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

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.

Political credibility relies on displaying good judgement

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.

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

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.

Day 2 - Being straight with the British people

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.

Labour lunatics are running the asylum!

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.

Counting The Cost of Murder!

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.

Labour learn an Expenses lesson!

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?

Invisible Labour!

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

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!

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!

Loss Of Bank Of Scotland Is A Travesty!

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!

Whose To Blame For The Condition Of Scottish Prisons?

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!

Justice Must Serve Society!

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.

Zoom Doom!

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!

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.

If You Mess Up Big You Should Suffer The Consequencies!

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

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?

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.

More Violence Disrupts Our Community

It is becoming almost the norm to pick up the Glasgow South & Eastwood Extra and to find yourself confronted by yet another tale of violent crime in once peaceful East Renfrewshire.

This weeks edition, (July 31st 2008), details two serious assaults in the Thornliebank area over the course of the past week. In the more serious of the two incidents the victim remains in a stable condition at the Southern General Hospital and police are asking residents to come forward with information because they "would have heard the disturbance or the car driving off at high speed".

The thing that really strikes me about this report is that police believe local residents have information they are apparently not willing to volunteer. This is something that somehow does not seem surprising in today's society and yet in years gone by the thought of not doing ones public duty, by coming forward to give vital evidence to the police, would have seemed ridiculous.

So, how do we ensure our police and local communities become closer to one another? I believe this is as simple as continuous 'dialogue' and making the Police directly accountable to the communities they serve.

One vital first step toward better communication is getting more "campus cops" into our schools, so that young people grow up both seeing and communicating with police officers. The things you learn in your youth help shape your attitudes in later life and I can't believe our Labour led Council voted down the Conservative 2008 budget amendment that would have put more "campus cops" into East Renfrewshire's schools.

The second thing we should do, to improve society's attitude to helping police, is to make our police far more accountable to the people they serve. I have previously advocated, on this blog site, the election of Chief Constables, citing the experience of communities in the USA in support of this policy. I don't want our police to become politicised but I do want local people to know whether their Chief Constable shares their law and order priorities and I want them to be able to pass judgement on whether they believe their Chief Constable has succeeded in delivering better policing to their local area.

I don't believe local people don't want safer streets, better communities and to feel they are able to help their police. It seems to me our police are simply experiencing a crisis of confidence in their ability to effectively protect those willing to come forward with information and to improve the security of local neighbourhoods. I believe we must start a two way dialogue between police and community at an early age and continue this in later life by making our police accountable to their local communities. After all, we all have a vested interest in the success of our Police Force!

Lib Dem On The Run

One thing seems common to Lib Dem's across the UK - they are on the run!

With Glasgow born businessman Michael Brown, who donated more than £2 million to the Liberal Democrats, having skipped bail and gone on the run it seems to me he is a symbol of the Party he once supported.

Mr Brown is charged with money laundering, theft, perverting the course of justice and other fraud-related offences.

The Liberal Democrats are known, from time-to-time, to indulge in a bit of political fraud themselves - campaigning with one position on a policy in one constituency and a completely different position on the same policy in another constituency where this suits their pursuit of votes at any cost.

The lesson for the Liberal Democrats is that, like Michael Brown, things you do and say eventually catch up on you! I am sure the Police will catch Mr Brown and the electorate will catch on to Lib Dem policy. The good news is we will all be better off without them when this occurs!