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Friday 28 May 2010
Thursday 25 March 2010
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.
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.
Thursday 11 March 2010
A crime is a crime no matter how you categorise it!
Dumbing down crime to try and make some supposedly minor offences sound inconsequential is ruining our country and driving the law abiding mad with anger.
The death of David Askew, a 64 year old man with learning difficulties who was being persecuted in his own home by young thugs, is being talked of as being a result of "anti-social" behaviour.
Local Police and Council officials were well aware of the issues faced by Mr Askew but clearly treated them as being a series of minor offences which did not merit intervention. By not treating low level crime as being a precursor to more serious events our authorities let Mr Askew, and all of us, down.
The death of David Askew, a 64 year old man with learning difficulties who was being persecuted in his own home by young thugs, is being talked of as being a result of "anti-social" behaviour.NO, it is as a result of criminal activity - pure and simple.
No doubt those arrested will be afforded a range of human rights they did not afford to their victim. These people take no responsibility for their actions and yet expect society to bow to them when they demand special treatment. For me, to earn rights in our society you need to take a reasonable amount of responsibility for your actions and this is clearly a principle our authorities have lost complete touch with.
Local Police and Council officials were well aware of the issues faced by Mr Askew but clearly treated them as being a series of minor offences which did not merit intervention. By not treating low level crime as being a precursor to more serious events our authorities let Mr Askew, and all of us, down.No matter what language you choose to use to describe the events that led to Mr Askew's death our criminal justice system must show no mercy for those neighbours say "tormented" Mr Askew "to death - like bear bating".
The important thing now is to learn the lessons these events teach us and to treat anti-social behaviour as the crime it really is. Mr Askew's memory deserves nothing less.
Sunday 28 February 2010
David Cameron's speech to Spring Forum 2010
David Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party Spring Forum today demonstrated clearly his readiness to serve his country as Prime Minister.
You can watch David's speech by clicking here: Davids speech to Spring Forum 2010
Why not tell me what you think by posting a comment!
You can watch David's speech by clicking here: Davids speech to Spring Forum 2010
Why not tell me what you think by posting a comment!
Friday 1 January 2010
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.
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.
Friday 25 December 2009
A Very Merry Christmas One And All
Christmas is a magical time and I can think of nowhere better to celebrate it than right here in East Renfrewshire.
I have hugely fond memories over my years at Carolside Primary, at Williamwood High, with the 128 Boys Brigade, at Giffnock Tennis Club and with family and friends across the district.
Today my wife, Elaine, and I celebrate our first Christmas as parents. Myles is too young to really understand what is happening, although he seemed very excited to meet Santa for the first time earlier this week. While family and friends will undoubtedly spoil him rotten I want more than that for Myles. I am determined to ensure 2010 becomes the year that East Renfrewshire plays its part in sorting out the economic disaster we face as a result of Labour's recession.
Unless we act now our children and grandchildren will be the ones left to pay for the mistakes of today. Every child now owes £23,000 thanks to Labour's debt crisis, and that simply isn't fair on future generations or in the best interests of our country. We owe it to each other to choose a path of stability and responsibility in government and we will get our chance to help make this change at the polls in the coming year, by voting for David Cameron and the Conservatives.
I know just how difficult things are for so many people in these difficult economic times, particularly as unemployment has rocketed across East Renfrewshire over the past year. On behalf of my family and all at East Renfrewshire Conservatives can I wish you a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2010.
I have hugely fond memories over my years at Carolside Primary, at Williamwood High, with the 128 Boys Brigade, at Giffnock Tennis Club and with family and friends across the district.
Today my wife, Elaine, and I celebrate our first Christmas as parents. Myles is too young to really understand what is happening, although he seemed very excited to meet Santa for the first time earlier this week. While family and friends will undoubtedly spoil him rotten I want more than that for Myles. I am determined to ensure 2010 becomes the year that East Renfrewshire plays its part in sorting out the economic disaster we face as a result of Labour's recession.
Unless we act now our children and grandchildren will be the ones left to pay for the mistakes of today. Every child now owes £23,000 thanks to Labour's debt crisis, and that simply isn't fair on future generations or in the best interests of our country. We owe it to each other to choose a path of stability and responsibility in government and we will get our chance to help make this change at the polls in the coming year, by voting for David Cameron and the Conservatives.
I know just how difficult things are for so many people in these difficult economic times, particularly as unemployment has rocketed across East Renfrewshire over the past year. On behalf of my family and all at East Renfrewshire Conservatives can I wish you a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2010.
Monday 30 November 2009
Political credibility relies on displaying good judgement
At a time when politics and politicians are widely discredited it is vital that those seeking to rebuild the reputation of politics demonstrate good judgement in order to prove to the electorate that they are capable of representing them honestly.
I met up with Jackson Carlaw MSP and Bill Aitken MSP yesterday with every intention of taking part in the STUC's march and rally against racism in Scotland. Make no mistake, after our participation in the impromptu march against the BNP a fortnight ago, Scottish Conservatives are more than willing to stand up and be counted in the political coalition against racism. However, on our arrival in St Andrews Square it became apparent to us that many of those attending had their own very personal agendas that had little to do with protesting against racism in Scotland.
In particular my comment relates to a banner displayed for all to see at the front of St Andrews Square stating "Boycott Racist Israel" (seen being carried as part of the march between 1 minute 8 seconds and 1 minute 11 seconds of the STV news item at http://news.stv.tv/scotland/140593-anti-protest-rally-takes-place-in-glasgow/). This had nothing to do with the advertised purpose of yesterday's march and rally, as explained in the glossy literature distributed by the STUC to political parties and community organisations, and has everything to do with a political agenda pursued by people who are far from engaged in seeking peace between an Israeli state able to live within secure borders and a viable Palestinian state. Indeed it is often possible to directly link this sort of public statement to anti-Semitic activities in the UK by the minority of mindless idiots who pursue hate based on the Jewish religion or the existence of the State of Israel.
So without hesitation Jackson, Bill and I decided that participation in yesterday's march and rally was inappropriate as it would fail to register our objection to this banner and the sentiment it expressed.
Imagine then our astonishment as we watched the Secretary of State for Scotland and the General Secretary of the STUC set off on the march not 6 feet from, and with a clear view of, this banner - for me an astonishing lack of judgement from the Member of Parliament who represents the largest Jewish community in Scotland.
And that is not the only demonstration of a lack of judgement from our erstwhile MP over the past week.
The Internet is a wonderful forum for communication but must, as with the electorate, be treated with respect.
Today we find that Jim Murphy has had to remove comments from his website after receiving a letter informing him that if he did not remove the item, or if he repeats the claim made in it, he will face defamation action, (read more at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6936891.ece)
By making statements about your opposition that are untrue all you do is bring politics into further disrepute and the claims Mr. Murphy was making about a split between Tories on schools admission policy could not have been further from the truth.
The truth is you will not find any difference between Conservatives on the issue of St Ninians admission policy. We believe the Council, with a view to future expansion of East Renfrewshire, is right to redraw the catchment area and that this should preserve the principle of East Renfrewshire schools first and foremost for East Renfrewshire residents children. After all it is the East Renfrewshire council taxpayer who paid for the school to be built and who pay for it to be maintained. So committed to this position are we that we included this issue as part of a full page advert in this weeks Eastwood Today before Mr Murphy's claim was made.
But instead of stating his own position, so that the electorate can judge him accordingly, we found East Renfrewshire's MP claiming a split by deliberately misattributing a statement made by Paul McBride QC who represents the Conservative Party in Scotland on law and order issues.
Far from having stated it was "completely unacceptable" to redraw catchment boundaries Paul actually used the words in relation to the way the consultation exercise has been instigated and conducted having been asked for his professional opinion on the facts. Paul is senior counsel to a number of Scotland's newspapers and his opinion, as well as that of another non-partisan QC who has reviewed the legality of the Council's position, is that the process has not been conducted in line with our Council's own policies and guidelines and that this has left the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire exposed to potential financial loss. Paul's concern is that consultation should be fair and that the taxpayer should not be asked to waste money settling expensive legal action where it is entirely predictable and avoidable. East Renfrewshire Council has already had to back down on one Court of Session action and I am informed settled legal costs at our expense. This is surely unacceptable at a time when our Council is having to look for voluntary redundancies and COSLA are warning of even deeper cuts and financial hardship to come.
So let's be clear, Conservatives support the case for redrawing catchment boundaries for St Ninians in anticipation of East Renfrewshire's increased population as developments like Greenlaw are built and inhabited but this must be done properly and it would be "completely unacceptable" if this was done by exposing the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire to financial loss.
Demonstrating good judgement in the way we live our lives and in the campaigns we fight is the only way for politicians to excite and reengage the public we seek to serve. I hope to demonstrate I am ready to serve the people of East Renfrewshire by the decisions I take and the campaigns I fight. Whether the same can be said for my principle opponent only time will tell, but until then I think the evidence of his lack of judgement is clear for all to see.
I met up with Jackson Carlaw MSP and Bill Aitken MSP yesterday with every intention of taking part in the STUC's march and rally against racism in Scotland. Make no mistake, after our participation in the impromptu march against the BNP a fortnight ago, Scottish Conservatives are more than willing to stand up and be counted in the political coalition against racism. However, on our arrival in St Andrews Square it became apparent to us that many of those attending had their own very personal agendas that had little to do with protesting against racism in Scotland.
In particular my comment relates to a banner displayed for all to see at the front of St Andrews Square stating "Boycott Racist Israel" (seen being carried as part of the march between 1 minute 8 seconds and 1 minute 11 seconds of the STV news item at http://news.stv.tv/scotland/140593-anti-protest-rally-takes-place-in-glasgow/). This had nothing to do with the advertised purpose of yesterday's march and rally, as explained in the glossy literature distributed by the STUC to political parties and community organisations, and has everything to do with a political agenda pursued by people who are far from engaged in seeking peace between an Israeli state able to live within secure borders and a viable Palestinian state. Indeed it is often possible to directly link this sort of public statement to anti-Semitic activities in the UK by the minority of mindless idiots who pursue hate based on the Jewish religion or the existence of the State of Israel.
So without hesitation Jackson, Bill and I decided that participation in yesterday's march and rally was inappropriate as it would fail to register our objection to this banner and the sentiment it expressed.
Imagine then our astonishment as we watched the Secretary of State for Scotland and the General Secretary of the STUC set off on the march not 6 feet from, and with a clear view of, this banner - for me an astonishing lack of judgement from the Member of Parliament who represents the largest Jewish community in Scotland.
And that is not the only demonstration of a lack of judgement from our erstwhile MP over the past week.
The Internet is a wonderful forum for communication but must, as with the electorate, be treated with respect.
Today we find that Jim Murphy has had to remove comments from his website after receiving a letter informing him that if he did not remove the item, or if he repeats the claim made in it, he will face defamation action, (read more at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6936891.ece)
By making statements about your opposition that are untrue all you do is bring politics into further disrepute and the claims Mr. Murphy was making about a split between Tories on schools admission policy could not have been further from the truth.
The truth is you will not find any difference between Conservatives on the issue of St Ninians admission policy. We believe the Council, with a view to future expansion of East Renfrewshire, is right to redraw the catchment area and that this should preserve the principle of East Renfrewshire schools first and foremost for East Renfrewshire residents children. After all it is the East Renfrewshire council taxpayer who paid for the school to be built and who pay for it to be maintained. So committed to this position are we that we included this issue as part of a full page advert in this weeks Eastwood Today before Mr Murphy's claim was made.
But instead of stating his own position, so that the electorate can judge him accordingly, we found East Renfrewshire's MP claiming a split by deliberately misattributing a statement made by Paul McBride QC who represents the Conservative Party in Scotland on law and order issues.
Far from having stated it was "completely unacceptable" to redraw catchment boundaries Paul actually used the words in relation to the way the consultation exercise has been instigated and conducted having been asked for his professional opinion on the facts. Paul is senior counsel to a number of Scotland's newspapers and his opinion, as well as that of another non-partisan QC who has reviewed the legality of the Council's position, is that the process has not been conducted in line with our Council's own policies and guidelines and that this has left the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire exposed to potential financial loss. Paul's concern is that consultation should be fair and that the taxpayer should not be asked to waste money settling expensive legal action where it is entirely predictable and avoidable. East Renfrewshire Council has already had to back down on one Court of Session action and I am informed settled legal costs at our expense. This is surely unacceptable at a time when our Council is having to look for voluntary redundancies and COSLA are warning of even deeper cuts and financial hardship to come.
So let's be clear, Conservatives support the case for redrawing catchment boundaries for St Ninians in anticipation of East Renfrewshire's increased population as developments like Greenlaw are built and inhabited but this must be done properly and it would be "completely unacceptable" if this was done by exposing the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire to financial loss.
Demonstrating good judgement in the way we live our lives and in the campaigns we fight is the only way for politicians to excite and reengage the public we seek to serve. I hope to demonstrate I am ready to serve the people of East Renfrewshire by the decisions I take and the campaigns I fight. Whether the same can be said for my principle opponent only time will tell, but until then I think the evidence of his lack of judgement is clear for all to see.
Tuesday 17 November 2009
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.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
It's time for individuals to tackle the MP expenses fiasco to restore faith in politics and politicians
It is all to easy for MPs and candidates to sit back and wait for independent reports on the future of MP expenses. The reality is this is just an excuse for some not to take personal responsibility and start acting in a way the public finds acceptable.
David Cameron has made it clear every Conservative MP will have to conform to a standard higher than that currently imposed by House of Commons authorities. I am happy to go along with this and to go further so that the people of East Renfrewshire can have faith that if they elect a Conservative MP the highest levels of probity will be adhered to in their name.
David Cameron has made it clear every Conservative MP will have to conform to a standard higher than that currently imposed by House of Commons authorities. I am happy to go along with this and to go further so that the people of East Renfrewshire can have faith that if they elect a Conservative MP the highest levels of probity will be adhered to in their name.MY EXPENSES PLEDGE
1) I will publish online details of all my personal expenses incurred as a Member of Parliament
2) I will publish online details of all my office expenses incurred as a Member of Parliament
3) I will publish online details of all donations of more than £1,000, in line with Electoral Commission rules
4) I will appoint a local firm of auditors to approve expense accounts at the end of every financial year and publish their report in an Annual Report produced and distributed at no cost to the taxpayer
5) I will provide unedited copies of all expense claims to local newspapers at the end of every financial year
6) I will never claim for food
7) My first home will always be in East Renfrewshire where I live with my wife and baby boy
8) I will never claim for furniture or household goods
9) I will meet all tax liabilities - such as Stamp Duty - without claiming them from the taxpayer
This very simple nine point plan represents a new way of thinking at Westminster and would place East Renfrewshire at the forefront of the public's demand for change.
The UK Parliament is known around the world as the "mother of all parliaments" and we must restore public faith in our parliament at home if we are to be treated seriously abroad. So let's get on and effect change by having a General Election so that the public can pass judgement on a tired and directionless regime. The job of candidates is to ensure we give them a real choice as to what type of politics, and politician, they want to represent them in future.
Friday 30 October 2009
There are crimes where "life imprisonment" should mean exactly that!
There are times when you watch TV and your blood boils. For me, one such instance occurred today with the news that two men convicted at Edinburgh High Court of the most heinous of paedophile offences may see the light of day as free men despite their headline sentence being "life imprisonment".
These two men have been found guilty of a string of child pornography and abuse crimes, including sexual assault of a three-month old baby. Neil Strachan is to serve a minimum 16-year term and James Rennie a minimum 13-year term before they are eligible to be considered for parole.
I thought long and hard about posting on this issue because it is no longer politically correct to talk about jailing people for life without the possibility of parole. I disagree and it is time we had an open and honest debate about the way sentencing policy in Scotland's courts is failing the test of public opinion.
For me, that our criminal justice system seems incapable of sentencing criminals to prison terms that enjoy public support suggests our legal system has not kept pace with the changing world in which we live. There are some crimes and some criminals for whom life imprisonment should mean they never see the light of day as free men or women again.
Police killers, some murderers, serial rapists and paedophiles capable of this sort of systematic abuse of defenceless children should all know that there crimes could enable Judges to pass down life imprisonment terms that mean they will spend the rest of their lives in jail.
I concede this will not stop the most determined criminal from committing these crimes but it will serve as a deterrent to some and as a guarantee to the rest of our society that once caught the most serious of criminal will never be free to hurt them, their families and their friends, again.
These two men have been found guilty of a string of child pornography and abuse crimes, including sexual assault of a three-month old baby. Neil Strachan is to serve a minimum 16-year term and James Rennie a minimum 13-year term before they are eligible to be considered for parole.
I thought long and hard about posting on this issue because it is no longer politically correct to talk about jailing people for life without the possibility of parole. I disagree and it is time we had an open and honest debate about the way sentencing policy in Scotland's courts is failing the test of public opinion.
For me, that our criminal justice system seems incapable of sentencing criminals to prison terms that enjoy public support suggests our legal system has not kept pace with the changing world in which we live. There are some crimes and some criminals for whom life imprisonment should mean they never see the light of day as free men or women again.
Police killers, some murderers, serial rapists and paedophiles capable of this sort of systematic abuse of defenceless children should all know that there crimes could enable Judges to pass down life imprisonment terms that mean they will spend the rest of their lives in jail.
I concede this will not stop the most determined criminal from committing these crimes but it will serve as a deterrent to some and as a guarantee to the rest of our society that once caught the most serious of criminal will never be free to hurt them, their families and their friends, again.
The prosecutors of Strachan and Rennie are to be commended for having successfully convicted these beasts but it beggars belief that they are quoted as saying the "severity" of the sentences would "act as a warning to others" when I believe most ordinary Scots would have hoped they would have been sentenced to life imprisonment without the prospect of parole.
So let's have an open, honest and constructive debate about the failings of our criminal justice system, sentencing policy and when life imprisonment should mean convicts never walk our streets again. In a mature democracy this should be something we do as a matter of course but in today's Britain I fear the human rights of the criminal will be put ahead of those of the victim.
I for one am not prepared to allow this to go unchallenged and I know, from my experience of listening to local people on the doorsteps of East Renfrewshire, so many people feel the same.Wednesday 28 October 2009
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.
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.
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.
Saturday 24 October 2009
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.
Thursday 15 October 2009
Day 4 -
Up early to get to the Conference Hall in order to participate in the "Great Britain" debate. Having asked a question from the platform it was time to do a quick interview for ITN and then off to say a few goodbyes in advance of the Leaders speech.
(watch my question at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n8ttw/Conservative_Party_Conference_2009_08_10_2009/ from 44 minutes 50 seconds)
Such was the enthusiasm and anticipation of David's speech that queues for the afternoon session started forming from 11am for a scheduled 2pm start.
A few kind Scottish gentlemen who came down to Manchester to lobby Conference had managed to get near the front of the queue and very kindly let Peter Lyburn and I nicked in near the front - only for us to be sat in the Conservative Future section when we finally got into the hall.
For me the speech I heard today from David Cameron was every bit a speech from a Prime Minister in waiting but more importantly a speech that clearly defined the man, his principles and the type of country he wants to fashion under a Conservative government.
Three things stood out for me starting with David putting our armed forces at the very beginning of his speech in committing our Party to giving them all the equipment and support they need. Whether you agree with the military action the current government has committed our troops to or not the one thing we all agree on is that it is a scandal they are not properly equipped to protect themselves and those they are being asked to fight for.
The next memorable moment was David's reference to his family year and to his wife in particular. The things politicians partners have to put up with are above and beyond any call of duty and we don't thank them enough. Our partners don't choose a public life but they put up with calls to the house at ungodly hours and us simply disappearing at a moments notice when someone asks for our help. I must admit to shedding a tear as David described the painful year his family had experienced before paying paid tribute to Samantha.
And I think the most memorable passage of his speech was the one that dealt with the scandal of those left in poverty by Labour's complicated systems. That a young mum working part time, trying to earn something extra for her family, pays 96 pence in every pound in tax and benefit reductions is simply scandalous. In Gordon Brown’s Britain if you’re a single mother with two kids earning £150 a week the withdrawal of benefits and the additional taxes mean that for every extra pound you earn, you keep just 4 pence. What kind of incentive is that? As David said, "Thirty years ago this party won an election fighting against 98 per cent tax rates on the richest. Today I want us to show even more anger about 96 per cent tax rates on the poorest."
Today I heard a speech from a man ready and able to be my next Prime Minister. The Conference slogan was "Ready for Change" and David Cameron is both ready and capable of proving our country with the change we so desperately need!
(watch David Cameron's full Conference speech at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n8pyz/Conservative_Party_Conference_2009_David_Cameron/)
(watch my question at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n8ttw/Conservative_Party_Conference_2009_08_10_2009/ from 44 minutes 50 seconds)
Such was the enthusiasm and anticipation of David's speech that queues for the afternoon session started forming from 11am for a scheduled 2pm start.
A few kind Scottish gentlemen who came down to Manchester to lobby Conference had managed to get near the front of the queue and very kindly let Peter Lyburn and I nicked in near the front - only for us to be sat in the Conservative Future section when we finally got into the hall.
For me the speech I heard today from David Cameron was every bit a speech from a Prime Minister in waiting but more importantly a speech that clearly defined the man, his principles and the type of country he wants to fashion under a Conservative government.
Three things stood out for me starting with David putting our armed forces at the very beginning of his speech in committing our Party to giving them all the equipment and support they need. Whether you agree with the military action the current government has committed our troops to or not the one thing we all agree on is that it is a scandal they are not properly equipped to protect themselves and those they are being asked to fight for.
The next memorable moment was David's reference to his family year and to his wife in particular. The things politicians partners have to put up with are above and beyond any call of duty and we don't thank them enough. Our partners don't choose a public life but they put up with calls to the house at ungodly hours and us simply disappearing at a moments notice when someone asks for our help. I must admit to shedding a tear as David described the painful year his family had experienced before paying paid tribute to Samantha.
And I think the most memorable passage of his speech was the one that dealt with the scandal of those left in poverty by Labour's complicated systems. That a young mum working part time, trying to earn something extra for her family, pays 96 pence in every pound in tax and benefit reductions is simply scandalous. In Gordon Brown’s Britain if you’re a single mother with two kids earning £150 a week the withdrawal of benefits and the additional taxes mean that for every extra pound you earn, you keep just 4 pence. What kind of incentive is that? As David said, "Thirty years ago this party won an election fighting against 98 per cent tax rates on the richest. Today I want us to show even more anger about 96 per cent tax rates on the poorest."
Today I heard a speech from a man ready and able to be my next Prime Minister. The Conference slogan was "Ready for Change" and David Cameron is both ready and capable of proving our country with the change we so desperately need!
(watch David Cameron's full Conference speech at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n8pyz/Conservative_Party_Conference_2009_David_Cameron/)
Monday 12 October 2009
Day 3 - making a difference!
(apologies for the delay in posting this article, which was due to technical difficulties)
Missed the entire morning of Conference to accompany Annabel Goldie MSP and David Mundell MP to the Conservative Social Action project.
Social Action is at the heart of the modern Conservative Party and for me defines what it is we offer Britain at a time of great social and economic uncertainty. By involving ourselves in projects that are at the heart of our local communities and which deliver tangible benefits to local people we demonstrate the true nature of conservatism in the 21st century. Having travelled to Bosnia earlier this year to participate in one of our international Social Action Projects it was good to get stuck into a project closer to home and which clearly meant so much to the children who looked on as their Club was transformed.
This year's project was renovating Radcliffe Girls and Boys Club. This small Club sits at the heart of a community with its fair share of difficulties. Through its events it offers a community resource that pulls the local community together and although it can't be described as modern it is much loved and valued by those who use it.
After a morning of painting fascia board (filmed by BBC Scotland when I wasn't exactly looking too gainly) and tidying up grounds it was time to hop into a taxi back to the Conference secure zone for meetings with a variety of lobbyists and environmental groups. Having been coated in paint the smell of turpentine certainly makes you stand out in a crowd of people hoping they are preparing for Government.
Of particular interest is the sheer number of people lobbying on sustainable energy solutions - highlighting once again the threat to Scotland that the lights might start to go out unless we take immediate action. It is also good to hear from our international, blue chip companies who want to play their part in a cleaner, more sustainable planet by evolving their business model to ensure optimum levels of recycling and energy recovery.
By mid-afternoon I become acutely aware that while everyone else is in suits I am in my jeans and social action t-shirt - sticking out like a sore thumb. The Scottish Chairman's wife very kindly proclaimed it made me look more human than the assembled throng but it was time to nip back to the Premier Inn for a shower and change into a suit - very kindly no mention of the odd smell from Mary.
On the eve of David Cameron's speech, to what will be the final Conference before a General Election where we hope he will be elected Prime Minister, it is hardly surprising the main topic of conversation is what we will hear from him tomorrow. What will it include? How will he play it? Should he take risks? All subjects discussed at length while David and his core team prepare for a day of vital importance to the fortunes of both the Conservative Party but probably more importantly our country!
But sometimes it all becomes a bit much (even for the most dedicated of Conference goer) and time to take a break from the Conference village. So I join Peter Lyburn, Hamira Khan, Marilyn Orcharton and a select group of others nipping out of the secure zone and down Manchester's "Curry Mile" to the self-proclaimed world famous Sanam Restaurant. Wonderful food to match the company and then back to the Conference Hotel to attend a Candidates Reception before an early bed having been asked to speak in the "Great Britain" debate that opens Conference tomorrow.
There really is a genuine excitement about tomorrow's leaders speech. Britain needs a leader to take it from its broken state to one of optimism and confidence and I am in no doubt David will show tomorrow that he is that man!
Missed the entire morning of Conference to accompany Annabel Goldie MSP and David Mundell MP to the Conservative Social Action project.
Social Action is at the heart of the modern Conservative Party and for me defines what it is we offer Britain at a time of great social and economic uncertainty. By involving ourselves in projects that are at the heart of our local communities and which deliver tangible benefits to local people we demonstrate the true nature of conservatism in the 21st century. Having travelled to Bosnia earlier this year to participate in one of our international Social Action Projects it was good to get stuck into a project closer to home and which clearly meant so much to the children who looked on as their Club was transformed.
This year's project was renovating Radcliffe Girls and Boys Club. This small Club sits at the heart of a community with its fair share of difficulties. Through its events it offers a community resource that pulls the local community together and although it can't be described as modern it is much loved and valued by those who use it.
After a morning of painting fascia board (filmed by BBC Scotland when I wasn't exactly looking too gainly) and tidying up grounds it was time to hop into a taxi back to the Conference secure zone for meetings with a variety of lobbyists and environmental groups. Having been coated in paint the smell of turpentine certainly makes you stand out in a crowd of people hoping they are preparing for Government.
Of particular interest is the sheer number of people lobbying on sustainable energy solutions - highlighting once again the threat to Scotland that the lights might start to go out unless we take immediate action. It is also good to hear from our international, blue chip companies who want to play their part in a cleaner, more sustainable planet by evolving their business model to ensure optimum levels of recycling and energy recovery.
By mid-afternoon I become acutely aware that while everyone else is in suits I am in my jeans and social action t-shirt - sticking out like a sore thumb. The Scottish Chairman's wife very kindly proclaimed it made me look more human than the assembled throng but it was time to nip back to the Premier Inn for a shower and change into a suit - very kindly no mention of the odd smell from Mary.
On the eve of David Cameron's speech, to what will be the final Conference before a General Election where we hope he will be elected Prime Minister, it is hardly surprising the main topic of conversation is what we will hear from him tomorrow. What will it include? How will he play it? Should he take risks? All subjects discussed at length while David and his core team prepare for a day of vital importance to the fortunes of both the Conservative Party but probably more importantly our country!
But sometimes it all becomes a bit much (even for the most dedicated of Conference goer) and time to take a break from the Conference village. So I join Peter Lyburn, Hamira Khan, Marilyn Orcharton and a select group of others nipping out of the secure zone and down Manchester's "Curry Mile" to the self-proclaimed world famous Sanam Restaurant. Wonderful food to match the company and then back to the Conference Hotel to attend a Candidates Reception before an early bed having been asked to speak in the "Great Britain" debate that opens Conference tomorrow.
There really is a genuine excitement about tomorrow's leaders speech. Britain needs a leader to take it from its broken state to one of optimism and confidence and I am in no doubt David will show tomorrow that he is that man!
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Day 2 - Being straight with the British people
Lots of good events at the Conference fringe but only one thing being discussed in the bars - George Osborne's speech.
We all know our nations finances are in a mess thanks to a reckless Labour government and that radical measures are required to bring our budget into balance and to build a better Britain for future generations. The problem is how to communicate this to an electorate already feeling the pain of Labour's recession and yet to feel the even greater pain of their massive public debt.
George was at pains to remain serious throughout and to stress "we are all in this together". Just how bad things are we can only begin to guess, so his speech was a finely balanced attempt to be honest with the public about just how difficult the choices made by a Conservative government would be.
The following are examples of specific savings that should be made in addition to the tens of billions of pounds of efficiency savings and productivity improvements that the Conservatives would deliver throughout the public sector over the next Parliament in order to reduce waste, deliver more for less, and protect front line public services.
The measures would save more than £7 billion a year in government spending by the end of the next Parliament, or more than £23 billion over the Parliament. These savings come on top of the longer term savings from raising the State Pension Age.
These measures could all be implemented without harming front line public services, and show how the burden of dealing with Labour’s debt crisis should be shared fairly while protecting the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.
Reduce the cost of government without harming front line services:
· The Government should recommend no headline increase in pay for all public sector workers in 2011, except for the lowest paid one million who should be protected. Military personnel on active service overseas should be more than compensated by doubling the Operational Allowance to an average of £4,800 for a six month tour of duty. Altogether this would reduce government spending by £3.2 billion a year from 2011 onwards, or more than £12 billion over the next Parliament. These savings are equivalent to protecting more than 100,000 public sector jobs.
· The Government should set out plans to reduce the administrative costs of Whitehall bureaucracy and Quangos by at least one third. This would reduce government spending by £3 billion a year by the end of the next Parliament, or by more than £7 billion over the Parliament.
· The Government should find ways to cap the biggest government pensions, including those for senior civil servants, local council executives and Quango managers. This cap should prevent any taxpayer-funded increase in senior government pensions already worth over £50,000 a year, and stop all taxpayer-funded pensions for these groups in future exceeding £50,000 a year. This would reduce the growth of public sector pension liabilities by hundreds of millions of pounds over the next decade.
Concentrate benefit spending on the poorest and most vulnerable:
· The Government should stop new spending on Child Trust Funds for better off families. Disabled children and the poorest one third of families should continue to receive both new Child Trust Funds at birth and top-up payments. This would save £300 million a year or £1.5 billion over the next Parliament.
· The Government should stop paying tax credits to households with incomes over £50,000 by starting to means-test the Family Element of the Child Tax Credit at a lower threshold. This would save £400 million a year or £2.0 billion over the next Parliament.
· The Government should cut benefits by up to £25 a week for anyone currently receiving Incapacity Benefit who fails a new work test and is therefore entitled only to Jobseekers Allowance. This would save more than £1 billion over the next Parliament, of which £600 million should be used to help get the unemployed back into work.
Ensure that the burden is shared fairly:
· The new 50p tax rate and associated changes to the taxation of higher earners should be kept in place for at least as long as the public sector pay freeze, in order to ensure that the richest in our society pay their fair share of the burden of tackling Labour’s debt crisis.
· We hope the new international rules on bankers’ bonuses work – that is the best solution. But if we find the money that should be going into stronger bank balance sheets is being unreasonably diverted into bigger pay and bonuses, we reserve the right to take further action and that includes using the tax system. We believe in the free market not a free ride.
Tackle the pensions time bomb while ensuring a decent standard of living in old age:
· The Government should announce an updated review of the state pension age, as recommended by Adair Turner’s Pension Commission. Given the state of the public finances and rapidly changing demographic projections, the review should consider whether the increase in the pension age from 65 to 66 should be brought forward from 2026, but starting no earlier than 2016 for men and 2020 for women.
· This should be combined with a renewed commitment to re-link the state pension to earnings growth in the next Parliament in order to ensure a decent standard of living for all in retirement, halt the spread of means-testing and restore incentives to save.
· According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, every year by which the pension age is increased reduces government borrowing by about two thirds of a per cent of GDP. Once the pension age for both men and women increases by a year there will be a saving of around £13 billion a year.
So, no matter how good a time you have catching up with old friends and sharing ideas with new colleagues you can't help thinking about the problems that lie ahead for our country. Serious times demand serious men and women ready to make serious decisions and today I think we saw George Osborne is ready to be one of them.
We all know our nations finances are in a mess thanks to a reckless Labour government and that radical measures are required to bring our budget into balance and to build a better Britain for future generations. The problem is how to communicate this to an electorate already feeling the pain of Labour's recession and yet to feel the even greater pain of their massive public debt.
George was at pains to remain serious throughout and to stress "we are all in this together". Just how bad things are we can only begin to guess, so his speech was a finely balanced attempt to be honest with the public about just how difficult the choices made by a Conservative government would be.
The following are examples of specific savings that should be made in addition to the tens of billions of pounds of efficiency savings and productivity improvements that the Conservatives would deliver throughout the public sector over the next Parliament in order to reduce waste, deliver more for less, and protect front line public services.
The measures would save more than £7 billion a year in government spending by the end of the next Parliament, or more than £23 billion over the Parliament. These savings come on top of the longer term savings from raising the State Pension Age.
These measures could all be implemented without harming front line public services, and show how the burden of dealing with Labour’s debt crisis should be shared fairly while protecting the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.
Reduce the cost of government without harming front line services:
· The Government should recommend no headline increase in pay for all public sector workers in 2011, except for the lowest paid one million who should be protected. Military personnel on active service overseas should be more than compensated by doubling the Operational Allowance to an average of £4,800 for a six month tour of duty. Altogether this would reduce government spending by £3.2 billion a year from 2011 onwards, or more than £12 billion over the next Parliament. These savings are equivalent to protecting more than 100,000 public sector jobs.
· The Government should set out plans to reduce the administrative costs of Whitehall bureaucracy and Quangos by at least one third. This would reduce government spending by £3 billion a year by the end of the next Parliament, or by more than £7 billion over the Parliament.
· The Government should find ways to cap the biggest government pensions, including those for senior civil servants, local council executives and Quango managers. This cap should prevent any taxpayer-funded increase in senior government pensions already worth over £50,000 a year, and stop all taxpayer-funded pensions for these groups in future exceeding £50,000 a year. This would reduce the growth of public sector pension liabilities by hundreds of millions of pounds over the next decade.
Concentrate benefit spending on the poorest and most vulnerable:
· The Government should stop new spending on Child Trust Funds for better off families. Disabled children and the poorest one third of families should continue to receive both new Child Trust Funds at birth and top-up payments. This would save £300 million a year or £1.5 billion over the next Parliament.
· The Government should stop paying tax credits to households with incomes over £50,000 by starting to means-test the Family Element of the Child Tax Credit at a lower threshold. This would save £400 million a year or £2.0 billion over the next Parliament.
· The Government should cut benefits by up to £25 a week for anyone currently receiving Incapacity Benefit who fails a new work test and is therefore entitled only to Jobseekers Allowance. This would save more than £1 billion over the next Parliament, of which £600 million should be used to help get the unemployed back into work.
Ensure that the burden is shared fairly:
· The new 50p tax rate and associated changes to the taxation of higher earners should be kept in place for at least as long as the public sector pay freeze, in order to ensure that the richest in our society pay their fair share of the burden of tackling Labour’s debt crisis.
· We hope the new international rules on bankers’ bonuses work – that is the best solution. But if we find the money that should be going into stronger bank balance sheets is being unreasonably diverted into bigger pay and bonuses, we reserve the right to take further action and that includes using the tax system. We believe in the free market not a free ride.
Tackle the pensions time bomb while ensuring a decent standard of living in old age:
· The Government should announce an updated review of the state pension age, as recommended by Adair Turner’s Pension Commission. Given the state of the public finances and rapidly changing demographic projections, the review should consider whether the increase in the pension age from 65 to 66 should be brought forward from 2026, but starting no earlier than 2016 for men and 2020 for women.
· This should be combined with a renewed commitment to re-link the state pension to earnings growth in the next Parliament in order to ensure a decent standard of living for all in retirement, halt the spread of means-testing and restore incentives to save.
· According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, every year by which the pension age is increased reduces government borrowing by about two thirds of a per cent of GDP. Once the pension age for both men and women increases by a year there will be a saving of around £13 billion a year.
So, no matter how good a time you have catching up with old friends and sharing ideas with new colleagues you can't help thinking about the problems that lie ahead for our country. Serious times demand serious men and women ready to make serious decisions and today I think we saw George Osborne is ready to be one of them.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
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."
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."
Sunday 4 October 2009
Ready for Change!
I am writing this on a train to Manchester in eager anticipation of a Conservative Party Conference that I hope will have a real vibrancy.
For months I have been canvassing doorsteps and have been asked "when will Conservative policy be announced?". People have understood the need to ensure policy announcements are relevant to the timing of a General Election and I have been telling them I believed this coming conference would see the beginning of policies being rolled out in advance of a General Election.
So I am delighted to see Annabel Goldie has announced two new policies for Scotland today, just as David Cameron and his team have released details of plans to get Britain back to work, by enabling millions on welfare to access training, as well as announcing plans to open luxurious grace and favour residences – currently lying empty or little-used – to charities and voluntary groups to support good causes. This follows hard on the heels of Andrew Lansley announcement of a scheme that would end the scandal of forced house sales to pay for care - offering elderly people across England & Wales an escape from Labour's forced sale crisis.
Annabel's announcements today include measures to support NHS workers who have the courage to Whistleblow and a demand in our budget negotiations with the SNP Scottish Executive that they create a Business Dividend Fund in order to turn Scotland into a real Enterprise country.
All these policy announcements, for Scotland and the rest of the UK, demonstrate very clearly that it is the Conservative Party who are in touch with the priorities of the public and who have practical solutions that will deliver real benefits to those most in need.
I am going to blog every day this week with my Conference Diary and reflections on policy announcements and hope this help inform those who want to know what a David Cameron led Conservative Government will mean for them and their families.
After all, people are "ready for change" and need to have faith they are voting for it. Constituencies like East Renfrewshire, which is a straight Labour -v- Conservative contest, offer people an opportunity to "vote for change" and that is what I hope to be able to encourage you to do!
For months I have been canvassing doorsteps and have been asked "when will Conservative policy be announced?". People have understood the need to ensure policy announcements are relevant to the timing of a General Election and I have been telling them I believed this coming conference would see the beginning of policies being rolled out in advance of a General Election.
So I am delighted to see Annabel Goldie has announced two new policies for Scotland today, just as David Cameron and his team have released details of plans to get Britain back to work, by enabling millions on welfare to access training, as well as announcing plans to open luxurious grace and favour residences – currently lying empty or little-used – to charities and voluntary groups to support good causes. This follows hard on the heels of Andrew Lansley announcement of a scheme that would end the scandal of forced house sales to pay for care - offering elderly people across England & Wales an escape from Labour's forced sale crisis.
Annabel's announcements today include measures to support NHS workers who have the courage to Whistleblow and a demand in our budget negotiations with the SNP Scottish Executive that they create a Business Dividend Fund in order to turn Scotland into a real Enterprise country.All these policy announcements, for Scotland and the rest of the UK, demonstrate very clearly that it is the Conservative Party who are in touch with the priorities of the public and who have practical solutions that will deliver real benefits to those most in need.
I am going to blog every day this week with my Conference Diary and reflections on policy announcements and hope this help inform those who want to know what a David Cameron led Conservative Government will mean for them and their families.
After all, people are "ready for change" and need to have faith they are voting for it. Constituencies like East Renfrewshire, which is a straight Labour -v- Conservative contest, offer people an opportunity to "vote for change" and that is what I hope to be able to encourage you to do!
Saturday 5 September 2009
Being charitable is part of East Renfrewshire's DNA
I am not sure anyone actually coordinates statistics on donations to charity but my guess is East Renfrewshire will top Scotland's donations per head of population if these stats exist.
On Tuesday morning Jackson Carlaw and I met up with sisters Corin Ling and Lesley Love who are running the New York Marathon later this year to raise money for local charity East Renfrewshire Good Causes. I would, of course, encourage everyone to sponsor Corin and Lesley (you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/thesistersloverunning/) not just because the girls are from East Renfrewshire and prepared to go through severe pain for charity but because the story of East Renfrewshire Good Causes is such an impressive and heartwarming one.
From left to right - Richard Cook, Lesley Love, Corin Ling and Jackson Carlaw MSP at Rouken Glen Park. Next Stop Central Park!
In fact, I am not sure too many local people are actually aware we have our own, very local, charity prepared to help those in need when they need it most.
Local man, Russell Macmillan set up the East Renfrewshire Good Causes charity as his way of "repaying his debt to society". Russell underwent a pancreas and kidney transplant after fighting Type 1 Diabetes for more than 30 years and decided to set up a charity to deliver real benefits to the people of East Renfrewshire because he wanted to put something back into a community he believes supported him when he needed it most.
Despite being registered blind, with just 5 per cent tunnel vision in one eye, Russell runs East Renfrewshire Good Causes from his home in Newton Mearns, taking not one penny of the money raised for himself to ensure 100% of the money you donate goes to local "good causes". Russell and the charity Trustees are constantly on the lookout for worthy causes to support across the length and breadth of East Renfrewshire and have already distributed thousands of pounds to those most in need of help. In many ways Russell has already repaid any "debt to society" hundreds of times over and everyone in East Renfrewshire should be very grateful to him for his dedication to our local area.
Of course East Renfrewshire's connection with charitable giving does not stop with East Renfrewshire Good Causes or indeed in the form of numerous Direct Debits paid to charities by people across East Renfrewshire every month. Thousands of local people give of their time every year to raise money through participation in sponsored events or through organising fundraising activities for any one of our numerous churches, synagogues, schools or voluntary organisations.
And we should of course pay tribute to local people who volunteer to staff the raft of charity shops on local high streets - even if many of us would like to see fewer charity shops in favour of a wide variety of local shops that are able to compete with the giant supermarket chains.
Earlier today I was privileged to be on the pitch at Hampden helping a team of volunteers who manage the process of laying out and removing the massive centre circle banner, which is used as the backdrop for teams arriving onto the pitch and the singing of national anthems.
For me standing on the Hampden pitch in front of 50,000 members of the Tartan army belting out the Proclaimers 500 miles was a once in a lifetime experience and payment enough for performing a pretty straight forward task. I also had a massive sense of relief when I didn’t trip and fall coming off the pitch bring a conga line of volunteers carrying a water laden banner down with me.
That is why I am donating my fee to local charities.
That is why I am donating my fee to local charities.
On the pitch at Hampden before Scotland beat Macedonia 2-0 to keep our hope of qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa alive!
I have donated part of my fee by sponsoring Corin and Lesley's participation in this years New York Marathon (http://www.justgiving.com/thesistersloverunning/) and have used the rest to sponsor Hamira Khan who is taking part in The Great Scottish Run, pounding the streets of Glasgow, tomorrow.
Hamira is Chair of the Scottish Conservative Community Cohesion Task Force and is running tomorrow in aid of Roshni. Roshni are a children’s charity based in Glasgow city centre with a team committed to the long-term development of child protection in the ethnic communities. Like East Renfrewshire Good Causes, I suspect Roshni is a local charity relatively few people will have heard of let alone understand the vital work they do. When you research the work they carry out in our communities and in lobbying parliament for better child protection the need to support Roshni becomes very apparent. (http://www.roshni.org.uk/).
Being actively involved in the everyday life of East Renfrewshire it becomes ever more apparent to me just how fortunate I am to be standing for Parliament in a constituency where giving is an integral part of local communities. Your time, your effort, your money - all are greatly valued by those who need help and all are given freely by local people every day.
Being charitable is part of East Renfrewshire's DNA, and that is just one more thing that makes this area so special!
Saturday 22 August 2009
Release of al-Megrahi set to cost East Renfrewshire dear!
The release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds has split opinion across Scotland in two, although across the rest of the free world it has largely brought condemnation.
Scenes of the Saltire being waved on the tarmac at Tripoli Airport, in celebration at Mr. Megrahi's return, were sickening to me particularly as Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP, confirmed in his statement that Mr. Megrahi had expressed no remorse or compassion for the 270 victims of the bomb he was convicted of planting on Pan Am Flight 103.
More conceerning to me is the revelation that East Renfrewshire Council are now expected to monitor Mr. Megrahi while he is in Libya to ensure he adheres to the terms of release that have been agreed. Our officials are to receive regular medical reports and are reported to be establishing a satellite link to Libya to maintain communication.
That the hard pressed Council Tax payer of East Renfrewshire is expected to pay for this is completely unacceptable to me and the SNP Scottish Executive who took this perverse decision must immediately indemnify us against any loss.
As equally unacceptable is the silence of our local MP, and Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy. Scotland's name is being dragged through the mud internationally and the man empowered with representing our country through our UK national parliament remains silent.
His own constituents face the prospect of financial loss simply because we had the good grace to host Mr. Megrahi's family while he served his term in Greenock Prison - and that is completely unacceptable to me. Despite the difficult circumstances under which the Megrahi family came to live in Newton Mearns they lived in peace and were accepted by our local community. That we are now open to financial loss as a result is unacceptable.
In the modern day when most politicians have blog sites and/or Twitter it is easy to register what you believe on any issue, even if the media do not report what you say. Jim Murphy's blog remains as silent as his burgeoning press office on an issue that affects Scotland as a whole but more particularly his constituents in East Renfrewshire and that is an abdication of responsibility for which he must be held to account.
Scenes of the Saltire being waved on the tarmac at Tripoli Airport, in celebration at Mr. Megrahi's return, were sickening to me particularly as Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP, confirmed in his statement that Mr. Megrahi had expressed no remorse or compassion for the 270 victims of the bomb he was convicted of planting on Pan Am Flight 103.
These scenes brought shame on our national flag
More conceerning to me is the revelation that East Renfrewshire Council are now expected to monitor Mr. Megrahi while he is in Libya to ensure he adheres to the terms of release that have been agreed. Our officials are to receive regular medical reports and are reported to be establishing a satellite link to Libya to maintain communication.
That the hard pressed Council Tax payer of East Renfrewshire is expected to pay for this is completely unacceptable to me and the SNP Scottish Executive who took this perverse decision must immediately indemnify us against any loss.
As equally unacceptable is the silence of our local MP, and Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy. Scotland's name is being dragged through the mud internationally and the man empowered with representing our country through our UK national parliament remains silent.
His own constituents face the prospect of financial loss simply because we had the good grace to host Mr. Megrahi's family while he served his term in Greenock Prison - and that is completely unacceptable to me. Despite the difficult circumstances under which the Megrahi family came to live in Newton Mearns they lived in peace and were accepted by our local community. That we are now open to financial loss as a result is unacceptable.
In the modern day when most politicians have blog sites and/or Twitter it is easy to register what you believe on any issue, even if the media do not report what you say. Jim Murphy's blog remains as silent as his burgeoning press office on an issue that affects Scotland as a whole but more particularly his constituents in East Renfrewshire and that is an abdication of responsibility for which he must be held to account.
Monday 27 July 2009
Conservative Social Action sets the tone of things to come!
I'm off to Srebrenica in a few hours to join Baroness Warsi and William Hague in delivering real benefits to a town that has seen so much hurt.
Myles is now just 12 days old and I already know I will miss him and Mum immensely. But opportunities to make a difference don't come along often and it is with Elaine's support that I join Project Maja to deliver real benefits to a community dealing with so much distress.
Some will say the Conservative Party has never really changed and this is a publicity stunt to pretend you have changed, but the truth is Conservatives have always believed in giving people the opportunity to help themselves. That is exactly what we will be doing in Bosnia. We are helping school children, a family and a community to rebuild their lives.
The Conservative Party is also actively involved in Rawanda where Conservatives are helping to train nurses and teachers and in Sierra Leone where we are trying to improve the justice system, human rights and the role of women in society.
Giving people the opportunity to help themselves has always been at the core of Conservative beliefs.
Perhaps what we haven’t been so good at in the past is projecting that image but this is not about a publicity stunt.
Conservatives supported Nato’s intervention in the Balkans in the mid- nineties and we have always supported the rebuilding programme. What we will be doing is a small attempt to help but it is also about not forgetting what happened in Bosnia.
In Srebrenica it is just over a decade since 8,000 innocent civilians, many of them children, were brutally murdered by paramilitary units commanded by alleged war criminal General Ratko Mladic. And yet it seems a lot longer. Iraq and Afghanistan are at the forefront of people’s minds at the moment but we must never forget what happened here.
I could go on and on about why we need to remember the past so as to not make the same mistakes again and to talk about Conservatives Social Action at home in the UK - and I probably will soon. The fact is that Project Maja will make a difference to those it touches and everyone involved will be richer for their time in Srebrenica.
Myles is now just 12 days old and I already know I will miss him and Mum immensely. But opportunities to make a difference don't come along often and it is with Elaine's support that I join Project Maja to deliver real benefits to a community dealing with so much distress.
Some will say the Conservative Party has never really changed and this is a publicity stunt to pretend you have changed, but the truth is Conservatives have always believed in giving people the opportunity to help themselves. That is exactly what we will be doing in Bosnia. We are helping school children, a family and a community to rebuild their lives.
The Conservative Party is also actively involved in Rawanda where Conservatives are helping to train nurses and teachers and in Sierra Leone where we are trying to improve the justice system, human rights and the role of women in society.
Giving people the opportunity to help themselves has always been at the core of Conservative beliefs.
Perhaps what we haven’t been so good at in the past is projecting that image but this is not about a publicity stunt.
Conservatives supported Nato’s intervention in the Balkans in the mid- nineties and we have always supported the rebuilding programme. What we will be doing is a small attempt to help but it is also about not forgetting what happened in Bosnia.
In Srebrenica it is just over a decade since 8,000 innocent civilians, many of them children, were brutally murdered by paramilitary units commanded by alleged war criminal General Ratko Mladic. And yet it seems a lot longer. Iraq and Afghanistan are at the forefront of people’s minds at the moment but we must never forget what happened here.
I could go on and on about why we need to remember the past so as to not make the same mistakes again and to talk about Conservatives Social Action at home in the UK - and I probably will soon. The fact is that Project Maja will make a difference to those it touches and everyone involved will be richer for their time in Srebrenica.
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