Give Us A Break Gordon!

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

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

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

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

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

Harsh Realities Are Hard To Live With!

Today I experienced at first hand the devastating effect, on employer and employee alike, of having to make people redundant as a result of the economic downturn affecting the UK's construction sector.

The prospect of laying off any member of staff, particularly those you know are sole earners in their household, is simply something no one could enjoy - and it is certainly something that left me feeling totally empty as I arrived home tonight. And you know it's an immensely upsetting experience when you can see in the eyes of rough and tough Glasgow businessmen that they are being moved, as much as they would care to publicly show, by having to action this tough decision.

Every well run business has a wealth of reports and statistics on which to base its business plans and there is nothing more difficult that seeing figures that say an overhead needs to be trimmed, particularly when that overhead is in terms of members of staff. The Directors of the construction companies I manage have undertaken the painful process of laying off staff on the basis of the reports I provide and I feel completely devastated at the impact this is having on good people I have enjoyed working with.

And the reasons for the need to take such drastic action? Quite simply it is a complete lack of leadership and support for the sector from our Labour government.


Despite government set targets for a huge amount of new build housing over the next decade, and beyond, all our major house builders are suspending work on existing sites of pulling altogether new start sites on which they have placed orders. The reasons for this are two fold:

1) Our banks and financial institutions are reducing their exposure to risk in the sector by pulling funding from a huge number of construction projects;

2) It is so difficult for prospective home buyers, particularly potential first time buyers, to secure a mortgage because our banks are reducing their exposure to risk here too!

So, even though our financial institutions know there is bright future for the sector in the medium to long terms none of them are prepared to be the first to help stimulate recovery in the construction sector as they hold our Labour government responsible for the financial unrest they are experiencing as a result of the Northern Rock fiasco. Worse still, they see no leadership by government to encourage an economic upturn in the construction sector or the mortgage markets, which they appear to me to be taking as a sign that government is content to live with the current downturn - even though this will mean the UK misses the governments own new build housing targets!

I really can't predict what the effect on morale, as a result of today's lay offs, will be. My only consolation is that I know these businesses are fundamentally sound and that the remaining employees should enjoy job security, all things being equal. One can only hope that our governments doesn't do anything further to ruin economic confidence in which case the entrepreneurial spirit that built the companies will ensure long term job security for them all!

He Used To Be Decisive - But Now He's Not Sure!

When your Deputy Chief Whip is prepared to go on television and say your indecision over an autumn Election last year is proving to be a "watershed" from which your reputation has not recovered it must be time to question whether you are cut out to be Prime Minister.

June 27th 2008 represents one year of the Gordon Brown premiership and in the run up to this landmark date it is surely time we assessed his performance to date.

For me, much of what we have suffered over the past 12 months has been of our Prime Minister's own creation. After all, Mr Brown's last budget as Chancellor provided for the abolition of the 10p Income Tax band which hit the poorest in our society hardest and it was on his watch that Northern Rock trade itself into trouble. For anyone to suggest that the "we won't - we will" take Northern Rock into public ownership fiasco was not under the direction of the Prime Minister would be ludicrous and, as it destroyed all confidence in our money markets, it is he who should shoulder the blame for the economic unrest we are all suffering from today.

Looking to the future we have huge errors of judgement with a whipped vote on an issue of conscience on the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Act and attempted strong arm tactics to deliver 42-day detention without charge for terrorist suspects when the current 28-day limit has never required to be used.

So far the answer to all difficulties has been the U-Turn! While none of us have a crystal ball I would be looking to the fuel tax rise scheduled for later this year and to next years intended introduction of additional road tax bands on cars bought since 2001 for Prime Minister Brown's next major climbdown.

So, that Cabinet Ministers Jack Straw and Jacqui Smith are prepared to go on Channel 4 to question the Prime Minister's judgement and character should not really be that great a surprise.

For me Gordon Brown as Prime Minister has been a disaster! History will probably show his failure to call an election in September 2007 was a mistake for the Labour Party, but on reflection it will surely conclude it was an even bigger disaster for the people of the United Kingdom!