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!

New Secretary of State - Same Old Labour!

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

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

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

Tackling The Scourge Of Drugs

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

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

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

Perspective

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

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

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

Loss Of Bank Of Scotland Is A Travesty!

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

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

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

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

Sarah Palin - Superstar!

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

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

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

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

Whose To Blame For The Condition Of Scottish Prisons?

Would you believe it!

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

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

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

Back To The Future with the Scottish Futures Trust

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

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

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

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

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

Justice Must Serve Society!

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

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

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

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

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

Give Us A Break Gordon!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emergency Housing Measures A Waste Of Time

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

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

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

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

Cervical Cancer Vaccination Programme A Welcome Event

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Crisis For 60 Years Or Our Biggest Opportunity?

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

I have news for Mr Darling and his Labour Government!

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

Zoom Doom!

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.

Ping Pong's Coming Home!

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

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

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

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

Well done Team GB. Here's to 2012!

If You Mess Up Big You Should Suffer The Consequencies!

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!