Winning

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

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!

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

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.

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

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!