Scotland.

In particular my comment relates to a banner displayed for all to see at the front of St Andrews Square stating "Boycott Racist Israel" (seen being carried as part of the march between 1 minute 8 seconds and 1 minute 11 seconds of the STV news item at http://news.stv.tv/scotland/140593-anti-protest-rally-takes-place-in-glasgow/). This had nothing to do with the advertised purpose of yesterday's march and rally, as explained in the glossy literature distributed by the STUC to political parties and community organisations, and has everything to do with a political agenda pursued by people who are far from engaged in seeking peace between an Israeli state able to live within secure borders and a viable Palestinian state. Indeed it is often possible to directly link this sort of public statement to anti-Semitic activities in the UK by the minority of mindless idiots who pursue hate based on the Jewish religion or the existence of the State of Israel.

So without hesitation Jackson, Bill and I decided that participation in yesterday's march and rally was inappropriate as it would fail to register our objection to this banner and the sentiment it expressed.

Imagine then our astonishment as we watched the Secretary of State for Scotland and the General Secretary of the STUC set off on the march not 6 feet from, and with a clear view of, this banner - for me an astonishing lack of judgement from the Member of Parliament who represents the largest Jewish community in Scotland.

And that is not the only demonstration of a lack of judgement from our erstwhile MP over the past week.

The Internet is a wonderful forum for communication but must, as with the electorate, be treated with respect.

Today we find that Jim Murphy has had to remove comments from his website after receiving a letter informing him that if he did not remove the item, or if he repeats the claim made in it, he will face defamation action, (read more at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6936891.ece)

By making statements about your opposition that are untrue all you do is bring politics into further disrepute and the claims Mr. Murphy was making about a split between Tories on schools admission policy could not have been further from the truth.

The truth is you will not find any difference between Conservatives on the issue of St Ninians admission policy. We believe the Council, with a view to future expansion of East Renfrewshire, is right to redraw the catchment area and that this should preserve the principle of East Renfrewshire schools first and foremost for East Renfrewshire residents children. After all it is the East Renfrewshire council taxpayer who paid for the school to be built and who pay for it to be maintained. So committed to this position are we that we included this issue as part of a full page advert in this weeks Eastwood Today before Mr Murphy's claim was made.

But instead of stating his own position, so that the electorate can judge him accordingly, we found East Renfrewshire's MP claiming a split by deliberately misattributing a statement made by Paul McBride QC who represents the Conservative Party in Scotland on law and order issues.

Far from having stated it was "completely unacceptable" to redraw catchment boundaries Paul actually used the words in relation to the way the consultation exercise has been instigated and conducted having been asked for his professional opinion on the facts. Paul is senior counsel to a number of Scotland's newspapers and his opinion, as well as that of another non-partisan QC who has reviewed the legality of the Council's position, is that the process has not been conducted in line with our Council's own policies and guidelines and that this has left the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire exposed to potential financial loss. Paul's concern is that consultation should be fair and that the taxpayer should not be asked to waste money settling expensive legal action where it is entirely predictable and avoidable. East Renfrewshire Council has already had to back down on one Court of Session action and I am informed settled legal costs at our expense. This is surely unacceptable at a time when our Council is having to look for voluntary redundancies and COSLA are warning of even deeper cuts and financial hardship to come.

So let's be clear, Conservatives support the case for redrawing catchment boundaries for St Ninians in anticipation of East Renfrewshire's increased population as developments like Greenlaw are built and inhabited but this must be done properly and it would be "completely unacceptable" if this was done by exposing the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire to financial loss.

Demonstrating good judgement in the way we live our lives and in the campaigns we fight is the only way for politicians to excite and reengage the public we seek to serve. I hope to demonstrate I am ready to serve the people of East Renfrewshire by the decisions I take and the campaigns I fight. Whether the same can be said for my principle opponent only time will tell, but until then I think the evidence of his lack of judgement is clear for all to see.

No place for racism or fascism in Scotland

2009-11-17T00:11:00.009Z

A few Sundays ago I was invited, at short notice, to attend a meeting of the Muslim Council of Scotland to discuss what action, if any, right minded individuals should take to protest against a meeting of the racist a fascist English and Scottish Defence Leagues in Glasgow on 14th November. While some elder members of the community felt there should be no counter demonstration, in order to avoid any conflict, it quickly became apparent that a counter demonstration could not be avoided and that Scotland United Against Fascism and Racism would hold a rally and march in Glasgow that day.

Looking at the list of participants, and understanding they would be supplemented by elements from far left politics, it was with some apprehension that I asked organisers for a speaking slot for the Conservative Party. To my delight they agreed immediately as they understood the need for all main political parties to unite in opposition to the politics of hate and division.

So, on Saturday Annabel Goldie MSP, Jackson Carlaw MSP and I attended the Scotland United rally in Glasgow Green. Annabel spoke from the platform alongside Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Mohammad Sarwar MP and Robert Brown MSP - as well as speakers from the Church of Scotland, the STUC and many other organisations from across the UK.

To say Annabel spoke with great passion, following our success in beating the BNP in the Glasgow North East By-Election despite the predictions of just about every pundit on the night, would be to do her a great disservice. She was, in my humble opinion, brilliant. Scotland and the United Kingdom are a great place because we are tolerant of each other, respect our differences and work together to make our communities better.

For me, one lesson for politicians is that individuals and communities seem to have been able to demonstrate this cohesion better than our political parties are able to articulate it.

Marching along Clyde Street, up Jamaica Street, along Argyle Street and then up Queen Street into George Square alongside 3,000 people was a terrific experience. Young and old; black, white, brown and every shade in between; Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Sikh and those of no faith at all - we all marched to the beat of a band of drummers and showed the good in Scotland, while at the top of the town around 80 racist, bigoted thugs were escorted to the City boundaries by Strathclyde's finest and told not to return.

There is no place for racism, fascism and bigotry in Scotland and it is now for political parties to conduct an open and honest debate about our collective failures on policy that have given people a reason to turn to the BNP. While the number of people voting BNP remains relatively small none of us should accept as much as one vote for these people.

My own anecdotal evidence from campaigning in Glasgow North East is that in part people looked to vote BNP to register their displeasure at immigration policy and that this concern about economic migration was not solely directed at people with a different skin colour or religion. I found a number of people concerned at an influx of workers from eastern European countries in an often misguided belief they are "taking our jobs".

No one would like to see our homegrown talent in work more than me. The sad reality is that in many cases domestic workers are not prepared to take low paid roles in less attractive industries and that without some economic migration to fulfil job vacancies our economy would suffer.

In the recent edition of Question Time that featured Nick Griffin a member of the audience asked Jack Straw whether the rise of the BNP was in part due to a failure in immigration policy by the current Labour government. Mr. Straw chose to say he did not believe this was the case when every other objective political commentator would conclude it is not only the case it is the primary reason for their success. The truth is that it is not only Labour who have failed on immigration but it is down to them that the past 12 years has given rise to a belief our borders are like an open door and that people move in and out of our country unchecked.

If you want to know the real truth about the BNP you can find it on You Tube. They would like you to believe they are patriots looking after their own but the truth is they are actually preoccupied by the colour of skin and the religion you follow. From Holocaust denial to compulsory repatriation based on the colour of your skin. If you do even the most basic web search you will find the evidence for yourself.

Last Saturday I was proud to stand up against the BNP, and its offshoots, and to claim the streets of Glasgow, Scotland and the United Kingdom for the law abiding majority who just want to live in peace. For us all to beat the BNP we need to be able to debate issues like immigration in a mature and responsible way and without any fear of being accused of being racist. Our country has so much to offer and that is why people from across the world chose to come here. But, as an island nation, we need to manage our resources wisely if everyone is to get a fair chance to achieve their potential. That is the task in hand for politicians of all our major political parties as we move towards the British General Election - it is a challenge I for one relish and a responsibility I am happy to take on.

It's time for individuals to tackle the MP expenses fiasco to restore faith in politics and politicians

2009-11-03T11:20:00.003Z

It is all to easy for MPs and candidates to sit back and wait for independent reports on the future of MP expenses. The reality is this is just an excuse for some not to take personal responsibility and start acting in a way the public finds acceptable.

David Cameron has made it clear every Conservative MP will have to conform to a standard higher than that currently imposed by House of Commons authorities. I am happy to go along with this and to go further so that the people of East Renfrewshire can have faith that if they elect a Conservative MP the highest levels of probity will be adhered to in their name.

MY EXPENSES PLEDGE

1) I will publish online details of all my personal expenses incurred as a Member of Parliament

2) I will publish online details of all my office expenses incurred as a Member of Parliament

3) I will publish online details of all donations of more than £1,000, in line with Electoral Commission rules

4) I will appoint a local firm of auditors to approve expense accounts at the end of every financial year and publish their report in an Annual Report produced and distributed at no cost to the taxpayer

5) I will provide unedited copies of all expense claims to local newspapers at the end of every financial year

6) I will never claim for food

7) My first home will always be in East Renfrewshire where I live with my wife and baby boy

8) I will never claim for furniture or household goods

9) I will meet all tax liabilities - such as Stamp Duty - without claiming them from the taxpayer

This very simple nine point plan represents a new way of thinking at Westminster and would place East Renfrewshire at the forefront of the public's demand for change.

The UK Parliament is known around the world as the "mother of all parliaments" and we must restore public faith in our parliament at home if we are to be treated seriously abroad. So let's get on and effect change by having a General Election so that the public can pass judgement on a tired and directionless regime. The job of candidates is to ensure we give them a real choice as to what type of politics, and politician, they want to represent them in future.

There are crimes where "life imprisonment" should mean exactly that!

2009-10-30T00:36:00.007Z

There are times when you watch TV and your blood boils. For me, one such instance occurred today with the news that two men convicted at Edinburgh High Court of the most heinous of paedophile offences may see the light of day as free men despite their headline sentence being "life imprisonment".

These two men have been found guilty of a string of child pornography and abuse crimes, including sexual assault of a three-month old baby. Neil Strachan is to serve a minimum 16-year term and James Rennie a minimum 13-year term before they are eligible to be considered for parole.

I thought long and hard about posting on this issue because it is no longer politically correct to talk about jailing people for life without the possibility of parole. I disagree and it is time we had an open and honest debate about the way sentencing policy in Scotland's courts is failing the test of public opinion.

For me, that our criminal justice system seems incapable of sentencing criminals to prison terms that enjoy public support suggests our legal system has not kept pace with the changing world in which we live. There are some crimes and some criminals for whom life imprisonment should mean they never see the light of day as free men or women again.

Police killers, some murderers, serial rapists and paedophiles capable of this sort of systematic abuse of defenceless children should all know that there crimes could enable Judges to pass down life imprisonment terms that mean they will spend the rest of their lives in jail.

I concede this will not stop the most determined criminal from committing these crimes but it will serve as a deterrent to some and as a guarantee to the rest of our society that once caught the most serious of criminal will never be free to hurt them, their families and their friends, again.

The prosecutors of Strachan and Rennie are to be commended for having successfully convicted these beasts but it beggars belief that they are quoted as saying the "severity" of the sentences would "act as a warning to others" when I believe most ordinary Scots would have hoped they would have been sentenced to life imprisonment without the prospect of parole.

So let's have an open, honest and constructive debate about the failings of our criminal justice system, sentencing policy and when life imprisonment should mean convicts never walk our streets again. In a mature democracy this should be something we do as a matter of course but in today's Britain I fear the human rights of the criminal will be put ahead of those of the victim.

I for one am not prepared to allow this to go unchallenged and I know, from my experience of listening to local people on the doorsteps of East Renfrewshire, so many people feel the same.

Labour led East Renfrewshire Council administration miss yet another opportunity to do right by local residents

2009-10-28T21:52:00.006Z

Having just spent 3 hours attending the Full Council meeting of East Renfrewshire Council, I find myself struggling to find an appropriate form of words to describe just how little the Labour led administration of our Council understands the world we live in and the problems their constituents face.

One issue in particular clearly demonstrates their disconnect with reality and I write about it in the hope that making this information as widely accessible as possible will embarrass the Council into reconsidering its position.

Independent Councillor for Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood, Ralph Robertson, proposed a motion tonight that would in effect have changed Council policy relating to the right of residents to protect their property by permitting them to gate lanes adjacent to their property where these lanes are being used by those intent on disrupting the lives of local people. The right of everyone to live without the fear of preventable anti-social behaviour is fundamental to our belief system and democracy and yet in East Renfrewshire your privacy is no longer sacrosanct as far as our Council is concerned.

For some time Stamperland has been blighted by youth disorder, with lanes used by ferrule youths as a place to drink or as a place in which they can avoid police - as they traverse quickly between streets using lanes as a short cut.

In proposing his motion Councillor Robertson provided evidence of Councils supporting their local communities across the UK by allowing residents to protect their property, privacy and safety by erecting gates to private lanes. From Liverpool to Glasgow, Ralph provided detail case studies on the success of gating lanes as a measure to tackle anti-social behaviour. In all every case the result of erecting gates has been immediate success in stopping anti-social behaviour simply by making problem lanes inaccessible.

Seconding the motion, Conservative Councillor Gordon McCaskill talked about the right of residents to privacy and pointed to a recent High Court judgement that everyone has a right to privacy in their own home regardless of any requirement of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act.

What then followed dismayed everyone in the public gallery and remains nothing short of a disgrace.

In proposing an amendment to the motion, which basically supported the Council's current policy, Councillor Eddie Phillips asserted the current policy relates back to a time of Conservative governance. As the Stamperland gate issue only became an issue in 2002/03 and relates to the Land Reform Act which came into effect in 2001 I am struggling to understand whether he believes it was the last Conservative administration of Eastwood District Council in 1995 or the last Conservative government at Westminster in 1997 that is to blame for the current failed and discredited policy? This is quite simply nonsense and a simple attempt to politicise an issue that should be beyond Party politics.

Then in a sensational contribution by Councillor Montague, who is supposed to represent the Stamperland area, she described anti-social behaviour in the area as "perceived" instead of "real".

A more out of touch and insensitive statement you could not make up!

Councillor Montague reeled off a host of statistics to try and suggest that there is no youth disorder issue in the Stamperland area only to find that moments later Leader of the Council, Councillor Jim Fletcher, spoke specifically about additional policing resource having been deployed into Stamperland over the summer to tackle anti-social behaviour - a reference I believe to the much publicised deployment of mounted police on Stamperland streets as well as a regular dog branch presence.

After all was said and done, Councillors votes 8 for Councillor Robertson's motion and 12 for the administration's amendment. This makes a mockery of the Council's motto "Working For You".

Truth be told East Renfrewshire Council's administration only care about their political pet projects.

Later in the meeting the administration's Councillors voted through plans to move ahead with a College while admitting they have not undertaken any research among local unemployed or young people as to whether they would attend a College in Barrhead - despite this being their specific target demographic.

In committing the best part of £9 million of Council Tax money when no economic case for this expenditure has not been proven the Council demonstrate once again they have no empathy with their electorate.

When everyone else is eliminating all nonessential expenditure, East Renfrewshire Council are prepared to gamble £9 million of your money on a project that may or may not prove to be of value. By the time any College is designed and built the current economic downturn will have passed and there is no guarantee places will be filled as employment prospects improve for those leaving school. Equally the demographics of East Renfrewshire suggest there will be fewer young people seeking college places in five years time and then again five years later. None of this was disputed by the administration tonight and yet all twelve members of the administration voted to move forward with this project when they could have postponed their decision by one month to allow research on local demand to take place - as suggested by Conservative Group Leader, Councillor Jim Swift.

I want to see a safe and prosperous East Renfrewshire. For that reason I intend to continue to champion the right of Stamperland residents to erect gates to their own private property and to support the principle of an East Renfrewshire College if, and only if, the Council can prove there is a demand for it among the people who are being asked to pay for it. This seems to me to be a logical position to take - it is only a shame it is a mirror image position to that of Labour led East Renfrewshire Council.

The BNP must be beaten by honest debate!

2009-10-24T01:21:00.009+01:00

The unedifying sight of the BNP's Nick Griffin sitting on a public platform with serious politicians is both distressing and yet another result of the deteriorating relationship between politicians and the general public.

It sickened me to see Mr. Griffin sitting on the BBC's Question Time panel yesterday, but given that nearly one million British citizens voted for his Party at the recent European Elections the BBC probably had little option.

Before yesterday's programme I listened to all the arguments for and against allowing Mr. Griffin onto Question Time. Of all the contributors to the debate I was particularly struck by that of one self confessed anti-facist BNP hater who called in to a lively Radio 5 Live phone-in. I paraphrase his words but essentially he concluded:- We have laws in this country as to which organisations are prescribed and outlawed and the BNP does not fall into this category. We have laws in this country as to what it is illegal to say and Mr. Griffin is careful not to fall foul of them no matter what we might think he actually believes. The BNP now has two Members of the European Parliament, which is an identical number to the Green Party and they are regularly allowed onto Question Time and a host of other national broadcast media forum.

As distasteful as the facts are, this summary as to the evidence before the BBC as it made its decision to allow Mr. Griffin the oxygen of publicity afforded to him through an invitation to appear on Question Time speaks for itself and the BBC were left with little alternative.

From listening to this debate, and my own involvement with the good people of Britain, I have concluded that if our mainstream political party politicians are any good they should be able to take Mr. Griffin and his fascist party activists head on in debate. My good friend Baroness Warsi did this very eloquently last night and gave Mr. Griffin a metaphorical hiding, as far as I am concerned. She did this by being straight forward and honest in her answers, never ducking an awkward question and never doubting that her political principles would see her alright.

Baroness Warsi on her recent visit to Mearns Castle Golf Academy

In contrast Jack Straw tried to squirm his way out of a question put to him by a Mr. Lisle who asked, 'Can the recent successes of the BNP be explained by the misguided immigration policies of the Government?'.

Having tried at first to avoid an answer David Dimbleby pressed him on the issue only to find Mr. Straw keen to hold to a Party line that there has been no failure in immigration policy over the past 12 years - a line even Lib Dem contributor Chris Huhne derided as nonsensical.

24 hours on you cannot escape the fallout from yesterday's events. Every news channel is covering Mr. Griffin's complaints of having been treated unfairly (largely because he lost all the arguments) and every newspaper has its own take on the events of the day.

Elaine is an avid Daily Mail reader and pointed me to an analysis piece written by Max Hastings which I feel pretty much sums up the events of the day and the context in which political parties, including my own, should view the task ahead of us in defeating the racist bigots of the BNP. Tackle the public perception of the immigration issue successfully and you cut off the BNP's raison d'etre. Do this and you expose the BNP as simply a bunch of racists with nothing to offer the people of Britain.

Baroness Warsi was entirely right to tell Jack Straw he was "in denial" about this issue and as a British Muslim woman she was at least honest enough to tell the audience "we have to go out and say to these people - who have voted for the BNP - we are prepared to listen. We (the Conservatives) are prepared to deal with this. We need a cap on the numbers."

Good on you Sayeeda. Only honesty will restore public faith in politicians and you demonstrated this in abundance last night.

Day 4 -

2009-10-15T00:54:00.003+01:00

Up early to get to the Conference Hall in order to participate in the "Great Britain" debate. Having asked a question from the platform it was time to do a quick interview for ITN and then off to say a few goodbyes in advance of the Leaders speech.

(watch my question at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n8ttw/Conservative_Party_Conference_2009_08_10_2009/ from 44 minutes 50 seconds)

Such was the enthusiasm and anticipation of David's speech that queues for the afternoon session started forming from 11am for a scheduled 2pm start.

A few kind Scottish gentlemen who came down to Manchester to lobby Conference had managed to get near the front of the queue and very kindly let Peter Lyburn and I nicked in near the front - only for us to be sat in the Conservative Future section when we finally got into the hall.

For me the speech I heard today from David Cameron was every bit a speech from a Prime Minister in waiting but more importantly a speech that clearly defined the man, his principles and the type of country he wants to fashion under a Conservative government.

Three things stood out for me starting with David putting our armed forces at the very beginning of his speech in committing our Party to giving them all the equipment and support they need. Whether you agree with the military action the current government has committed our troops to or not the one thing we all agree on is that it is a scandal they are not properly equipped to protect themselves and those they are being asked to fight for.

The next memorable moment was David's reference to his family year and to his wife in particular. The things politicians partners have to put up with are above and beyond any call of duty and we don't thank them enough. Our partners don't choose a public life but they put up with calls to the house at ungodly hours and us simply disappearing at a moments notice when someone asks for our help. I must admit to shedding a tear as David described the painful year his family had experienced before paying paid tribute to Samantha.

And I think the most memorable passage of his speech was the one that dealt with the scandal of those left in poverty by Labour's complicated systems. That a young mum working part time, trying to earn something extra for her family, pays 96 pence in every pound in tax and benefit reductions is simply scandalous. In Gordon Brown’s Britain if you’re a single mother with two kids earning £150 a week the withdrawal of benefits and the additional taxes mean that for every extra pound you earn, you keep just 4 pence. What kind of incentive is that? As David said, "Thirty years ago this party won an election fighting against 98 per cent tax rates on the richest. Today I want us to show even more anger about 96 per cent tax rates on the poorest."

Today I heard a speech from a man ready and able to be my next Prime Minister. The Conference slogan was "Ready for Change" and David Cameron is both ready and capable of proving our country with the change we so desperately need!

(watch David Cameron's full Conference speech at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n8pyz/Conservative_Party_Conference_2009_David_Cameron/)

Day 3 - making a difference!

2009-10-12T01:56:00.005+01:00

(apologies for the delay in posting this article, which was due to technical difficulties)
Missed the entire morning of Conference to accompany Annabel Goldie MSP and David Mundell MP to the Conservative Social Action project.

Social Action is at the heart of the modern Conservative Party and for me defines what it is we offer Britain at a time of great social and economic uncertainty. By involving ourselves in projects that are at the heart of our local communities and which deliver tangible benefits to local people we demonstrate the true nature of conservatism in the 21st century. Having travelled to Bosnia earlier this year to participate in one of our international Social Action Projects it was good to get stuck into a project closer to home and which clearly meant so much to the children who looked on as their Club was transformed.

This year's project was renovating Radcliffe Girls and Boys Club. This small Club sits at the heart of a community with its fair share of difficulties. Through its events it offers a community resource that pulls the local community together and although it can't be described as modern it is much loved and valued by those who use it.

After a morning of painting fascia board (filmed by BBC Scotland when I wasn't exactly looking too gainly) and tidying up grounds it was time to hop into a taxi back to the Conference secure zone for meetings with a variety of lobbyists and environmental groups. Having been coated in paint the smell of turpentine certainly makes you stand out in a crowd of people hoping they are preparing for Government.

Of particular interest is the sheer number of people lobbying on sustainable energy solutions - highlighting once again the threat to Scotland that the lights might start to go out unless we take immediate action. It is also good to hear from our international, blue chip companies who want to play their part in a cleaner, more sustainable planet by evolving their business model to ensure optimum levels of recycling and energy recovery.

By mid-afternoon I become acutely aware that while everyone else is in suits I am in my jeans and social action t-shirt - sticking out like a sore thumb. The Scottish Chairman's wife very kindly proclaimed it made me look more human than the assembled throng but it was time to nip back to the Premier Inn for a shower and change into a suit - very kindly no mention of the odd smell from Mary.

On the eve of David Cameron's speech, to what will be the final Conference before a General Election where we hope he will be elected Prime Minister, it is hardly surprising the main topic of conversation is what we will hear from him tomorrow. What will it include? How will he play it? Should he take risks? All subjects discussed at length while David and his core team prepare for a day of vital importance to the fortunes of both the Conservative Party but probably more importantly our country!

But sometimes it all becomes a bit much (even for the most dedicated of Conference goer) and time to take a break from the Conference village. So I join Peter Lyburn, Hamira Khan, Marilyn Orcharton and a select group of others nipping out of the secure zone and down Manchester's "Curry Mile" to the self-proclaimed world famous Sanam Restaurant. Wonderful food to match the company and then back to the Conference Hotel to attend a Candidates Reception before an early bed having been asked to speak in the "Great Britain" debate that opens Conference tomorrow.

There really is a genuine excitement about tomorrow's leaders speech. Britain needs a leader to take it from its broken state to one of optimism and confidence and I am in no doubt David will show tomorrow that he is that man!

Day 2 - Being straight with the British people

2009-10-07T22:35:00.004+01:00

Lots of good events at the Conference fringe but only one thing being discussed in the bars - George Osborne's speech.

We all know our nations finances are in a mess thanks to a reckless Labour government and that radical measures are required to bring our budget into balance and to build a better Britain for future generations. The problem is how to communicate this to an electorate already feeling the pain of Labour's recession and yet to feel the even greater pain of their massive public debt.

George was at pains to remain serious throughout and to stress "we are all in this together". Just how bad things are we can only begin to guess, so his speech was a finely balanced attempt to be honest with the public about just how difficult the choices made by a Conservative government would be.

The following are examples of specific savings that should be made in addition to the tens of billions of pounds of efficiency savings and productivity improvements that the Conservatives would deliver throughout the public sector over the next Parliament in order to reduce waste, deliver more for less, and protect front line public services.

The measures would save more than £7 billion a year in government spending by the end of the next Parliament, or more than £23 billion over the Parliament. These savings come on top of the longer term savings from raising the State Pension Age.

These measures could all be implemented without harming front line public services, and show how the burden of dealing with Labour’s debt crisis should be shared fairly while protecting the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.

Reduce the cost of government without harming front line services:

· The Government should recommend no headline increase in pay for all public sector workers in 2011, except for the lowest paid one million who should be protected. Military personnel on active service overseas should be more than compensated by doubling the Operational Allowance to an average of £4,800 for a six month tour of duty. Altogether this would reduce government spending by £3.2 billion a year from 2011 onwards, or more than £12 billion over the next Parliament. These savings are equivalent to protecting more than 100,000 public sector jobs.

· The Government should set out plans to reduce the administrative costs of Whitehall bureaucracy and Quangos by at least one third. This would reduce government spending by £3 billion a year by the end of the next Parliament, or by more than £7 billion over the Parliament.

· The Government should find ways to cap the biggest government pensions, including those for senior civil servants, local council executives and Quango managers. This cap should prevent any taxpayer-funded increase in senior government pensions already worth over £50,000 a year, and stop all taxpayer-funded pensions for these groups in future exceeding £50,000 a year. This would reduce the growth of public sector pension liabilities by hundreds of millions of pounds over the next decade.

Concentrate benefit spending on the poorest and most vulnerable:

· The Government should stop new spending on Child Trust Funds for better off families. Disabled children and the poorest one third of families should continue to receive both new Child Trust Funds at birth and top-up payments. This would save £300 million a year or £1.5 billion over the next Parliament.

· The Government should stop paying tax credits to households with incomes over £50,000 by starting to means-test the Family Element of the Child Tax Credit at a lower threshold. This would save £400 million a year or £2.0 billion over the next Parliament.

· The Government should cut benefits by up to £25 a week for anyone currently receiving Incapacity Benefit who fails a new work test and is therefore entitled only to Jobseekers Allowance. This would save more than £1 billion over the next Parliament, of which £600 million should be used to help get the unemployed back into work.

Ensure that the burden is shared fairly:

· The new 50p tax rate and associated changes to the taxation of higher earners should be kept in place for at least as long as the public sector pay freeze, in order to ensure that the richest in our society pay their fair share of the burden of tackling Labour’s debt crisis.

· We hope the new international rules on bankers’ bonuses work – that is the best solution. But if we find the money that should be going into stronger bank balance sheets is being unreasonably diverted into bigger pay and bonuses, we reserve the right to take further action and that includes using the tax system. We believe in the free market not a free ride.

Tackle the pensions time bomb while ensuring a decent standard of living in old age:

· The Government should announce an updated review of the state pension age, as recommended by Adair Turner’s Pension Commission. Given the state of the public finances and rapidly changing demographic projections, the review should consider whether the increase in the pension age from 65 to 66 should be brought forward from 2026, but starting no earlier than 2016 for men and 2020 for women.

· This should be combined with a renewed commitment to re-link the state pension to earnings growth in the next Parliament in order to ensure a decent standard of living for all in retirement, halt the spread of means-testing and restore incentives to save.

· According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, every year by which the pension age is increased reduces government borrowing by about two thirds of a per cent of GDP. Once the pension age for both men and women increases by a year there will be a saving of around £13 billion a year.

So, no matter how good a time you have catching up with old friends and sharing ideas with new colleagues you can't help thinking about the problems that lie ahead for our country. Serious times demand serious men and women ready to make serious decisions and today I think we saw George Osborne is ready to be one of them.

Day 1 - Setting an agenda for change

2009-10-06T12:03:00.005+01:00

After a late night at the Conference hotel it was an early rise to get to the conference venue. Manchester, like Birmingham last year, offers a very different conference experience to that the Conservative Party has been used to in Bournemouth and Blackpool over decades - some good and some not so good.

The venues themselves are far better, more open and an all round more comfortable experience. The down side is that a number of our best volunteers are deterred from coming to conference at city centre venues by the extortionate cost of hotel rooms - many costing twice as much this week as they did last week or next.

Our conference agenda yesterday was altered so that David Cameron and his team could promote new policies. They did so in a collegiate form with George Osborne, Ken Clarke, Michael Gove, David Willetts and Baroness Warsi all taking to the stage in an extraordinary example of teamwork.

So what did David Cameron say?

He outlined plans for a massive programme to "Get Britain Working".

If you were to summarise this programme you would simply say David Cameron's plan is to simplify Labour’s numerous and piecemeal programmes into one single back-to-work programme for everyone on out of work benefits.

The Work Programme will include support back into work for the 2.6 million people claiming Incapacity Benefits currently excluded by Labour. David confirmed we will abolish the Treasury’s rule that prevents the Government paying work providers using the benefits saved once someone has a job. This will allow us to offer support to the 2.6 million people on Incapacity Benefit.

We will offer greater support to the young unemployed by referring them on to the Work Programme after 6 months of unemployment compared to a year under the Flexible New Deal.
Under this scheme we will pay providers by results with a focus on truly sustainable outcomes and bigger rewards for getting the hardest to help into a job.

And our plans do not stop there:

David Cameron confirmed that 50,000 work pairing places, on average, each year for young people, who will be assigned to sole traders for six months of meaningful work experience and mentoring would be created by Conservative policy.

Then there are the 100,000 additional apprenticeships and training places each year, as well as the 50,000 additional training places at FE colleges each year that are being created for next year.

Finally there is the distressing news of Gary's death. Expansion of the government’s Young Apprenticeship (YA) scheme, from the current 10,000 to over 30,000 each year.

David Cameron said the measures were essential to tackle the problem of two and a half million people unemployed, with one in five young people unable to find a job, and he added: "Labour are now the party of unemployment, I want the new Conservative Party to be the party of jobs and opportunity and at the heart of it is a big, bold and radical scheme to get millions of people back to work."

Ready for Change!

2009-10-04T18:02:00.011+01:00

I am writing this on a train to Manchester in eager anticipation of a Conservative Party Conference that I hope will have a real vibrancy.

For months I have been canvassing doorsteps and have been asked "when will Conservative policy be announced?". People have understood the need to ensure policy announcements are relevant to the timing of a General Election and I have been telling them I believed this coming conference would see the beginning of policies being rolled out in advance of a General Election.

So I am delighted to see Annabel Goldie has announced two new policies for Scotland today, just as David Cameron and his team have released details of plans to get Britain back to work, by enabling millions on welfare to access training, as well as announcing plans to open luxurious grace and favour residences – currently lying empty or little-used – to charities and voluntary groups to support good causes. This follows hard on the heels of Andrew Lansley announcement of a scheme that would end the scandal of forced house sales to pay for care - offering elderly people across England & Wales an escape from Labour's forced sale crisis.

Annabel's announcements today include measures to support NHS workers who have the courage to Whistleblow and a demand in our budget negotiations with the SNP Scottish Executive that they create a Business Dividend Fund in order to turn Scotland into a real Enterprise country.

All these policy announcements, for Scotland and the rest of the UK, demonstrate very clearly that it is the Conservative Party who are in touch with the priorities of the public and who have practical solutions that will deliver real benefits to those most in need.

I am going to blog every day this week with my Conference Diary and reflections on policy announcements and hope this help inform those who want to know what a David Cameron led Conservative Government will mean for them and their families.

After all, people are "ready for change" and need to have faith they are voting for it. Constituencies like East Renfrewshire, which is a straight Labour -v- Conservative contest, offer people an opportunity to "vote for change" and that is what I hope to be able to encourage you to do!

Being charitable is part of East Renfrewshire's DNA

2009-09-05T21:11:00.013+01:00

I am not sure anyone actually coordinates statistics on donations to charity but my guess is East Renfrewshire will top Scotland's donations per head of population if these stats exist.

On Tuesday morning Jackson Carlaw and I met up with sisters Corin Ling and Lesley Love who are running the New York Marathon later this year to raise money for local charity East Renfrewshire Good Causes. I would, of course, encourage everyone to sponsor Corin and Lesley (you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/thesistersloverunning/) not just because the girls are from East Renfrewshire and prepared to go through severe pain for charity but because the story of East Renfrewshire Good Causes is such an impressive and heartwarming one.

From left to right - Richard Cook, Lesley Love, Corin Ling and Jackson Carlaw MSP at Rouken Glen Park. Next Stop Central Park!

In fact, I am not sure too many local people are actually aware we have our own, very local, charity prepared to help those in need when they need it most.

Local man, Russell Macmillan set up the East Renfrewshire Good Causes charity as his way of "repaying his debt to society". Russell underwent a pancreas and kidney transplant after fighting Type 1 Diabetes for more than 30 years and decided to set up a charity to deliver real benefits to the people of East Renfrewshire because he wanted to put something back into a community he believes supported him when he needed it most.

Despite being registered blind, with just 5 per cent tunnel vision in one eye, Russell runs East Renfrewshire Good Causes from his home in Newton Mearns, taking not one penny of the money raised for himself to ensure 100% of the money you donate goes to local "good causes". Russell and the charity Trustees are constantly on the lookout for worthy causes to support across the length and breadth of East Renfrewshire and have already distributed thousands of pounds to those most in need of help. In many ways Russell has already repaid any "debt to society" hundreds of times over and everyone in East Renfrewshire should be very grateful to him for his dedication to our local area.

Of course East Renfrewshire's connection with charitable giving does not stop with East Renfrewshire Good Causes or indeed in the form of numerous Direct Debits paid to charities by people across East Renfrewshire every month. Thousands of local people give of their time every year to raise money through participation in sponsored events or through organising fundraising activities for any one of our numerous churches, synagogues, schools or voluntary organisations.

And we should of course pay tribute to local people who volunteer to staff the raft of charity shops on local high streets - even if many of us would like to see fewer charity shops in favour of a wide variety of local shops that are able to compete with the giant supermarket chains.

Earlier today I was privileged to be on the pitch at Hampden helping a team of volunteers who manage the process of laying out and removing the massive centre circle banner, which is used as the backdrop for teams arriving onto the pitch and the singing of national anthems.

For me standing on the Hampden pitch in front of 50,000 members of the Tartan army belting out the Proclaimers 500 miles was a once in a lifetime experience and payment enough for performing a pretty straight forward task. I also had a massive sense of relief when I didn’t trip and fall coming off the pitch bring a conga line of volunteers carrying a water laden banner down with me.

That is why I am donating my fee to local charities.

On the pitch at Hampden before Scotland beat Macedonia 2-0 to keep our hope of qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa alive!

I have donated part of my fee by sponsoring Corin and Lesley's participation in this years New York Marathon (http://www.justgiving.com/thesistersloverunning/) and have used the rest to sponsor Hamira Khan who is taking part in The Great Scottish Run, pounding the streets of Glasgow, tomorrow.

Hamira is Chair of the Scottish Conservative Community Cohesion Task Force and is running tomorrow in aid of Roshni. Roshni are a children’s charity based in Glasgow city centre with a team committed to the long-term development of child protection in the ethnic communities. Like East Renfrewshire Good Causes, I suspect Roshni is a local charity relatively few people will have heard of let alone understand the vital work they do. When you research the work they carry out in our communities and in lobbying parliament for better child protection the need to support Roshni becomes very apparent. (http://www.roshni.org.uk/).

Being actively involved in the everyday life of East Renfrewshire it becomes ever more apparent to me just how fortunate I am to be standing for Parliament in a constituency where giving is an integral part of local communities. Your time, your effort, your money - all are greatly valued by those who need help and all are given freely by local people every day.

Being charitable is part of East Renfrewshire's DNA, and that is just one more thing that makes this area so special!

Release of al-Megrahi set to cost East Renfrewshire dear!

2009-08-22T12:41:00.007+01:00

The release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds has split opinion across Scotland in two, although across the rest of the free world it has largely brought condemnation.

Scenes of the Saltire being waved on the tarmac at Tripoli Airport, in celebration at Mr. Megrahi's return, were sickening to me particularly as Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP, confirmed in his statement that Mr. Megrahi had expressed no remorse or compassion for the 270 victims of the bomb he was convicted of planting on Pan Am Flight 103.

These scenes brought shame on our national flag

More conceerning to me is the revelation that East Renfrewshire Council are now expected to monitor Mr. Megrahi while he is in Libya to ensure he adheres to the terms of release that have been agreed. Our officials are to receive regular medical reports and are reported to be establishing a satellite link to Libya to maintain communication.

That the hard pressed Council Tax payer of East Renfrewshire is expected to pay for this is completely unacceptable to me and the SNP Scottish Executive who took this perverse decision must immediately indemnify us against any loss.

As equally unacceptable is the silence of our local MP, and Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy. Scotland's name is being dragged through the mud internationally and the man empowered with representing our country through our UK national parliament remains silent.

His own constituents face the prospect of financial loss simply because we had the good grace to host Mr. Megrahi's family while he served his term in Greenock Prison - and that is completely unacceptable to me. Despite the difficult circumstances under which the Megrahi family came to live in Newton Mearns they lived in peace and were accepted by our local community. That we are now open to financial loss as a result is unacceptable.

In the modern day when most politicians have blog sites and/or Twitter it is easy to register what you believe on any issue, even if the media do not report what you say. Jim Murphy's blog remains as silent as his burgeoning press office on an issue that affects Scotland as a whole but more particularly his constituents in East Renfrewshire and that is an abdication of responsibility for which he must be held to account.

Conservative Social Action sets the tone of things to come!

2009-07-27T00:34:00.002+01:00

I'm off to Srebrenica in a few hours to join Baroness Warsi and William Hague in delivering real benefits to a town that has seen so much hurt.

Myles is now just 12 days old and I already know I will miss him and Mum immensely. But opportunities to make a difference don't come along often and it is with Elaine's support that I join Project Maja to deliver real benefits to a community dealing with so much distress.

Some will say the Conservative Party has never really changed and this is a publicity stunt to pretend you have changed, but the truth is Conservatives have always believed in giving people the opportunity to help themselves. That is exactly what we will be doing in Bosnia. We are helping school children, a family and a community to rebuild their lives.

The Conservative Party is also actively involved in Rawanda where Conservatives are helping to train nurses and teachers and in Sierra Leone where we are trying to improve the justice system, human rights and the role of women in society.

Giving people the opportunity to help themselves has always been at the core of Conservative beliefs.

Perhaps what we haven’t been so good at in the past is projecting that image but this is not about a publicity stunt.

Conservatives supported Nato’s intervention in the Balkans in the mid- nineties and we have always supported the rebuilding programme. What we will be doing is a small attempt to help but it is also about not forgetting what happened in Bosnia.

In Srebrenica it is just over a decade since 8,000 innocent civilians, many of them children, were brutally murdered by paramilitary units commanded by alleged war criminal General Ratko Mladic. And yet it seems a lot longer. Iraq and Afghanistan are at the forefront of people’s minds at the moment but we must never forget what happened here.

I could go on and on about why we need to remember the past so as to not make the same mistakes again and to talk about Conservatives Social Action at home in the UK - and I probably will soon. The fact is that Project Maja will make a difference to those it touches and everyone involved will be richer for their time in Srebrenica.

Baby Joy puts everything into perspective

2009-07-15T23:57:00.013+01:00

Elaine delivered a beautiful baby boy this morning at 9.37am. Weighing in at a massive 9lb 10.5oz we have a very big boy on our hands with big lungs and a ferocious appetite.

Despite the rumours, Myles Andrew Cook was not born by caesarean section because Elaine is "too posh to push", he was actually facing the wrong way - clearly having inherited his mothers sense of direction - and what Elaine calls a "sunroof job" was the safest way to ensure both mother and child remained healthy.

The staff at the Queen Mother's Hospital have been quite simply fantastic all day, helping us to get used to one another and sorting out Big MAC's low blood sugar level. If anyone ever questions the capabilities of our NHS they need only speak to anyone who has experienced the dedication and professionalism of midwifes up and down the country as a testimony to all that is best in our health service.

It will be a few days before I get mother and baby home and I can't wait to introduce him to the dozens and dozens of people who have been so eager to meet little Cookie. Elaine is insistent on a "no canvassing with the baby" clause until he is a little older but I think I might manage to cart him around for leaflet delivery when the weather suits.

Today's events put everything I do into perspective and fill me with a sense that it has never been more important to campaign for a new government in order that Myles and his generation grow up with hope for the future. If my generation fail generations to come we will leave them paying off the massive national debt being incurred today to pay off current generations greed and stupidity. Holding your own baby just a minute or so after his birth really is a bewildering experience that it is difficult to put into words. So here's to Myles and Elaine with all my love and adoration - I just never thought I would blog on such a miraculous event and thank God I am able to do so today.

Labour lunatics are running the asylum!

2009-07-10T01:22:00.005+01:00

I like to think that my style is far more about proposing solutions to problems rather than simply pointing to problems and criticising people or organisations. Tonight, I fear, I will break with tradition!

We have all heard the phrase "the lunatics are running the asylum" or a variation of it, but very rarely do you get tangible examples of it to report. So, if your target is to find examples of lunatics running something you should thank your lucky stars for East Renfrewshire Council.

Only East Renfrewshire Council believe the Land Reform Act, and Right to Roam legislation in particular, should take precedence over action to tackle anti-social behaviour. Now if this was simply an error in interpretation it might be forgivable but in this instance the Scottish Parliament has written to the Council of several occasions telling them to support local residents blighted by youth disorder and not to use "right to roam" as an excuse for doing nothing and yet East Renfrewshire Council continue to stick to their own flawed interpretation of a law they did not create.

And then there is East Renfrewshire Council's prioritisation of spending that does not mirror the priorities of the Council Tax payer. I am inundated by people complaining about the new landscaping and hanging baskets at Eastwood Toll when the money would be better spent on improving local roads or putting more police onto local streets when we need them most. Worse still they wasted a huge amount of money on some cobbles outside shops through Giffnock when local shopkeepers believe they could have spent it better and in a way that increased the number of people actually shopping locally. Possibly the best example of money wasting came recently when during a downpour Council workers were out watering plants in hanging baskets in front of shopkeepers who looked on incredulous to the very public waste of money none of their businesses would dare sustain.

I have numerous other examples of how lunatics are running the East Renfrewshire asylum at Eastwood Park and know people out there have many, many more examples to share. Thankfully, I believe there is a group of people capable of running the asylum sensibly, prudently and with a vision as to how East Renfrewshire Council could better serve local people. That is why I will be doing everything I can to support Councillor Jim Swift and his Conservative Group as they seek to build on their numbers and take control of East Renfrewshire's administration.

When any government body forgets who it serves there is surely cause for concern, but when the same body forgets time and time again it is surely time for, top down, route and branch reform.

Empower local people and they will get on with things and deliver fantastic results for their family, their neighbours and their local communities. Treat them with a lack of respect and they will do nothing for you. It is time for us all to stand up and be counted in the battle for common sense in the running of East Renfrewshire. I have great confidence in the ability of local people to win this fight and deliver a brighter future for us all.

Love Fifteen

2009-07-05T23:21:00.004+01:00

Roger Federer's win at Wimbledon makes him the most successful tennis player of all time and confirms his status as a global sporting icon. Not only is he a tremendous tennis talent he also comes across as an all round nice guy and very humble despite his wealth and success.

I can't help feeling very sorry for Andy Roddick who actually possibly played the better tennis through much of the match. His rocket of a serve did not hit the 75%+ success record it did in dismissing Andy Murray on Friday but it proved impossible for Roger to break this lethal weapon until 15-14 in the fifth and final set, demonstrating just how hard he is to overcome on grass.

But today belongs to Roger Federer and his incredible achievement of 15 Grand Slam titles in a little over 6 years. At the age of just 27, Roger has a long time left in the game if he remains fit and motivated he must surely now be gunning for Jack Nicklaus and his 18 major Grand Slam titles.

Only time will tell but until then the Nike advert commemorating today's victory is fitting praise to a sporting hero. The advert includes John McEnroe, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods praising his talent and achievement and fittingly ends with the tennis analogy of his achievement as - "Love Fifteen".

Well done Roger. You have earned and deserve all your success!

Calman welcome but still a lot of work to do to improve devolution!

2009-06-16T01:23:00.010+01:00

The Calman Commission report makes many recommendations that will ensure devolution works better for the people of Scotland.

For example, it was terrific to see the Commission take forward David Cameron's suggestion that Ministers from Westminster should appear before the Scottish Parliament and, in particular, that the Scottish Secretary should appear before a Scottish Parliament committee immediately after the Queen's Speech in order to explain the impact Westminster's legislative programme will have on Scotland.

It is also good to see the Conservative Party committing itself to taking a long hard look at implementation of the Calman Commission's recommendations, including those relating to tax raising powers, through involvement on a cross party steering group.

Moves to make the Scottish Parliament accountable for the money it spends, by making it responsible for taxes that directly contribute to at least a proportion of its budget, will go some way to addressing allegations of subsidy from England and will ensure MSPs are held to account for their decisions at the ballot box. Implementation of devolution of tax raising powers must, however, mean the Scottish Parliament is forced to take the element of fiscal responsibility devolved to it by compelling it to use such powers. After all it has had powers over taxation for the past 10 years and has failed to use its ability to vary income tax up or down 3%.

A large number of questions about how devolved tax powers can be implemented remain to be addressed and that is why it is right for the Conservative Party to be involved in a cross party steering group to see which of the Calman Commission's proposals can practically be adopted.

The Calman Commission has been a very worthwhile review of devolution after 10 years. I believe we should make devolution work for the people of Scotland in the way they clearly believed it would when they voted for it back in 1998.

If devolution is not to prove to have been a series of stepping stones on the way to an Independent Scotland the application of recommendations put forward by this Commission must be carefully thought through and some may have to be discounted to protect and maintain the United Kingdom as a social and economic union through which we benefit no matter where we live. I am proud to be British and want to see devolution work properly for future generations.

Winning

2009-06-08T21:34:00.006+01:00

What a great feeling.

Conservatives won East Renfrewshire at the European elections count last night, with Labour trailing in a despondent third. Not that any elected member of the Labour Party was there to see it preferring instead to stay at home and enter into a state of collective denial about the electorates desertion of their party as a result of their dismal failure to stand up for local people.

People are clearly realising that the only way to get rid of this tired and failing Labour Government at Westminster is to vote for David Cameron and his resurgent Conservative team. East Renfrewshire is crucial to achieving that aim and for the voters of East Renfrewshire to come out in such numbers and give the Conservatives their approval is a huge boost to the party.

Clearly the Conservative Party is the only party that can mount a realistic challenge to Labour. A vote for any other party may well allow Labour to win the seat by the back door. The SNP did well to come second and to deny Labour any comfort from the result of this election. Indeed, to find the last time Labour finished third in East Renfrewshire you have to go back to SDP days and 1987.

David Cameron has promised change at Westminster and is providing the leadership that Gordon Brown is so clearly unable to do. We need a General Election as soon as possible so that voters can have their say. We need a strong Government, not a divided one, to lead the country out of Labour’s recession.

Thank you for your support. My campaign team and I will continue to work hard to earn your trust and to ensure that East Renfrewshire becomes a Conservative seat again.

European Election Result for East Renfrewshire:

Conservative - 6872 (28.5%)

SNP - 5475 (22.70%)

Labour - 5000 (20.73%)

Lib Dem - 2136 (8.86%)

Green - 1565 (6.49%)

UKIP - 1201 (4.98%)

BNP - 441 (1.83%)

Christian - 404 (1.68%)

Socialist Labour - 301 (1.25%)

Duncan Robertson - 243 (1.01%)

Jury Team - 140 (0.58%)

No 2 EU - 131 (0.54%)

Scottish Socialist - 121 (0.50%)

Britian Deserves Better - Let The People Decide

2009-06-05T23:54:00.007+01:00

We are just 24 hours on from European and County Council elections that have reduced the Labour Party to an electoral laughing stock and what is the Prime Ministers response? A Cabinet reshuffle, of the very people who have already failed to provide leadership, followed by holding a press conference in which he told members of the press his late father had taught him never to tell lies before denying he had wanted to sack his Chancellor when everyone knows he did.

Leadership is about many things and one of them is knowing when to give in. With five members of his Cabinet having resigned and Caroline Flint having launched a furious tirade against the Prime Minister in her resignation letter, (accusing him of operating a "two-tier Government" and of using women ministers as "female window dressing"), in standing down as Europe Minister it is plain for all to see that the Labour Party in complete and utter disarray at the very time when the country needs unified leadership.

And it is not only his own Party and members of opposition parties who believe the Labour Party is no longer in control. The people who voted in yesterday's elections passed a damning verdict on Labour having relieved them of control of every single County Council in England for the first time ever and pushing them into third place in terms of their share of the popular vote. On Sunday night a more complete picture of attitudes across the United Kingdom will become apparent following European election results. If predictions are to be believed it may well be that the governing party of the UK fall into third, or potentially even fourth, place - a position which does not afford legitimacy.

So, in light of recent event, because his Party is split at a time when our country needs united leadership most and to restore the public's faith in British democracy it is time for a General Election so that the British people can elect the people they feel are best placed to see us through the deepest recession in living memory. That's why I am backing David Cameron's "Sign For Change" campaign - demanding a General Election so that the public can pass judgement on every politician.

A lot of hard work make European Elections worthwhile!

2009-06-05T00:50:00.003+01:00

Polls have closed and we must now all wait to see how the electorate in East Renfrewshire voted in the European Elections.

An early start for the whole Conservative team, under slightly gray skies, was followed by a lot of hard work manning polling stations, knocking out pledge voters and providing lifts to polls. Ultimately this all proved very worthwhile - with positive feedback from those we met and a great deal of encouragement from the statistics we gleaned from ballot box voting numbers.

And today provided so many people in East Renfrewshire with a golden opportunity to pass judgement on the attitude and failures of a Labour MP, MSP and Council administration who are completely out of touch with the mood and attitudes of their electorate. In Clarkston, Carolside parents were able to protest about Labour increasing class sizes. In Giffnock, Woodfarm and Thornliebank residents vented their fury at a Labour Party prepared to continue to propose selling off parks for residential house building in the Local Plan. In Eaglesham & Waterfoot we found continued opposition amongst voters to the Council proposed Eaglesham Hub. While in Netherlee there was a massive increase in voting between 6pm and 10pm, during which time in some cases the number of votes cast doubled, as local people were motivated to get out and vote.

From our own figures it is clear that, excluding postal votes, Netherlee won the prize for the area with the largest turnout while Neilston surprised us with the lowest turnout after a very promising start.

Whatever Sunday evenings result holds in store the one thing that won today was the democratic process of the UK. I have a number of concerns about the way the election was conducted today but in the end it is not about those of us in political parties it is about the people we entrust to use their vote wisely. Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote and let's hope that the six MEP's we return from Scotland do us proud no matter which political party they represent!

Goldie Direct a hit in East Renfrewshire

2009-06-03T11:55:00.005+01:00

Annabel Goldie MSP held a public meeting last night, at Giffnock Primary School, under the banner "Goldie Direct".

And "direct" she was!

No matter the question asked by members of the audience they got a straight and honest answer, sometimes even answers it was clear they were not going to be happy with. In doing so Annabel demonstrated to members of the public the sort of politics and politician our country needs at a time when our entire political establishment is in a state of complete and utter disarray.

Questions included how to restore faith in politics, what voting system ensures politicians are accountable to their electorate and on a more local theme are East Renfrewshire Council right to be increasing primary school class sizes. There was also questions on reform of the Children's Panel system and how would Conservatives get more police onto local streets to counteract increasing levels of youth disorder.

On every question Annabel was able to give clear and concise policy direction to everyone present and from the feedback received after the meeting finished it is clear people were convinced Annabel and the Conservative Party offer something new and refreshing to politics.

Bringing politics back to the grass routes through public meetings is undoubtedly a good way to engage with people otherwise dissolutioned with politics and something that must be encouraged to ensure our democracy prospers.

Time to prosecute the guilty and restore faith in the political system!

2009-05-25T01:16:00.005+01:00

It is very difficult to persuade people that, as a candidate, you are not actually a full time, well paid politician.

Over recent weeks, and in the eye of the storm that is the MP expenses furore, it has become increasingly difficult to get any message across to ordinary members of the public. Instead, (almost to a man, woman and child), everyone wants to vent their anger on the disgraceful action of MPs who have cheated the expenses system of taxpayers money.

As an ordinary member of the public and taxpayer - I agree!

To start the process of restoring faith in our political system I believe that all those who have made fraudulent claims on their expenses MUST be prosecuted without delay. It is simply not tenable for people who have claimed mortgage interest on expenses when they don't have any mortgage to pay interest on to claim they are within the rules and anything other than dishonest.

These people must be thoroughly investigated and, if the Daily Telegraph are right, charged with having committed fraud.

Such action is long overdue and should be just the start of action against those who felt able to make expense claims that were not "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" incurred in service of their constituents.

Simply paying back money or paying back capital gains tax is not good enough! If a member of the public is a day late in their personal tax return or pays up late they have surcharges, penalties and interest to pay HM Revenue & Customs - so why do these MPs think they should be treated any differently?

David Cameron has called for a General Election so that the public can decide the fate of those implicated in this saga and I am happy to support his "Sign For Change" initiative so that ordinary members of the public are able to register their desire to shape our democracy. Put simply, David gets it in a way that Gordon Brown is simply unable to fathom.

The rules the public have to abide by should be good enough for MPs or they are not honorable members. So let's see the guilty treated the same as everyone else for the sake of fair play and let's have a General Election so everyone can vote for change and a better UK democracy!

It Was The Tories That Won It!

2009-05-01T01:32:00.003+01:00

Would you believe it!

Just a few short days after I broke the news that Glasgow City Council were withholding £600,000 from East Renfrewshire Council, despite a legal judgement in December of last year awarding the cash to East Ren, and what do you know Glasgow pay up!

East Renfrewshire may have a Labour MP, a Labour MSP and a Labour led Council, but their combined efforts failed to persuade Labour led Glasgow City Council to return the £600,000 plus it owed East Renfrewshire for the provision of regular school placement requests.

I am not a great one for telling people what to think but if there is a moral to this story it is that "you can trust your East Renfrewshire Conservatives to look after the interests of local people while the Labour Party sit on the sidelines and do nothing!"

Glasgow owe East Ren £600,000 so why is no one within Labour doing anything for East Renfrewshire to secure our cash?

2009-03-29T23:04:00.007+01:00

Regular readers of my blog will know I take a very simply view of life where I think matters are indeed simply. There tends to be a right and a wrong in most instances and nothing needs to take as long as bureaucrats seem to make them.

Thanks to some great work by Councillor Gordon McCaskill, local conservatives have discovered that Glasgow City Council owes East Renfrewshire Council a whole load of cash and simply aren't paying up because they don't feel like it. I press released this on Friday and copy this on my blog so everyone can see just how little Jim Murphy and the Labour Party are actually doing for the people of East Renfrewshire:

Glasgow City Council owes East Renfrewshire £600,000

Murphy inaction puts new special needs school on ice

Conservatives are calling on Labour led Glasgow City Council to return the £600,000 plus it owes East Renfrewshire Council Tax payers for services provided to people living in Glasgow. In particular the sum is owed for the provision of regular school education on placement requests and specialist schooling at Isobel Mair School for children with special needs.

East Renfrewshire Conservatives can reveal that a binding legal opinion was received by both Councils in December, but so far Glasgow has not returned the money (see notes to editors). As a result East Renfrewshire Council has had to postpone plans to build a new Isobel Mair School, which is one of only two schools in East Renfrewshire rated below B for structural condition.

Commenting on his findings Conservative Westminster candidate for East Renfrewshire, Richard Cook, said:

"Glasgow must pay up now so East Renfrewshire can build the new Isobel Mair School. For Glasgow to withhold this money is nothing short of scandalous.

"East Renfrewshire has a Labour MP, a Labour MSP and a Labour led council, but all continue to sit on their hands as their Labour colleagues in Glasgow withhold more than half a million pounds of East Renfrewshire taxpayers’ money.

"Instead of trying to manufacture political spats with the SNP and going on overseas junkets, East Renfrewshire’s MP and Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy should be fighting to get a fair deal from the Labour Party in Glasgow. Mr Murphy has had 3 months to use his influence to bring this stand-off to an end, but at the moment it seems he would rather be in China playing golf and taking boat trips to dinner with the great and the good.

"So the message to East Renfrewshire Labour is simple. Stop dithering, get this money from your Labour colleagues in Glasgow and give Isobel Mair pupils a new school now! It’s simply not acceptable for Labour in Glasgow to be bumping up its minimum wage to £7 per hour at the same time as it withholds money that would build a new school in East Renfrewshire for children with special needs."

Conservative Councillor for Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood, Gordon McCaskill, who has been working with Richard Cook on this investigation, added:

"I was aware that Glasgow’s Labour council had not paid us to educate their children for quite some time, but was not aware that the courts had found against them in December last year. Both councils kept that quiet! The money East Renfrewshire is owed would pay for the new Isobel Mair School, the building of which was postponed by the Labour led administration during this year’s budget process due to lack of funds.

"Isobel Mair School has a national reputation for excellence and I am not prepared to sit back and watch its pupils and staff suffer as a result of Glasgow City Council dragging its heels. This is Labour’s fiasco and it’s Labour’s job to bring it to an end, now."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. East Renfrewshire Conservatives are able to release today details of a judgement passed down by Lord Penrose on 12th December 2008, in relation to the case in the Court of Session of East Renfrewshire District Council against Glasgow City Council. This opinion relates to monies due to East Renfrewshire over many years totalling more than £350,000. The remaining monies due to East Renfrewshire relate to legal costs and interest payments awarded to East Renfrewshire Council.

2. East Renfrewshire's Labour led Council rejected the Conservative Groups budget amendment to start building the new Isobel Mair School this year. This requires capital of £152,000 in the forthcoming financial year and £444,000 next year.

Mervyn King - finally someone in power talking sense!

2009-03-25T23:52:00.005Z

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, is not one renowned for interfering in government policy and yet he has publicly criticised the Prime Ministers desire for further economic stimulus.

In short, Mr. King is saying that UK Plc simply cannot afford any more debt. With the total liability of the taxpayer now more than £2 trillion, when you include our liability for part nationalised banks and current economic stimulus packages, it is clear the Bank of England believe that any further government financial stimulus that requires us to borrow more as a nation will essentially mean we go bust.

And the reaction of government? Well that is difficult to tell. Gordon Brown says there is no disagreement between his Government and the Bank of England, Harriet Harman refused to answer any question put to her on the subject when she stood in for Mr. Brown at Prime Minister's Questions today and the media report that the Chancellor is in general agreement with Mr. King.

That the Prime Minister still believes further economic stimulus is affordable shows just how deeply entrenched within him the feeling of denial has become. If British families have to live within their means so must the British government. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. So it's time to face up to the consequences of our actions as a nation and to admit we are on the brink of bankruptcy as a nation and must stop trying to spend our way out of trouble and get real for the sake of future generations.

Scotland's Nuclear Ambition Will Send Alex Ballistic!

2009-03-17T23:01:00.006Z

If ever you want proof that the public know what's best for them while politicians prefer to listen to pressure groups within their own party, look no further that the debate on nuclear energy.

With the vast majority of Scots in favour of building more nuclear power stations in Scotland, to ensure we have energy security for generations to come, it is clear Alex Salmond and his SNP Scottish Executive remain completely out of touch with public opinion by continuing to exercise their veto over new planning applications for nuclear stations in Scotland.

In uncertain economic times only nuclear offers Scotland the energy security our economy needs. Russia switches the gas supply on and off as they see fit and oil remains both volatile in price and damaging to our environment. How else are we to ensure the lights don't go out when the wind doesn't blow?

Surely Alex Salmond and his band of increasingly unmerry men must now abandon their opposition to new nuclear power stations in Scotland in the national interest? If they do so and masquerade it in the press as doing what is right during this recession though through gritted teeth, I for one will cheer!

Hold On Tight For A Bumpy Quantitative Easing Ride

2009-03-06T00:45:00.005Z

I am no longer sure the Government have any idea what they are doing!

Just a few weeks ago it would have been inconceivable, and considered bad practice, for us to be borrowing as a country at 10%, more than twenty times our national base rate. It would have been inconceivable, and considered bad practice, for interest rates to be at 0.5% providing no incentive for people to deposit money in banks that need to be better financed. And it certainly would be inconceivable, and considered bad practice, for the Bank of England to be printing £75billion of new money to buy questionable assets.

To make printing of money more palatable it is given a fancy name - quantitative easing! Sounds okay, means little to most people, but if we get this wrong the risks to every single one of us are massive.

If the additional money in our economy is too much, or the assets it buys prove to be worthless, we risk massive devaluation of Sterling on the international money markets, which in turn could lead to hyper inflation. Imagine the difficulties ordinary families would face in the midst of a recession if the cost of goods starts to shoot up because we import so much and our currency devalues every day. That is the threat posed by quantitative easing if it goes wrong in any way and yet no one is talking about this and warning the public of the risks Labour are taking with their way of life.

The United Kingdom is no Zimbabwe and yet that is exactly what Labour are turning us into, minus land grabs and police brutality. Labour are taking huge risks in the hope of saving their own political skins and what they are doing to us all is delivering an economic policy that is simply too risky and irresponsible to make any sort of sense.

Child Protection - Why Are We Failing?

2009-03-04T23:39:00.004Z

The catalogue of failures, across the UK, when it comes to our ability to protect children in danger is truly appalling. Already this year there have been convictions in the cases of Baby P and now of little Brandon Muir - both killed by people known to authorities as both dangerous and potentially deadly.

Police, social work, health service and to some extent education service personnel must all look at themselves. Yet again no one is prepared to take personal responsibility and do the decent thing by resigning for having failed 23 month old Brandon. This poor child lived with a drug addict, prostitute mother who brought a man into her life who was known by authorities to be violent and a potential danger to her child.

Post a conviction we find out, yet again, that authorities were just moments away from taking a child who died into care. TOO LATE! Why oh why do we always hear what they might have done instead of hearing about early intervention to protect children who are being physically abused.

Statistics released today suggest that as many as 50,000 Scottish children are living with drug addict parents. Given the risk to them of their parent being unable to look after them, or indeed of accidentally taking drugs left lying about, it is surely time for state intervention on an unprecedented scale to protect these children.

Our continual inability to get this right is a stain on the reputation of our society and something we must address. There are thousands of possibilities out there for placement of children in need of proper homes. Foster care, adoption, care homes take your pick, all would be better than leaving children at risk in the way we continue to do.

I don't know why I was adopted just after birth but I am very grateful that I was placed with a loving, caring mother and father who would have given anything to protect me from harm. Where parents are not able to do this for their children it is the states role to step in and for as long as the state fails to do so effectively we should all hang our heads in shame.

Labour Luvvie Sir Fred Continues To Benefit

2009-02-26T23:52:00.005Z

During the good times when RBS were making billions from taking massive unregulated risks, New Labour was in love with Fred Goodwin and he in turn in love with New Labour. Of course his Knighthood was a reward for services to banking not any association with the Labour Party but as the wool has been pulled over the Government's eyes in relation to the massive pension pot he is being paid by the taxpayer questions really have to be asked about how cosy Sir Fred and New Labour really are.

When Sir Fred was asked to resign he apparently made it clear to Government Ministers that a condition of him agreeing to do so was retention of an overly generous pension pot. Today we hear that Sir Fred is to receive £693,000 per annum for the rest of his life as a reward for failure because the Government were told this was a contractual requirement and did not ask for proof before agreeing to his resignation on this basis.

There is of course the possibility that someone in Government did know that it was not a contractual obligation but a condition of resignation and that they decided this was a price worth paying in order to get Sir Fred out the door and a new more competent broom into RBS. I would not agree with this but if this is the case the Government should say so.

If, instead, the truth is that Government Ministers did not check whether they were obliged to allow Sir Fred to retain his pension pot then the Ministers and their officials are incompetent and they should resign for failing the UK taxpayer so spectacularly. Sir Fred is only 50 and we can expect to be paying him millions and millions of pounds as a reward for taking risks with a well respected institution to the verge of bankruptcy.

Turning one of our largest banks, one of our largest employers and a company that bares the Scotland name with pride into a basket case is simply not something the taxpayer should be rewarding. If we cannot challenge paying Sir Fred his pension in the courts and Sir Fred is not prepared to give up his entitlement to his pension voluntarily then we must legislate to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again - even if it is a contractual obligation.

We all need to tighten our belts and being ripped off by someone when it was avoidable is a national disgrace. Had we simply sacked the man he would have been entitled to £1.5million up front (one years salary) but would not have been able to claim a penny of his pension pot until he hit retirement age - a saving of nearly £8.9million by my calculation.

Labour have failed the taxpayer here and someone must take responsibility and resign. If Sir Fred won't set an example of taking responsibility by giving up his pension pot someone in politics must set an example for him by taking responsibility and resigning. The taxpayer deserves nothing less!

2009-02-25T23:44:00.002Z

I am often told by members of the public that politics is a cut throat business lacking in compassion, but just sometimes events allow those representing us to show the human face of both politics and politicians.

The tragic death of Ivan Cameron at just 6 years of age brought the House of Commons together today, at the time normally reserved for Prime Minister Questions, in an atmosphere of grief and respect. To his credit our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, gave a most considered and respectful speech uniting the House of Commons in sending condolences to David and Samantha Cameron on the death of their son.

Elaine and I are awaiting the birth of our first child this July with a sense of excitement very similar to that of waiting for Christmas morning. We cannot imagine how David and Samantha Cameron must be feeling and can only hope that they know our thoughts and prayers, as well as those of millions of other decent people across the country, are with them.

The very human face of politics was on show today and for his part in demonstrating that there are some things that simply pull people together no matter how much they would normally disagree Gordon Brown has my utmost respect.

The Truth About Boom & Bust

2009-02-20T00:32:00.007Z

Have you ever wanted to see something simple that shows the underlying strength and underlying truth about our economy?

Let me help you!

Our stock market, in particular the FTSE 100, provides a fascinating insight as to how strong our companies are in good time and in bad. From Margaret Thatcher's election as Prime Minister in 1979 through to the end of John Major's premiership in 1997 the FTSE rose consistently - though admittedly with the odd peak and trough as markets reacted to national and international economic circumstances.

Having inherited a golden legacy, New Labour presided over a few more years of growth. There followed a massive correction in the market, between 2000 and 2003, before the FTSE shot back up to levels close to its peak through to 2008. The truth is that the markets knew the underlying strength of our economy was massively overvalued because our economy was based on a mountain of national and personal debt. What has followed over the past year is the product of a decade of borrowing in times of plenty instead of saving up for a rainy day.

So if you ever want to be able to show someone the truth about "Boom & Bust" show them this graph. The difference between good economic management and economic management based on rhetoric and debt is simply the difference between Conservative Government and Labour Government.

Let's hope we get back to some sound economic management before it's too late!

Time to get tough on CRIME!

2009-02-18T23:57:00.006Z

Our justice system is out of control! Let me tell you why.

1) A man has just been sentenced to two weeks imprisonment for entering a drug dealers home, threatening the drug dealer (who has hooked one of his family members on heroin) and for taking the drug dealers heroin and flushing it down the toilet.

What an outrage! The gentleman in question admits to being no angel but if the police and procurator fiscal are unable to get drug dealers off our streets no one should be surprised if members of the community take matters into their own hands.

2) Sex beast John Cronin absconded from a probation hostel earlier this week and is now in the custody of West Midlands Police on suspicion of fraud. This man was sentenced to (and wait to you hear this) Life Imprisonment in 1992 for attacking a woman in her Edinburgh home, only to be released from prison in 1996. LIFE - someone is having a laugh at the expense on the safety of our public.

Since his release Mr. Cronin has been in custody in Sweden, Ireland and England for a string of offences and he remains a danger to the public wherever he goes. It was the Scottish justice system who let us down first when they released Cronin after just 4 years and it is surely time he was incarcerated for LIFE to protect people all over the world.

The PC Brigade will cry foul and point to the human rights of both the drug dealer and John Cronin. I say that as both have chosen to take NO responsibility for their actions they have no right to expect compassion from society given the threat they pose to us all. It's time to get tough on crime and that means stiffer sentences for those that are the causes of crime!

How Bad Could It Really Be?

2009-02-10T01:23:00.005Z

When the governments own regulatory watchdog predicts that our economic slump might be worse than feared you know things are going to get really bad.

The Financial Services Authority warned today that Britain's recession could go deeper and last longer than expected, despite the government's fiscal stimulus and multi-billion pound economic rescue plans. Possibly more telling they say, about their own bosses, the impact of measures like reduced interest rates and the government's £12billion VAT cut remained unclear, and advise businesses and consumers to "plan for a greater degree of uncertainty than normal".

If this is the assessment of our own FSA you can only wonder what the OECD, IMF and World Bank are thinking. My greatest fear is that Labour are ignoring any economic forecasts they don't want to admit to favouring a scorched earth policy designed to leave the next government with nothing to work with. The only good news is that I am in doubt the energy, ingenuity and dedication of the British people will see us through to a prosperous future despite the actions of the current government!

A Prime Minister for all of the UK

2009-02-08T23:29:00.004Z

David Cameron's piece in Scotland on Sunday (http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/David-Cameron-I-would-govern.4958461.jp) clearly defined how a Conservative Government, led by David, will be different from the Labour administration, led by Gordon Brown, that is failing Scotland so badly.

It is a scandal that in difficult economic times our Prime Minister and First Minister have not met since Spring of last year. This only goes to show that Labour have no idea how to handle a nationalist administration at Holyrood. Their lack of appreciation of the need to be seen to be doing everything they can from London to help Scotland only serves to add to the nationalists media machines claims that Westminster does not understand Scotland and is doing little to help it now times are tough.

What Scotland needs, if devolution is to survive and quash the advance of independence, is a Westminster administration that treats Holyrood with respect and that works with it to benefit Scotland. Regular meetings between Prime Minister and First Minister, as well as communication between their respective cabinets, is essential to foster an atmosphere of trust between Westminster and the Scottish Parliament. This will also prove to the Scottish people that our place as an integral part of the United Kingdom is worth retaining.

David finishes his article by saying, "This commitment to true partnership between our nations sets the Conservatives apart from the other parties in Scotland as much as our commitment to modern, centre-right ideas. We are the only party that can bring about the change Scotland needs."

I could not have put it better myself!

Counting The Cost of Murder!

2009-02-07T12:41:00.005Z

I think it is simply a scandal that senior police officers are to be asked to account for every single penny they spend during murder investigations. Not that I don't approve of proper auditing of public expenditure and not that I don't think it is possible that our Police could do better.

My outrage comes because during a murder investigation I want the police officers in charge to be concentrating on getting violent, dangerous individuals off our streets and into custody not filling in forms and worrying about whether a penny here or there will be cast up and used against them at a future date.

The Herald covers this issue today as Hunting Murderers on Budget, http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2487646.0.Hunting_murderers_on_budget_new_rules_for_police.php) , but for the general public I don't believe there is a value you can put on solving such serious crime.

It's time our Police became a Force in our society again and to do that we need to back them in good times and in bad and not to become preoccupied with cost. We won't make them a force by placing financial constraints on investigations and we must trust those in charge of our Police to hold themselves accountable for what their force spends.

Interest Rates At 1% Won't Make A Blind Bit Of Difference!

2009-02-05T23:13:00.005Z

The Bank of England cut their headline interest rate by 0.5% today to 1%. In times gone by, when our economy was managed by cuts in interest rates that were designed to manage the inflationary trend of our economy, this sort of intervention would undoubtedly have done the trick and an almost immediate benefit to our economy would have resulted.

The problem we have today is not that interest rates are in any way the problem. Quite the contrary, and today's cut will only serve to penalise the millions of prudent savers with money deposited in banks and building societies - many of whom rely on interest payments to make ends meet.

Across the UK the problem faced by our economy is not the cost of borrowing - it is the reluctance of banks to lend!

Despite the taxpayer owning many of our banks it appears our government are unable to get them to relax lending criteria so that businesses can borrow to invest in our future.

Why? Simply because it is government policy that tells banks to pay us back as quick as they can and to reduce their exposure to bad debt as they do so.

So what are banks actually doing instead of lending to viable businesses? They are foreclosing on businesses in trouble and in homeowners struggling to keep up payments in compliance with government instructions.

In conclusion, today's interest rates cut will damage those who have done the right thing by saving and do very little to help those who need to borrow, because none of our lending institutions will take any risk. So despite hundreds of millions of pounds spent on bailing out our banks cuts in interest rates are simply not doing anything to help our economy recover.

Defending the Indefensible.

2009-02-04T23:52:00.004Z

The one thing a sales career in the private sector teaches you is that you should never try to defend the indefensible!

At Prime Ministers Questions today, Gordon Brown set about defending his much heralded statement, "British Jobs for British Workers", without any hint of apology. Apparently it was only meant to refer to training British workers for jobs, not about actually ensuring there are jobs for them to fulfill at the end of their training. That wasn't what anyone thought this statement to Labour's Party Conference meant and it certainly wasn't what the way Labour's spin machine pitched it at the time.

I am becoming increasingly frustrated that Prime Ministers Questions does not actual include any Prime Minister Answers, unless this is to a placed question from Labour benches.

David Cameron was perfectly correct today to accuse Gordon Brown of two faced hypocrisy - lecturing international summits on the evils of protectionism while using slogans back home such as "British jobs for British workers", which simply pander to domestic protectionist fears.

The only real answer now is surely a General Election so that Britain can find some answers of its own that work for us, both at home and abroad.

Lib Dems Bought Off In Return For More Public Debt

2009-02-03T22:59:00.003Z

That the Scottish Parliament Budget will go through with majority support tomorrow is a very good thing for Scotland.

The additional £1.8billion that will be released into the Scottish economy over the coming 12 months will be a vital shot in the arm for an economy in a dreadful condition after more than a decade of Labour mismanagement.

The interesting thing about the decision of the Lib Dems to vote for the budget tomorrow is that their support is being gained in return for one single penny of better public spending. They are simply being bought by a commitment from the SNP to lobby for Scotland to have greater borrowing powers under devolution.

With every one of us already set to owe more than £17,000 as our share of public sector debt the answer to Scotland's ills is surely not more public borrowing/debt. If we want to see public sector infrastructure projects start, to boost an economy in recession, the best way to deliver this is to seek private sector investment not to increase the national debt.

The problem for us all is that while the Lib Dems at Westminster have people like Vince Cable talking a lot of sense they are left at Holyrood with Tavish Scott saying a lot that makes no sense. If ever the Lib Dems in Scotland wanted to prove they are rapidly becoming an electoral irrelevance and a danger to the Scottish public their actions throughout the 2009 budget process is surely a good example of them being rebels without any cause.

White Stuff That Halts Everything!

2009-02-03T01:09:00.003Z

A little bit of snow and the world, at least as far as the eye can see, seems to come to a halt.

Speaking to a friend in Canada today he laughed his head off at the thought of 8 centimetres of snow being anything other than good to look at. As he put it, they regularly have 6 feet of snow fall in a day and are able to get to their work the next day, to take part in leisure activities and to do so in relative warmth and safety.

As ever the reason is we are ill-prepared for anything other than a standard day and we really do need to take a good long hard look at ourselves and the preparedness of our local government to handle snow. If that means Council's investing in better snow clearing equipment and individuals ensuring they have snow chains for car tyres so they can move about safely (instead of skidding about as we watched so many cars do today on Seres Road) then that is what we all have to agree to.

I believe it is the CIA who have six P's as their motto - Plenty Practise Prevents Pretty Poor Performance. The trouble is that we, in the UK, so rarely prepared properly for anything!

When Government Goes Too Far!

2009-02-02T02:04:00.003Z

I see that the Government's leading green advisor believes it is the role of government to decide the maximum number of children couple should be allow to have.

What a load of complete and utter nonsense!

It should never be for the State to interfere in this way. What next, a cap on the number of showers you are allowed to take in a week on the grounds of water consumption? A requirement to inform the Government when you intend to use your car so they can decide whether to deny you authority in case of poor air quality? An automatic cut off for your gas and electricity if you exceed a maximum amount of energy consumption level set by a Government Mandarin?

Government must learn to trust its people to make good decisions for themselves. This includes allowing them to decide if they can cope with a large family, both emotionally and economically. At the ripe old age of 37 my wife and I are expecting our first child so I am not sure we will get round to having more than two children. One thing that is for sure is that it won't be the government who decides where we stop!

Reverting Back To Type?

2009-01-31T00:25:00.005Z

I have a great deal of sympathy for British workers who will struggle to find work because of the decision to bring in Italian and Portuguese workers to deliver a contract awarded to an Italian firm. The people to blame are not, however, the foreign workers or the company who awarded the contract in the first place. The people we should blamed are the Labour government who, over the past 12 years, have changed contract and employment law to allow this to happen.

I don't expect Labour will accept that the Social Chapter and minimum wage legislation they enforced on this country have down sides, as well as positives. In good times the positives provided great benefit to our communities and they were easy to defend, but the truth is they are too rigid in their design and when companies need some flexibility to navigate through difficult economic times the way this legislation is structured in the UK means they find it very difficult to do what is best for the employees they are able to continue to employ.

Our Trade Unions were quick to demand the introduction of many of the laws that are now disadvantaging their members and they must reconcile this with any decision to allow secondary strike action. Instead of reverting back to type perhaps UK Trade Union' should question why Gordon Brown's great claim of "British jobs for British workers" is proving to be nothing more than a hollow Labour soundbite?

Wildcat strikes in the power industry will ultimately mean only two groups of people suffer - the striking workers who lose pay and the public who will pay more for their power to compensate for any loses incurred by generating companies.

What our country needs now is a government prepared to stand up for British interests at home and abroad. Labour have failed to do this over the past 12 years and, whether you are a trade union member or not, we are all now suffering as a result.

Some Things Just Make You Angry!

2009-01-29T23:12:00.007Z

My work with the Campaign Against Political Correctness (www.capc.co.uk) ensures that journalists phone up with a wide variety of enquiries on subjects ranging from the bizarre to the ridiculous.

Sometimes I get a right good laugh out of the stories I am asked to comment on - (re-branding 'Librarians' as 'Audience Development Officers') - and sometimes the things the things I am told simply annoy me - (banning of the word 'husband' in maternity wards in case it offends the unmarried).

But today, I have to say, I was simply annoyed when asked to comment on Edinburgh City Council's decision to remove two children from the custody of their grandparents in order to enable a gay couple to adopt them.

Surely no one in their right mind thinks it is the best interest of these children to be torn from their biological family in order to be brought up in an environment where they will be under constant scrutiny because of the relationship of their guardians?

Edinburgh City Council even took the grandparents to court to remove their rights to care for them, placing them into foster care while the legal action took place over the past two years. These poor people eventually had to give up their legal fight because of rising costs, which is hardly surprising given the Council's seemingly endless resource.

Social workers have now placed the brother and sister with a gay couple and the grandparents claim they have been warned they risk never seeing the youngsters again if they continue with their opposition to the same-sex adoption.

As an adopted child myself, it offends me greatly to see a system that benefited me so greatly abused by a local authority in the name of political correctness and probably achievement of a target. It is surely now time for every politicians to do everything they can to protect the family in recognition of it being the heart of good society.

Children are the most precious gift our society are given and it is our duty to protect them as best we can not to pursue a politically correct agenda!

Votes Won and Votes Lost - But Are We Any Better Off?

2009-01-29T00:07:00.002Z

Today's news agenda has been about parliamentary votes won and lost.

In the Scottish Parliament the SNP administration lost its vote on the Scottish Executive budget for the forthcoming year, on the casting vote of the Presiding Officer, despite controversial Conservative Party support.

At Westminster the Labour government won a vote to authorise a third runway at Heathrow Airport, along with a sixth terminal, by just 19 votes thanks to their whips - who cojoled every vote they could through the lobbies, including the unfit and unwell.

I celebrate living in a democracy but question sometimes whether the democracy I live in is actually serving the people of Scotland and the United kingdom in the way it should.

Surely it is Scotland's best interest to pass a budget that includes measures to regenerate Scotland's High Streets, to boost public expenditure at a time of economic woe and to insulate Scotland's homes to benefit our environment and reduce the cost of heating over the long term.

And across the UK we should question whether a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow is actually in the national interest. I believe Mayor Boris Johnson is right to encourage London to think out of the box about a new location for our major international air hub rather than expansion of Heathrow given its urban location. Look at Hong Kong where they moved their airport from the middle of their population, (you used to land in the middle of the skyscrapers), to a new rural location where planes take off and land without disruption to its population and to a location where there is enough spare land to create additional capacity in the future should this be required. This is the sort of blue print the UK needs to adopt, in addition to high speed railways connecting this international air hub to the rest of the UK.

So I feel that today our politicians let us down and our democracy is poorer as a result. My only consolation is that the Conservative Party was on the right side of the arguments today and long may that continue!

Don't turn on the Tele or pick up a Newspaper. It will only depress you!

2009-01-28T00:19:00.005Z

I joked today with people playing Bridge at Eastwood House that Hugh Edwards should be banned from opening the BBC Six O'clock News by saying "and here is the news" because it should really be "and here is the bad news".

The media persist in battering us with more and more stories of job losses, business failures, financial loss by the government and taxpayer, further loss of business confidence and political sleaze. They do so, I am sure, in the interests of fairness and no doubt citing the public's right to know, but what they fail to understand is that as much as we all do want to be told the truth and how bad things are going to get we also want to hear that things will get better and that in time we can all expect better times to come.

So today it was terrific to hear that 1,000 new jobs are going to be created in the Clyde shipbuilding industry. Proper jobs are being created in manufacturing just as we lose thousands of jobs in the service sector. What a turn around! Welders, engineers, riggers, pipe fitters and crane operators are all to be recruited so that our shipyards can fulfil MoD contracts and are a welcome ray of sunshine on what appears to be a dark economic horizon.

Would You Believe It?

2009-01-27T00:27:00.004Z

The devil, they say, is always in the detail.

Even though the UK is in dire economic straights, of our own making, it appears a little-known clause in the European Union treaty may force Britain to chip in billions of pounds to rescue countries in economic crisis because of their membership of the Euro.

This clause gives the Commission in Brussels the power to propose bailing out a state in 'severe difficulties'. Such help could be agreed by a majority vote of states and Britain would NOT have a veto.

With countries such as Ireland, Spain and Greece plunged into economic crisis, largely as a result of being unable to devalue their currencies, there is the prospect of British taxpayers having to help fund expensive rescue packages - despite the UK never having joined monetary union.

An EC report last week highlighted the major problems facing some eurozone members, and ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Spain's credit rating. The Commission report said of Spain: 'Deteriorating labour market prospects, further tightening of credit conditions and adverse wealth effects are set to lead to a significant contraction in private consumption.'

It added that Ireland was 'particularly exposed' to the international economic crisis and that Greece is expected to be 'significantly affected'.

Under the Nice Treaty, signed in February 2001 and incorporated into the combined EU treaty, huge rescue packages can be approved on a majority vote. Britain disliked the proposal when it came up for negotiation and the Conservatives opposed it, but the Government gave way and agreed.

And the moral of the story? You can't trust Labour to get it right at home or abroad.

Money, Money, Money. It Should Never Be About The Money!

2009-01-25T23:38:00.003Z

It really depresses me when politicians are caught seeking money in return for their political influence. While I don't believe in state funding of politics I equally don't believe it is right that members of the House of Commons, House of Lords, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament or indeed our Local Council's should receive any personal financial gain from external sources in return for political influence.

Raising money to fund campaigns is a quite legitimate activity and if your own policies, or indeed those of your Party, are attractive to people who then help fund campaigns in the hope of seeing them enacted then that is democracy at work.

Today's news that four Labour peers have solicited money, for purely personal gain, in return for them amending legislation to suit the donor merely reinforces the public's view that politicians are in it for themselves and the money. Lords who act in this way, no matter the Party they affiliate themselves to, should be kicked out of the Lords and lose any right to help shape the country we live in.

If elected, I have promised to claim less and to spend less than the current Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire when it comes to expenses and not to publish any political propaganda using any one of the various members allowances.

To restore the public's faith in democracy the public needs a new type of politician to represent them in the way they clearly aspire to be represented. In East Renfrewshire that will take an election and in the House of Lords that will take a few sackings.

The SNP should call it Quits on LIT

2009-01-24T15:42:00.005Z

News that HM Revenue & Customs are to write to John Swinney to inform him they do not have the power to collect Local Income Tax on behalf of the Scottish Executive should surely consign LIT to the political dustbin!

The Scotland Act allows the Scottish Parliament to vary the level of income tax set by Westminster by 3%, up or down, but it does not make any provision for HMR&C to collect any other form of taxation on behalf of the Scottish Parliament.

I am, in principle, opposed to a Local Income Tax replacing Council Tax for a very great number of reasons. Not least of these is that it will be yet another disincentive to work, alongside many of the current UK governments schemes.

What Scotland, and indeed the UK, needs is government that makes people pay for the services they receive and leaves the public with as much of their own money as is possible. Ordinary people can then decide whether they want to save their money or to spend it on their own personal priorities.

It has been the policies of politicians and the personal greed of individuals that has got us into this recession and it will be the actions of individuals that will get us out of it. For me politicians must now facilitate the role of the individual and not make matters worse for generations to come by consigning them to never ending debt in the form of permanent tax increases to pay for the folly of endless state spending in the good times while keeping nothing back for bad times!

Labour learn an Expenses lesson!

2009-01-21T22:45:00.004Z

That Gordon Brown and the Labour Party even tried to push through legislation that would have kept MP expenses secret from the taxpayer showed a scandalous disregard for the public’s right to scrutinise parliamentary expenses.

The taxpayer pays MPs expenses and they have every right to know whether their money is being spent properly. Labour also wasted vast amounts of taxpayer’s money in Court proceedings and in parliamentary time trying to hide from the public full details of the expenses claimed by MPs, which after all are financed by us.

With Britain forecast to suffer the worst recession of any major economy surely it is the role of government to do everything possible to ensure what money we do spend is spent wisely. Neither MPs nor HMRC would think it acceptable if other public servants or ordinary taxpayers did not have to account for their expenses so it is incredible Labour MPs thought they could get away with this.

In trying to legislate to avoid MPs being subject to common good financial practise Labour brought politics into further disrepute. Is it any wonder the electorate are disenchanted with politicians and feel they are all in it for the money when bad apples act in such a dishonourable way?

What Goes Around .........

2009-01-20T22:36:00.011Z

I received an email today from an East Renfrewshire resident who got my email from a leaflet we delivered this afternoon. While I don’t really do circular emails, I think it proves my point that the general public are depressed in anticipation of a depression - made and being administered by Scottish Labour in Downing Street:

Alistair Darling started the day early having set his

alarm clock

(MADE IN JAPAN),

for 6 am. While his

coffee-pot

(MADE IN CHINA),

was perking, he shaved with his

electric razor

(MADE IN HONG KONG).

He put on a

dress shirt

(MADE IN SRI LANKA),

designer suit

(MADE IN SINGAPORE),

and
leather shoes

(MADE IN KOREA).

After cooking his breakfast in his new
electric skillet

(MADE IN INDIA),

he sat down with his

calculator

(MADE IN MEXICO),

to see how much he could spend today. After setting his
watch

(MADE IN TAIWAN),

to the

radio

(MADE IN INDIA),

he got in his

car

(MADE IN GERMANY),

filled it with

diesel

(from SAUDI ARABIA),

and continued his search for a

good paying UK JOB.

At the end of yet another discouraging
and fruitless day checking his

computer

(Made In Malaysia),

Alistair decided to relax for a while.
He put on his
sandals

(MADE IN BRAZIL),

poured himself a

glass of wine

(MADE IN FRANCE),

and turned on his

(MADE IN INDONESIA),

and then wondered why he can't find
a good paying job in the UK!

This was only an email round robin and I am sure it was sent as a bit of fun, albeit with a serious message.

The UK desperately needs a manufacturing industry to reinvigorate our private sector, creating real wealth, and to achieve this the UK needs to put Alastair Darling and his neighbour at No. 10 out of a job. In short we need an election now so that the next government can get the UK working again!

Good News - Bad News

2009-01-20T00:39:00.006Z

The news that Gordon Brown is to spend up to £200billion to bolster our ailing banks is very bad news indeed unless you believe it is 100% guaranteed to work! While it is right to do everything we can to avoid complete disaster it is wrong to take risks and gambles and to accelerate our national debt by an additional £200billion given he already intends to leave us owing £1.1 trillion by the end of 2011.

Could we be looking at bankrupt Britain? I very much fear we might be if the true level of toxic debt held by our big four banks is greater than the money now on offer. If it is they will surely go down - rendering our shareholding in them worthless.

If Plan B fails, (given this is his second attempt to bale out our banks), we should prepare ourselves for the IMF to declare us a basket case and to take over the running of our economy. The thought of external influences setting our levels of taxation, deciding how much capital and interest we repay to the world before spending anything that remains on the NHS, eduction or defence is simply frightening as a British patriot.

And what is the good news, I hear you ask? Well ,if there is nothing else to cheer me up before the Summer, I am to become a father for the first time in July - thanks to my beautiful wife Elaine. So, no matter how bad Gordon Brown makes the economy of our country and how difficult it becomes to make ends meet, I know there is something worth working for on the horizon and someone for whom I must fight to make our country better in the future!

When Is A Local Authority Not Local?

2009-01-16T01:35:00.002Z

News that the Scottish Government are to review the number of Council's in Scotland and that Labour MSP Tom McCabe is proposing to significantly reduce the number of local authorities delivering vital local services is deeply concerning.

Those old enough to remember Strathclyde Regional Council will shudder at the thought of a new monster authority combining East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire -as shown on the map of potential Council groupings published by The Herald.

If we need to fight, and win, a "Keep East Ren" campaign I and every local Conservative are ready to do so. Our economy is in crisis and leading politicians want to put us through the unnecessary expense of amalgamation and rebranding - not to mention making local government as remote as Holyrood, Westminster and Brussels. So bring it on SNP, Labour and any other group who want to make politics about bureaucracy and not about local people. I don't believe in large government and neither do ordinary people across the length and breadth of Scotland.

Too little, Too late!

2009-01-13T22:40:00.006Z

Given the position our economy is now in, it is not with any glee that Conservatives will welcome the business loans guarantee scheme the government are set to announce tomorrow. After all we have been calling on Labour to introduce such a scheme for months!

The real pity is that Labour are apparently to announce the value of this scheme will be less than £20billion over its lifetime. In contrast, George Osborne is calling for a £50billion scheme because we can't afford for this scheme to fail because government are not prepared to do what it takes to get credit flowing to businesses once again.

The truth is that no one really knows what it will take to get credit flowing to the business sector, but surely it is sensible to offer too much than too little if you are in government and really want to make sure you get the job done!

Council Tax Freeze would be good but a Council Tax Cut is what we need!

2009-01-10T00:09:00.003Z

John Swinney's proposed Council Tax freeze is to be welcomed and if it ends up being the only show in town is something we should grab. The trouble is that it doesn't go nearly far enough given he is claiming his budget will help Scotland combat the recession.

So many people are already hurting in these difficult economic times and more are already worried they will join the ranks of the unemployed in the coming year. So a budget that provides for a Council Tax cut is something that would be widely welcomed and put real money into the pockets of everyone who is supposed to have disposable income to pay Council Tax.

The Scottish Conservative proposal to utilise the £281 million of savings identified by the SNP Scottish Executive to provide a Council Tax cut for every household now is something Scotland needs desperately NOW. Giving every household an extra £150 to spend can only be good for our economy and good for our own local community. After all, as a famous supermarket brand would say, "every little helps".

Cleaning Up!

2009-01-08T23:41:00.002Z

Before Christmas a number of local residents alerted me to the condition of Glenville Lane in Giffnock. Like much of our local area, East Renfrewshire Council have done nothing to maintain this area, despite it being a vital right of way for local people and the route for their bin lorries, and as a result the lane is overgrown, dangerous and a potential risk to young and old alike.

Thanks to the efforts of Councillor Gordon Wallace and an ever increasing group of local residents, we are taking action to clean up this lane and get it back to a condition in keeping with the local area. Our local environment used to be a place people aspired to rather than something people aspired to make look better and I believe it is time for community action to show the Council that is failing us what we expect.

Salmond's SNP Folly!

2009-01-07T22:16:00.003Z

It is not completely unheard of for a politician or a political party to make one mistake, but it is pretty rare to have one party make two big mistakes in one day!

Alex Salmond's claim that Scotland should adopt the Euro because Sterling is "sinking like a stone" completely misses the point. Scotland is in trouble not because our currency is weak or strong. We are in trouble because Labour's economic policy have led us to disaster and diverting public attention from this is simply letting Labour off the hook. Indeed, the only reason Sterling has devalued so massively against other currencies is our Labour Governments decision to print so much extra cash to pump into the banking system and as other countries follow suit Sterling has recovered slightly in recent days to more than £1 - €1.10 tonight from near parity a few days ago.

The second display of stupidity from the SNP today was the rejection of the Conservatives offer of talks on how to fund the new Forth road crossing. For a party who claims to want the best for Scotland to act is such a narrow minded way on an infrastructure project of such importance to the economy of Scotland is simply staggering.

If Alex Salmond wants the SNP to work for the people of Scotland he must stop the politics of gripe and division and work with everyone who has Scotland's best interests at heart. That is what difficult economic times demand of us all.

Helping Those Who Want To Work

2009-01-07T00:48:00.003Z

Shadow Secretary of State for Works and Pensions, Chris Grayling MP, visited Edinburgh today to announce a whole range of measures Conservatives intend to take to help businesses stay afloat, to help individuals survive the recession and to help those who find themselves made unemployed get back to work as quickly as possible, should they win the next General Election.

A wide range of business organisations were present and I think they went away encouraged by the breadth and depth of proposals Chris put forward. It is clear that David Cameron and his team genuinely understand the pain people are feeling across the country and have a very positive and definite approach to helping those most in need.

To play my part, in East Renfrewshire I propose to set up a new "East Ren Jobs Club" as a self help and support group for those struggling in difficult economic times. Whether it is help with writing of a CV, tips on interviews or simply providing someone to listen to those frustrated by the length of time it takes to find a job the East Ren Jobs Club is something I can do to help minimise the impact of the recession on East Renfrewshire.

David Cameron Giving A Little Bit To Those Who Need It Most - And Setting An Example To Those Who Need One Most!

2009-01-05T23:23:00.006Z

When David Cameron announced new economic policy today I believe it was very much about doing two vital things.

First of all his announcement that everyone who is a basic tax payer will not pay any tax on interest derived from savings gives those who have been prudent a little more in their pockets as a reward for doing what is right and saving. The same applies to his proposal to increase the tax allowance of pensioners by an additional £2,000 as it is people on fixed incomes who suffer most when interest rates plummet.

Secondly his announcement sends a message to everyone that there is a real difference between Labour and the Conservatives. Labour believe the State should spend more, put everyone into unprecedented levels of debt and innocent bystanders who suffer as a result of government policy are an acceptable casualty. David Cameron believes that the State should reward those who have done the right thing in order to demonstrate, to those who have not, that saving and not spending excessively is the best way to a successful country and economy.

So many East Renfrewshire pensioners have told me that income from interest on savings they had been relying on has dried up and that they feel it is immoral that the State demand they pay tax on interest on money they paid tax on when it was genuine income. I have always agreed with this and will happily campaign alongside David Cameron for those on the lowest levels of income and pensioners on fixed incomes to be exempt from paying tax on their savings. Britain must be a fair country if its economy is to recover and in David Cameron we have a leader who clearly understands what needs to be done.

Labour Are Ruining The Only Union That Really Matters!

2009-01-04T23:58:00.006Z

It isn't Labour's arrogance that is ruining the Union. Nor is it simply their complacency. It is undoubtedly a combination of all the above, and their failure to provide any real leadership in promoting the benefits of our relationship with England, Northern Ireland and Wales, that is doing so much damage and placing the Union at risk.

Who can forget the claims of the Labour Party in Scotland that devolution would "kill nationalsim stone dead". George Robertson used to preach this mantra as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland in some sort of false belief that is you say something often enough it will always come true. Those of us who predicted the exact opposite, that devolution would give the SNP their best ever opportunity of moving Scotland towards Independence (effectively using it as a stepping stone) take no pleasure in having been proven right by events.

The SNP are not some sort of amateurish band of country bumpkins incapable of capitalising on gift horses. They are a very well disciplined and ruthless bunch of politicians who are as capable of being opportunistic as any other political organisation in Scotland.

As the current Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy is falling in to the very same trap as his Labour predecessors in attacking the SNP instead of making devolution work by establishing protocols and conventions that enable the Scottish Parliament to work with Westminster when the administrations of each are of different political persuasions! At the same time he writes blandly in newspapers about Scotland's strength being attributed to its place in the United Kingdom without establishing in print what this actually means.

Where are the statistics that prove more than 70% of all Scottish exports go to other parts of the UK? Where are the examples of Scots working to the benefit of the rest of the UK? Where are the references to the benefits that Scotland get from remaining an integral part of the United Kingdom? Because all this matters to the ordinary people of Scotland and the UK.

For me the Union is a marriage of four very capable countries who realise they are better off united by the common land and common principles their people share. It is only right to tell your partner what it is you do for them and to acknowledge their role in improving and fulfilling your life. Ask any salesman and he will tell you it is easier to sell the positives of your own brand than to decry the products and claims of your opponents. So why do unionist politicians continuously slate the case for Scottish Independence rather than sell the benefits of remaining part of the United Kingdom?

The failure of the Labour Party, and Jim Murphy, to make a positive case for the Union continues to put our countries long term future in doubt and that is something I, and the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party, must fight to ensure we champion.

Happy New Year - But Only An Election Can Bring Hope to East Renfrewshire

2009-01-01T23:50:00.003Z

2008 was a year of dramatic highs and lows. We witnessed great success for Team GB at the Olympic and Para-Olympics Games in Beijing but our economy took a very dramatic downturn and we enter 2009 facing a very deep recession and the prospect of a rapid increase in unemployment.

The problems we face are of course of our own and our Labour governments making. Individuals reliance on credit is borne partly out of our own greed but more significantly as a result of government policy. For years government statistics have pointed to our combined individual and state national debt rocketing to unsafe levels and yet government continued to encourage institutions and banks to lend lend lend. That the state now proposes to borrow massive sums to try and get us out of a recession caused by debt is truly staggering.

Here in East Renfrewshire we face a year in which our Labour led Council propose to invest massive sums of Council Tax money into pet political projects for which no real case can be made. Facing the loss of more than £1million in a high risk investment with a failed Icelandic Bank they now propose to spend more than £12.5million building a college in Barrhead despite their own figures showing the number of people attending adult eduction in Barrhead falling by more than 40% in recent years.

For me the answer to both local and national problems lies in political leadership. For years we have had local politicians who are seen at everything but ask yourself one simple question: what have they actually done for you or your family to make life better in East Renfrewshire? We need political leadership that will deliver spending on better roads and pavements, more police on local streets and a cleaner environment. These are the priorities of the people of East Renfrewshire and they are my priorities too!

East Renfrewshire, Scotland and the UK all need one thing to make them better - a General Election that delivers a new government. My mother always tells me the best things come to those who wait, but for me our country can't wait any longer for a new government and I hope 2009 brings us all the General Election we so richly deserve.

Invisible Labour!

2008-11-20T00:04:00.005Z

Debating at Glasgow University Student Debating Society tonight was a real fun experience.

The SNP, Lib Dems and event the SSP sent along Party representatives to put forward their own and their parties views on issues ranging from President Elect Obama to whether Scotland would be better off being independent while ceding power to the EU than it is part of the Union with power ceded to Westminster.

The one thing missing from tonight was , you may have noticed, the Labour Party. Despite being contacted time and again by organisers to arrange for them to be represented not one reply, even of acknowledgement, was forthcoming from a Party that is clearly no longer in touch with public concern.

I thoroughly enjoyed pitting my wits against some decent people prepared to be held to account by the public who they hope will elect them. It's only a pity the UK's governing Party don't believe they should be subjected to the same sort of interrogation so they can be held accountable for their actions!

Cameron speaks Direct to East Renfrewshire

2008-11-08T23:25:00.005Z

Watching David Cameron speak to 187 East Renfrewshire residents at the Carmichael Hall yesterday was a truly uplifting experience.

Without notes, David fielded questions from an audience made up largely of people who returned my recent constituency survey and who identified themselves as undecided voters, (oh and my Mum and Dad). Our audience included school children from across the constituency as well as a number of pensioners who had put the cost of living and fuel poverty as their top priority in their survey returns.

With questions including those best described as hostile, I am sure no one left able to accuse David of ducking a question or lacking substance. I am not sure that everyone got the answers they were necessarily looking for but I am sure they got the truth.

One moment of fun came in the form of a request rather than a question with a young man who came along with his father asked David to call his mother and wish her a "happy birthday", although he refused to divulge which birthday. As it happens I was with David later in the evening at dinner and he took time out between the starter and main course to call this lady and to wish her a happy birthday. I hope that made her day!

Bringing politics back to ordinary people is something I am sure would be welcomed by most local residents if they genuinely believed it was sincere. Yesterday I watched a man who believes in democracy and who is not scared to let people test his principles or his resolve. Cameron Direct is a blueprint for politics of the people in the 21st century and I am delighted David brought it to East Renfrewshire and proved its worth!

Basic Arithmetic Tells You These Numbers Don't Add Up!

2008-10-15T23:34:00.005+01:00

Unemployment in Scotland rose by 19,000 in the last quarter, according to the governments preferred measure, to 124,000. But here's where you see, yet again, why the public mistrust government statistics so much.

On the same quarter last year today's figures represent an increase of 2,000 on the corresponding unemployment figure for last year and yet the governments own statistics for the number of people employed in Scotland fell by 10,000 over the corresponding period.

While depopulation, an increase to the number of people retiring and some people going back to retrain may account for some of this difference so many of us have anecdotal stories to tell of family, friends and friends of friends who have lost their job in Scotland as our economy falls into recession and this yet again reinforces the old adage - "lies damn lies and statistics".

The cheery words of our Secretary of State for Scotland, designed I am sure to reassure us that we have little to worry about, simply do not cut it when you have a mortgage to pay and can see the prospect of unemployment on the horizon. It is time for government to set ordinary businesses free to create prosperity and secure jobs by giving them an amnesty on red tape and cutting business taxes so that they have money to invest in their employees.

UK Plc is perfectly capable of making a go of things in difficult times if government leave us alone and give us the tools to do so!

New Secretary of State - Same Old Labour!

2008-10-04T00:42:00.005+01:00

I am sure Jim Murphy's promotion to Secretary of State for Scotland is a reward for his loyalty to a Party and a Government that has let East Renfrewshire, Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom down.

Mr Murphy has long been an integral part of this Labour government, but that has not prevented his constituents in East Renfrewshire suffering in the same way as the rest of our country. Hard pressed local families and individuals are being taxed as never before at the very same time as government policy, conceived and delivered by his boss, hits them hardest.

I look forward to continuing to campaign against Mr. Murphy and to seeing how he intends to defend Labour’s record of failure. Scotland has a long tradition of booting our its Secretary of State for Scotland at the ballot box and I intend to make sure this continues by letting the people of East Renfrewshire know just exactly what a David Cameron Conservative government will do for them - in contrast to the prospect of more of the same from the Labour government who got us into this mess!

Tackling The Scourge Of Drugs

2008-09-23T00:34:00.006+01:00

Today's announcement that Police in Scotland have seized more than £20 million of drugs over the past 12 months and arrested 49 of our most "serious and dangerous" criminals is most welcome.

Combine the success of our Police with our new drugs strategy based on abstinence, adopted by the Scottish Executive after it was first advocated and then demanded by Annabel Goldie MSP, and you have the start of a process I believe will radically alter the publics perception of politicians attitude to tackling illegal drug use and abuse.

Not before time too. We must be seen to be coming down hard on the criminals who push drugs onto the vulnerable and at the same time to be offering a positive option to those who seek to get themselves off drugs once and for all. With a little bit of luck and faith in our people, I am sure we are about to see an end to the drugs culture in Scotland that has been so damaging to communities over recent years!

Perspective

2008-09-20T01:24:00.002+01:00

With all the doom and gloom in our economy and the troubles of the Prime Minister and his Government it is all to easy to forget the things that really matter. On every level - family, friends and the well being of local people are all far more important that the machinations of political parties.

The death of a Enya Doohan from Clarkston, to a mystery illness, at just 5 years of age, gives me a sense of perspective and ones heart can only go out to the family and friends of a little girls described as 'delightful' by her school.

Politics is important but not as important as life itself and I think we would all do well to remember that!

Loss Of Bank Of Scotland Is A Travesty!

2008-09-18T23:34:00.008+01:00

I believe in the free market and in the right of individuals to work hard and to prosper as a result of their hard work. But the shenanigans surrounding the purchase of Halifax Bank of Scotland by Lloyd's TSB leave me thinking our Government and their financial regulatory structures leave a lot to be desired.

Today we discovered that Gordon Brown personally knew that HBoS was in talks to be bought out by Lloyd's TSB a week ago and took personal control of ensuring the regulatory authorities approved the purchase given the current economic climate and despite potential monopolies concerns.

Knowing all this the Prime Minister then did nothing to stop the run on the banks shares over the past few days even though he knew there was no cause for concern about the banks liquidity. This means he knew that those attacking HBoS shares were doing so in order to make large "personal" financial gains and given the coordinated and sustained nature of trading he must have suspected there may have been an element of insider knowledge attached to these sales.

The loss of the Bank of Scotland brand from UK high streets and to Scotland's corporate and social life is a disaster. Scotland's second largest company had the right to expect our Government would protect them from unwarranted attack, but Government and its regulators let HBoS down. It's time for a Government who believes in protecting our great Institutions and that ensures fairness across our economy - clearly that rules the current Government out!

Sarah Palin - Superstar!

2008-09-15T00:55:00.005+01:00

The emergence of Sarah Palin as the invigorating force in the Republican campaign for President of the United States of America is as welcome as it was surprising. For too long I think we all expected Barack Obama to walk to victory as he portrayed John McCain as another 4 years of failed Bush administration policies and McCain appeared incapable of repelling such suggestions for fear of alienating his Party's core support.

Today we find swing State after swing State warming to the McCain-Palin ticket as it expresses a desire to win and to bring change to Washington by presenting two politicians who have in their own way and fields already affected proper change in their jurisdictions.

And the reaction from the Obama campaign? To engage in the sort of negative campaign techniques that many thought he stood against and was more likely to be subject to than an advocate of.

So it's clearly game on in the race to become the 44th President of the United States of America and so much the better for all those sad political hacks, (like me), who will be glued to every press statement, opinion poll and results programme from now till 5th November!

Whose To Blame For The Condition Of Scottish Prisons?

2008-09-12T01:35:00.005+01:00

Would you believe it!

Having suffered 11 years of Labour blaming their predecessor Conservative administration for absolutely everything that is wrong in Scotland, and across the UK, would you believe it, now the SNP are lining up to do the same.

Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, reckons it is down to the last Conservative government that our jails are in "a dire state". Apparently the Labour government that filled in the gap between Conservative and SNP governance of Scotland are not to blame for failing to invest into prisons during their time in office, or indeed for having stopped Conservative investment plans on coming to power in 1997.

Give us a break Kenny and stop looking for an excuse to point fingers at the Conservatives for spurious reasons. If you're not up to the job of sorting our Scotland's jails let us know and we'll happily take over and show you how its done!

Back To The Future with the Scottish Futures Trust

2008-09-11T02:03:00.003+01:00

Yesterdays announcement by John Swinney that he intends to fund all future public infrastructure projects with a new Scottish Futures Trust, to replace PFI and PPP, is at first glance to be welcomed. The trouble is that on deeper analysis it is clear there is no detail to his proposal and that the sole purpose of changing the method of funding is to prevent private companies from making profit.

The reality is that the public sector does not have construction divisions capable of building anything of significance and as a result if we want schools, hospitals and roads built we need to engage the private sector to deliver for Scotland.

Private sector companies will not, of course, work for no profit and will have to do one of two things if they are to satisfy Mr Swinney's criteria of "not for profit" build.

Either they will price jobs to show no profit by wildly inflating the cost of every item in a tender or they will all seek to act as subcontractors to a main contractor who makes no profit, while they make profits in the usual way. In other words the main contractor charges what they are charged by their subcontractors, not a penny more and not a penny less, but the subcontractors charge in the traditional way that has enabled them to make profits under PFI and PPP.

The uncertainty we face in the short term is very unhelpful, particularly when we desperately need new Barrhead and Eastwood High Schools. Yesterdays announcement is, therefore, a matter of regret and the message from East Renfrewshire must be "give us some certainty Mr Swinney and we will get on with making life better for the people who live here"!

Justice Must Serve Society!

2008-09-09T00:59:00.004+01:00

With Barlinnie full to bursting, SNP Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill is suggesting we put prisoners out to work on major infrastructure projects, including build programmes associated with the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Restorative justice is something I would normally support, however I suspect today's announcement has more to do with a complete failure to deal with prisoner numbers and not a tough new approach to what criminals should be required to do to pay for their crimes against society.

I believe criminals should be put to work for the communities they have offended, but nor if this puts people into communities who fear their involvement. Building sites can be dangerous places with dangerous tools and equipment and the thought of letting prisoners out on day release with access to potential weapons is something we need to guard against.

If this proposal is indeed about finding ways to reduce the prison population I have news for Mr MacAskill. The Scottish people want its government to stand up for them and to build new prisons if that is what it takes to make prison a deterrent to crime.

Court sentences should mean what they say! One year should mean you serve one year; Life should mean you serve life etc. And if this means prisoner numbers rise in the short term as we keep dangerous people incarcerated while we educate them not to re-offend then we should build the prisons necessary to keep our law abiding majority safe.

Give Us A Break Gordon!

2008-09-08T00:31:00.005+01:00

Today's newspapers are full of the Prime Minister promising to tackle the countries big problems in the same way as he has overcome big challenges in his own personal life.

No one has more admiration for the way Gordon Brown has tackled his partial blindness than me. As someone who was so active in sport at a young age the loss of sight in one eye and the partial loss of sight in the other must have been devastating. It takes someone of particular character and courage to be able to put this aside and battle to achieve in other fields and Gordon Brown's achievements, both academic and political, speak for themselves.

Nevertheless to be making claims of preparedness to take action in tough economic times and to be feeling our pain leave us with one big question. Where have you and your government been for the past 12 months?

The 10p tax debacle was of your doing, the credit crunch and failure to deal properly with Northern Rock was of your doing and the fact that inflation is crippling households and need an interest rate rise when the housing market needs an interest rate cut is of your doing.

It is very admirable to give us kind words and big promises but it you do want to help us there is something you could do for us NOW - CALL AN ELECTION!

Local Income Tax - A Disincentive To Work Hard And Do Well!

2008-09-04T00:09:00.003+01:00

The SNP's proposed abolition of Council Tax to be replaced by a Local Income Tax is quite simply another disincentive to work hard and do well.

No one likes paying tax, unless they have to, but today's proposal by the Scottish Executive to pay for local services based on a supposed ability to pay means that, for the same Council services, two households beside one another might be faced with one paying nothing for their bins to be picked up, their streets to be lit and their libraries to be open while their next door neighbours pay £3,000 a year to receive the exact same services, based on a combined household income of £100,000.

And this of course assumes that the 3 pence in the every pound level mooted by the SNP is actually sustainable. Glasgow City Council calculates that at 3% a Local Income Tax would leave them with a shortfall of £133 million on current budgets - in other words to maintain current expenditure Local Income Tax would have to increase by 50% to 4.5%. Here, in East Renfrewshire, I believe that with our extremely high percentage of population that is either old or young our expenditure, in what is a relatively small local authority, is pretty big per head of population and we too would have to seek to raise the level of Local Income Tax just to be able to maintain the standard of our schools and other services.

And whenever you raise a tax on a regional basis you also find a large number of people who seek to avoid paying that tax. For example, with Corporation Tax in the UK higher than that in the Republic of Ireland a number of large companies have moved their head offices from London to Dublin to take advantage of the tax break this provides. In the case of Local Income Tax, I wonder how many people will register for tax purposes in England, Wales or Northern Ireland to avoid paying a Scottish Local Income Tax were it to be introduced.

In summary, the SNP's Local Income Tax proposal is poorly thought through, will lead to inequities in payment for local services in local communities and will undoubtedly not be paid by those who can afford to find ways of avoiding it. All this would be damaging to the social cohesion of Scotland and potential ruinous to our economy. That is why we must all oppose its introduction and leave no stone unturned until it is consigned to the political scrapheap.

Emergency Housing Measures A Waste Of Time

2008-09-03T00:43:00.002+01:00

The CBI describe them as "largely symbolic". The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors say "the Government has failed to listen to the property industry". The Council of Mortgage Lenders say "it is questionable whether it will incentivise buyers who wouldn't have entered the market anyway". And senior figures in the property industry call them "a political sticking plaster" that won't make "one iota of difference".

So why has the Government rushed through a £1.6 billion package of measures for the housing industry that no one seems to think really address the route cause of the current housing downturn?

Quite simply, it is because they don't understand the reasons for the current downturn and have insufficient funds left in the pot to really help out now we are experiencing 'a rainy day'.

And the one thing missing from yesterdays announcement? How are Chancellor Alastair Darling and Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposing to pay for this state handout? The mind boggles when you consider the irresponsibility of it all!

Cervical Cancer Vaccination Programme A Welcome Event

2008-09-02T00:38:00.004+01:00

There is nothing worse than hearing a loved one has cancer, particularly when the technology exists to stop it taking hold.

Yesterday, Abronhill High in Cumbernauld made history by becoming the first Scottish school to administer the new Cervarix vaccine to 90 girls, as part of a UK-wide programme that will see 90,000 young girls receive the vaccination this month.

The jab works by targeting the human papilloma virus, the virus that causes about 70% of cases of cervical cancer that kills more than 1,000 women in the UK each year.

This is the first mass anti-cancer vaccination programme in UK medical history and a great day to celebrate the advances in medical research we too often take for granted. As schools across the UK go back over the next 4 or 5 weeks we should all take great pride in the investment made to develop treatments that protect us from illness as well as those that help cure us if we fall ill.

So thank you to all those in our National Health Service and medical research laboratories who are doing so much to help keep us safe!

The Worst Crisis For 60 Years Or Our Biggest Opportunity?

2008-08-31T21:36:00.003+01:00

So, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling, reckons we are facing the worst economic downturn for 60 years and questions how ordinary British people will react to the tough times ahead?

I have news for Mr Darling and his Labour Government!

We, the British people, are a resilient lot and will do everything we can to exit the difficult times we face bigger, better and more wealthy than we are as we enter into the tough times Labour condemn us to.

Zoom Doom!

2008-08-29T19:05:00.005+01:00

With thousands of Brits stuck abroad and thousands of Canadians stuck in the UK, following the collapse of low cost airline Zoom, it appears there is little hope for many more airlines in the current economic crisis.

The business model of low cost carriers is fundamentally reliant on the price of fuel and it appears most budgeted this year based on the cost of a barrel of oil not rising above $80 a barrel. When the cost of fuel rose above $100 a barrel things looked bleak but as it rose further still, to more than $140 a barrel at one point, 26 airlines have found it impossible to stave off the inevitable and have gone out of business.

Everyone likes a bargain but you know what they say - "if something looks too good to be true it usually is". Low cost airlines may seem attractive with low fares on desirable routes but the truth is they take huge gambles on what the trading conditions of the day will be months in advance and those buying tickets early, at the cheapest rates, leave low cost carrier airline hugely exposed to unacceptable business risk.

Thousands of people will soon return to recount stories of woe. They will tell us there is no obligation for an airline that has gone under to provide them with any help, any food or any accommodation. Those with travel insurance will get home without any additional cost and those without will be left considerably out of pocket just to get back to their port of dispatch. It almost makes you grateful for British Airways and their full fare service, doesn't it!

Congratulations Barack!

2008-08-29T01:52:00.006+01:00

Barack Obama made history last night, when he became the first black man to accept the Democratic Party nomination to contest the Presidency of the United States of America.

45 years to the day after Martin Luther King challenged Americans to embrace his "dream" of equality, Senator Obama urged his country to accept change and outlined a radically different vision as to for how America would conduct its affairs were he to win the elections on 4th November 2008.

Last night was not only an historic moment for the United States of America. As the largest democracy in the recognised free world, (aka the West), America made history for the world by showing the democracy rewards ability regardless of age, sex, religion or indeed colour.

What Senator Barack Obama represented to the world last night is something everyone should embrace - HOPE! Congratulations Senator Obama, we look forward to hearing you articulate your vision for change as your campaign progresses. Your only challenge now is to ensure there is substance to your claims.

Ping Pong's Coming Home!

2008-08-25T00:00:00.007+01:00

Only Boris Johnson could represent London as he did tonight! The Beijing Olympics closed with a truly stunning closing ceremony to rival its Opening Ceremony - and all after a truly stunning Olympic Games for British sport.

Finishing fourth on the medals table, behind China, the USA and Russia, proves that our investment into sport through the National Lottery is both productive and worthwhile. Our sporting men and women became heroes for young and old alike and return with a haul of gold, silver and bronze beyond our wildest dreams on the 8th of the 8th 2008.

Even tonight the British played a massive part in the success of these Games. Our contribution to the Closing Ceremony let no one down and showed that the London Organising Committee have a distinctive concept as to how our Games will be staged.

Leona Lewis, David Beckham and Boris Johnson all represented the very best of British tonight and showed we can live up to the honours of hosting the Olympic Games.

Well done Team GB. Here's to 2012!

If You Mess Up Big You Should Suffer The Consequencies!

2008-08-23T23:43:00.003+01:00

The private contractor who lost personal data on thousands of criminals should be sacked!

It is that simple, and yet Jacqui Smith and her Labour government are dithering, yet again, over a tough decision they should be taking as a matter of course.

The contractor who lost this data broke the rules on security of data and yet they continue to be paid vast sums. They are contractors on major projects involving the most sensitive of personal data, including the introduction of ID cards and biometric passports and are being paid millions in return. In other words they are now being rewarded for incompetence!

I don't believe this is fair and I don't believe this government is capable of taking the tough decisions our country needs at this time of uncertainty. The sooner we get a General Election and rid ourselves of this dreadful lot the better!

No Growth And No Hope Without A Change Of Government

2008-08-22T23:20:00.005+01:00

Today's announcement that the UK economy failed to grow for the first time in 63 consecutive quarters confirmed what most of us already knew and feared - a full scale UK recession is now inevitable.

And what has been the response of our government? Absolutely nothing - just complete silence.

Now some say ignorance is bliss and silence golden. In this particular instance nothing could be further from the truth. Business needs to know that government is on their side and that they are following a recovery plan that will help them out of tough times.

Tonight the UK economy and its business leaders are no wiser than they were before the news of 0% growth in the last quarter for our economy and must fear that there is no plan and no prospect of any help from government

So, it's time for a change of government and to bring hope to our economy. Britain deserves better and it deserves the best. In George Osborne the Conservative Party have the best man for the job of Chancellor and that is why we need an election now!

Are Unions Set To Wreck Scotland?

2008-08-21T20:57:00.004+01:00

With Unison having brought much of Scotland's local authority public sector to its knees yesterday, with a one day strike over the pay settlement offered by COSLA, it appears to me that Scotland's Unions are attempting to unsettle the governance of Scotland in a cynical attempt to bolster the Labour Party they are inextricably linked to.

Both Cathy Jamieson and Iain Gray, who are fighting for leadership of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament, turned out on picket lines to profess their support for those on strike. Unison, in turn, promised more misery for us all with a "rolling programme" of industrial action unless their inflation busting pay demands are met.

While I am no supporter or apologist for the SNP Scottish Executive I do think that the current public sector strike action is a Labour Party motivated plot designed to unsettle the governance of Scotland now that this isn't the sole preserve of Scottish Labour. It suits the Labour Party to have strike action that takes the political spotlight off the internal machinations and which provokes a thought process that a large section of Scotland's workforce are unsettled under a different administration.

So the message to Unison and Scottish Labour is we are on to your scam and are resolved to take Scotland forward in a positive fashion, not look to you for divine intervention. Scotland is a nation with hope for the future and you did nothing during your dominance of Scotland's political establishment to provide us with anything other than despair.

Our Shame!

2008-08-20T23:51:00.005+01:00

The debacle that is trying to get Gary Glitter back to the UK and under strict control is rapidly becoming a stain on our countries good name throughout the world.

Glitter apparently wants to come back to the UK because he wants free treatment from our National Health Service for a heart condition, but he doesn't want to enter the country on our terms - preferring instead to seek to enter at his leisure. Our Home Secretary also apparently wants him back in the country to show us all her Government is capable of controlling people with vile personal preferences.

Around the world people must be asking why the British government was not able to plan getting Glitter back to the UK on his release from prison. It isn't as if we didn't know where he was for the past 3 years, (jail), and it isn't as if we couldn't have asked the Vietnamese government to give us a bit of advanced warning of his release to ensure we assisted them to deport this criminal from their land.

On his return to the country you would also have thought our Government would have made provision to force him into the maximum level of supervision possible under our law. Unfortunately this foresight does not exist in British government. Apparently Glitter has not posed a threat to children within the past 6 months because he has been in jail and as a result we cannot put him into the highest category of sex offender management. Instead he will simply be put onto the sex offenders register and will have to abide by standard offender management arrangements.

As I always say, if something is foreseeable it is avoidable. Gary Glitter should have been brought straight back to the UK and any loophole that enables him to avoid proper management of him in this country should have been closed. Our children deserve proper protection from this vile man and anything less than our best endeavours to ensure this is simply not good enough!

All Work And No Play!

2008-08-18T23:44:00.004+01:00

The Bank of Scotland's study of small businesses, released today, suggests that Scotland's small businesses work the longest hours in the UK and are preparing for the credit crunch by gearing up to work even harder! Not that this comes as any surprise to those of us in business.

All too often we forget just how hard our fellow Scots work and fail to recognise that the work ethic our upbringing instills in our workforce stands us in good stead for the challenges life throws up from time to time.

While our public sector workers form an essential part of our way of life it is our private sector who create the new wealth required to pay for investment into services and that ensures our country is able to maintain the highest standards of living.

So, today's figures should provide us all with a sense of comfort that the entrepreneurial spirit of Scotland lives on in our business community and that we will work our way through the toughest of times thanks to our nations spirit!

It's Time To Isolate Russia And To Deny Them Our Currency!

2008-08-17T22:18:00.005+01:00

With the news that Russia is arming is Baltic fleet with nuclear warheads, for the first time since the end of the cold war, we should all sit up and take notice!

The reemergence of Russia as a military superpower is a terrifying development, particularly as it is funded by the West's purchase of their oil and gas. In other words we are paying for massive investment into nuclear technology designed to eradicate our way of life!

This is simply ludicrous! Despite the potentially massive impact onto our way of life it may have, we must stop purchasing oil, gas and other raw materials from Russia, directly or indirectly, in order to deny them the currency they require to continue the enlargement of the military they now threaten us with. We must get the message through to ordinary Russian's that we are happy to trade with them and to help them to prosper but not if they in return use our money to threaten us with obliteration!

In times of war the people of Britain have always been prepared to make sacrifices in order to ensure the maintenance of our way of life. Our refusal to purchase Russian fuel would probably mean tough times ahead, with power cuts and insufficient gas pressure available to heat households both possible. Nevertheless we must hit Russia where it hurts before they hit us with lethal force. Europe has been peaceful and successful for years without the threat of nuclear war and that is how it must remain!

Is Beauty Only Skin Deep In Beijing?

2008-08-13T23:43:00.007+01:00

The Opening Ceremony at this years Olympic Games was truly something to behold - even if some of the fire works were CGI and not real! The one truly disturbing factor for the Games Committee is that organisers felt it necessary to put a child model onto stage to replace the wonderfully talented singer of the words going out over the public address system because she was not attractive enough.

The angelic voice of Yang Peiyi, (pictured on the right), enhanced the wonderful visual display put on by Chinese authorities to herald the opening of their Olympics. The young girl in the red dress put forward as the singer of "Hymn to the Motherland", Lin Miaoke (pictured on the left), added nothing to this visual display even though I am sure many people sitting at home across the globe probably commented on how cute she looked.

It's time China grew up and started acting responsibly. We want a games where we see the talent of its nation and how effective they can be as organisers of an event that promotes harmony amongst the people of the world.

Yang Peiyi is a true Chinese star and someone their whole country can be proud of for her hard work at the Olympics. Let's hope her country recognises and honours her accordingly!

Families Bear The Brunt Of Labour Economic Failure

2008-08-12T18:14:00.008+01:00

Today's announcement that the Governments preferred measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index, now sits at 4.4%, more than double its target rate, is a disaster for hard working families and those who can least afford big increases in their cost of living given the latest increase is driven by a record surge in supermarket food prices.

CPI inflation is now at its highest figure since 1997 and double its figure in January, while the Retail Price Index - including housing costs - rose to hit 5%, its highest level for at least 17 years.
.

The Office of National Statistics confirms food inflation alone has spiralled to a CPI record 13.7% year-on-year, a massive jump from its 10.6% level in June. It appears this was principally due to a rise in meat costs, particularly bacon, ham and poultry. Meat prices rose 16.3% year-on-year, up from the 11.2% recorded in June.

Essentials like breads and cereals saw an increase of 15.9% on the year. Vegetables, including my favourite potatoes, shot up to 11.1% up from 7.4%.

The Office of National Statistics believe someone spending £100 a week on food last year, will have to find another £712 this year to put the same items on the table. The Daily Mail's 'Cost of Living Index', which looks at a smaller basket of shopping basket essentials, now suggests they have increase by 25% over the past year, equating to a whopping £1,300 extra this year.

If people can't afford food we are condemning our population to complete poverty and that simply isn't acceptable for any country let alone one of the wealthiest on the planet. To tackle this we must offer fuel tax cuts to our hauliers and ensure our supermarkets are not profiteering from our people.

Misery For Both Sides Of The Old Firm!

2008-08-11T23:46:00.009+01:00

Football is a "funny old game" and the misery of fans manifests itself in many ways.

Tonight we learn that, last night, one Celtic player was assaulted and another arrested at a Glasgow Nightclub and that Rangers are to sell their best player to the English Premiership - and to none other than, former Celtic Manager, Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa.

Living in a household with split loyalties the sense of despair felt in our house is tangible. Firstly why can't extremely well paid football stars not keep themselves out of trouble in our City Centre and secondly why would Rangers sell their best player when their fans are already despondent about their early season form.

Having worked for a football club I know the provocation players face from the mindless fans of opposition clubs. There is no excuse, however, for them not avoiding conflict by surrounding themselves with an entourage who remove them from trouble hot spots or simply by walking away and leaving places where there is a threat. You don't see players from the better controlled Premiership clubs in fights or under arrest because they make it their business to know where their players are and to ensure their safety at all times!

Football truly is a funny old game and one most of Glasgow love to follow. If the Old Firm clubs and their players don't shape up and start behaving themselves it will be them who suffer in the pocket as we, the fans, desert them in our droves in search of better role models to adore.

What To Do About Georgia?

2008-08-10T23:56:00.006+01:00

The end of the Cold War was supposed to herald a new era of peace for Europe. We found ourselves in a world where the Russian Federation was reliant on international aide to help its people pull themselves out of poverty and a large number of eastern European countries looked to western Europe as its chosen partners in a free and fair trading world.

Having relied on our aide to improve the lot of its people, Russia suddenly discovered just how rich in natural resources it is in a world where raw materials, particularly oil and gas, are very often better than hard currency. With this realisation it has reemerged as a world superpower.

Russia has rearmed its armed forces with the very best equipment money can buy and has vastly increased their numbers - back to cold war proportions. It has become aggressive in the way it deals with its neighbours, particularly those who look to the west for protection, making them pay a heavy economic price for commodities.

And now we find that Russia is prepared to attack, with lethal force, neighbouring countries who have internal regions who look to Russia as a historic ally when the rest of the country looks to the West as its future.

Georgia has made it clear they see their future as part of the European Union. Its internationally recognised boundaries include the region of South Ossetia, who are in dispute with this national policy as they see their historic link as being loyal to Russia. In recent years the South Ossetian regional administration and the Georgian government have conflicted over the future of their region, with South Ossetia seeking independence and closer ties with Russia.

The Georgian government believe South Ossetia is a sovereign part of Georgia and set about reestablishing their grip on power in their country by sending in Georgian armed forces to a part of their country - only to be faced by an invading Russian army determined to see South Ossetia given both independence.

And what is the international communities answer to an attack by Russia on a sovereign nation state? Quite simply we verbally condemn their action but appear unwilling, or unable, to do anything about it!

Tonight we find that Russia has blown up, and sunk, a Georgian missile ship and continues with air strike in Georgia far beyond the boundaries of South Ossetia. It appears Russia is determined to destroy Georgia and ensure its supremacy in the region is reestablished by demonstrating its ability to deliver overwhelming force to anyone prepared to frustrate its will.

So tonight it becomes clear the international community is impotent in the face of Russian military might and that Gordon Brown and his government are truly on holiday from everything, including any ability to demonstrate leadership on the international stage.

I believe the United Kingdom should send a Royal Navy task force to ensure Georgia is able to receive goods by sea and that we should offer our Royal Air Force to protect Georgian international airspace from incursions by Russian military planes. If the Russians engage with us they are engaging with a NATO signatory and we will embarrass the Bush administration into getting off their back sides in Beijing and helping the people of Georgia who gave him a hero's reception when he toured their country. President Bush promised the USA would preserve the integrity of Georgia and is failing its people every second he delays in stopping Russia's aggression.

Too many civilians have died as a result of Russia's aggression and this has to stop now. I say the UK should show a lead on the international stage and not wait for a bigger world power. Too much is at stake and too many peoples lives depend on us now!

Will The Olympics Be Free And Fair?

2008-08-04T23:59:00.009+01:00

The Union Flag was raised today in Beijing's Olympic Park. With the Olympic Games now less than 3 days away, every news channel is full of stories about China, the preparation of athlete's from across the world and speculation about whether the ideals of Olympic Games can be delivered in one of the most secretive State's on the planet.

The Olympic movement stands for everything that ordinary human beings wish our planet to achieve. Freedom to express ourselves, excellence in everything we do and the ability of every participant - no matter your colour, creed or relative wealth - to be treated equally.

The challenge for China throughout the Games is two fold. Firstly they must show that China understands that it now benefits from freedom to trade with the rest of the civilised world and that in return it must act as a responsible partner by preserving the human rights of its people.

We don't need the Chinese government to jump through hoops or to betray their history. What we need them to do is to ensure that their people, (who supply so much of what we consume in the West), are treated fairly, that their companies conform to basic levels of social corporate responsibility and that the economic development policies they pursue allow our planet to have a sustainable future.

The second thing we require of the Beijing Olympic Games is that the athletes competing are able to do so on a level playing field. Drugs cheats, even their own, must be weeded out and denied any medal joy. Athletes from around the world must be also able to compete in acceptable air quality, so that they are not disadvantaged by having to compete in an atmosphere they could not possibly be used to.

And finally, every athlete must be treated equally. I am horrified to hear that the British Olympic Association have made arrangements for our athletes to have better equipped rooms than the standard rooms given to athletes from poorer nations by throwing money at Games organisers. Every athlete should be able to pick from a menu of equipment for rooms and the host country, as organisers, should be required to bear the cost of this to ensure the Olympics truly are Games of an even playing field and not Games where those with the most money can buy their way to small advantages.

I am in no doubt that British athlete will win more than our fair share of medals thanks to our investment, in this country, into elite sport. I am equally sure our athletes would want to see opponents from poorer nations afforded the same living conditions as they will enjoy to show that the medals they win are won on talent, dedication and preparation alone.

So, in brief, China and Beijing have a lot to prove over the next few weeks. The Olympic Games, and the Para Olympics that follow them, mean the world's attention is focused on China as a nation and how they treat athlete, journalist and spectator. They have a lot to live up to and a lot to lose. I hope China will prove its doubters and detractors wrong and show us a willingness to deliver and perform to the Olympic ideals. Only time will tell if I am right!

A British Winner In An International World

2008-08-04T00:05:00.006+01:00

During Wimbledon I wrote about Andy Murray's need to keep on winning if he wanted to make Britain proud of his achievements when everyone else was writing he needed to smile more to become a national hero.

By winning the Cincinnati Masters last night, (a 7-6, 7-6 victory over Novak Djokovic), Andy proved himself a winner of the very biggest grade of tournament on the planet short of a Grand Slam and someone the whole of Great Britain can be proud of at a time when we have very little to be thankful for.

With the Olympics and the US Open to look forward to over the coming month I don't expect to see a smiling Andy Murray on the international stage, nor do I want to see that. What I and the whole of the country want is gold medals and a British Grand Slam champion and if Andy can deliver that he can be as sultry as he wants with our blessing!

Why Our Energy Does Not Need Another Tax!

2008-08-03T23:19:00.006+01:00

If reports in this weekends newspapers are to be believed, we should expect a windfall tax on our energy companies in the very near future.

While the need to help those who will not be able to heat their houses this winter due to the price increases announced by our utility companies is not in doubt, the method of helping those most in need is something our Labour Government must ensure does not leave the rest of society paying dearly for.

Any windfall tax on gas and electricity companies will, over time, be borne by those of us who pay their bills. This may not appear as an immediate burden in our bills but we can all be assured that over time these companies will find ways to pass the burden of their taxation onto us all.

With so many people already being forced into fuel poverty by government inaction in the face of international commodity price rises the answer is surely not to lift people in fuel poverty out of this categorisation only to put those just above the current measure into fuel poverty as gas and electricity prices rise to pay for their windfall tax!

The two simple and easy ways for Government to help control energy prices in the UK are to introduce a fuel price escalator, as already proposed by Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, and to work with the energy industry on long term energy security for the UK in order that our gas and electricity companies can depreciate their capital projects over the medium to long terms - enabling them to reduce this cost to their balance sheet and in turn the price we pay them today.

So my message to Gordon Brown and his government is don't make the same mistake you made with the pensions industry, which ruined a UK industry once considered the best in the world, by introducing a windfall tax on our energy companies. Instead make it clear that our gas and electricity companies are vital to the UK's strategic national interest and will be supported by government with a view to energy security for an island nation currently reliant on massive imports of material and energy to survive.

Milliband For Chancellor?

2008-08-02T02:37:00.006+01:00

This time of year is commonly known as 'silly season' when it comes to the political news stories national media outlets are prepared to run.

Tonight a contributor to BBC Radio Five Live 'flew a kite' suggesting David Milliband will be promoted, in an imminent Gordon Brown cabinet reshuffle, to the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. The principle rationale given is the old adage that in politics you "keep your friends close and your enemies closer".

Asked to give a couple of other reasons for this promotion the contributor responded that with the economy disappearing down a hole the post of Chancellor is possibly the worst job in cabinet, "a thankless task", and that being in the second most important job in British politics makes it difficult to launch any leadership bid without damaging yourself by being portrayed as treacherous and disloyal.

Whether Gordon Brown is Machiavellian enough to promote David Milliband to Chancellor remains to be seen. What is clear is that if he were to do nothing with/to Mr Milliband in the event of a reshuffle he will be portrayed as weak and this would strengthen the hand of those who accuse him of dithering and not being decisive enough.

Who would be an unelected, 3rd term, Labour Prime Minister, eh?