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.

2010 - A Year For Change

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.

No place for racism or fascism in Scotland

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.

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

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!

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 1 - Setting an agenda for change

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."

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%)

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!

It Was The Tories That Won It!

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?

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!

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.

Hold On Tight For A Bumpy Quantitative Easing Ride

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.

Labour Luvvie Sir Fred Continues To Benefit

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!

The Truth About Boom & Bust

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!

How Bad Could It Really Be?

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

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!

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

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.

Would You Believe It?

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!

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.

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?