Calman welcome but still a lot of work to do to improve devolution!

The Calman Commission report makes many recommendations that will ensure devolution works better for the people of Scotland.

For example, it was terrific to see the Commission take forward David Cameron's suggestion that Ministers from Westminster should appear before the Scottish Parliament and, in particular, that the Scottish Secretary should appear before a Scottish Parliament committee immediately after the Queen's Speech in order to explain the impact Westminster's legislative programme will have on Scotland.

It is also good to see the Conservative Party committing itself to taking a long hard look at implementation of the Calman Commission's recommendations, including those relating to tax raising powers, through involvement on a cross party steering group.

Moves to make the Scottish Parliament accountable for the money it spends, by making it responsible for taxes that directly contribute to at least a proportion of its budget, will go some way to addressing allegations of subsidy from England and will ensure MSPs are held to account for their decisions at the ballot box. Implementation of devolution of tax raising powers must, however, mean the Scottish Parliament is forced to take the element of fiscal responsibility devolved to it by compelling it to use such powers. After all it has had powers over taxation for the past 10 years and has failed to use its ability to vary income tax up or down 3%.

A large number of questions about how devolved tax powers can be implemented remain to be addressed and that is why it is right for the Conservative Party to be involved in a cross party steering group to see which of the Calman Commission's proposals can practically be adopted.

The Calman Commission has been a very worthwhile review of devolution after 10 years. I believe we should make devolution work for the people of Scotland in the way they clearly believed it would when they voted for it back in 1998.

If devolution is not to prove to have been a series of stepping stones on the way to an Independent Scotland the application of recommendations put forward by this Commission must be carefully thought through and some may have to be discounted to protect and maintain the United Kingdom as a social and economic union through which we benefit no matter where we live. I am proud to be British and want to see devolution work properly for future generations.

Winning

What a great feeling.

Conservatives won East Renfrewshire at the European elections count last night, with Labour trailing in a despondent third. Not that any elected member of the Labour Party was there to see it preferring instead to stay at home and enter into a state of collective denial about the electorates desertion of their party as a result of their dismal failure to stand up for local people.

People are clearly realising that the only way to get rid of this tired and failing Labour Government at Westminster is to vote for David Cameron and his resurgent Conservative team. East Renfrewshire is crucial to achieving that aim and for the voters of East Renfrewshire to come out in such numbers and give the Conservatives their approval is a huge boost to the party.

Clearly the Conservative Party is the only party that can mount a realistic challenge to Labour. A vote for any other party may well allow Labour to win the seat by the back door. The SNP did well to come second and to deny Labour any comfort from the result of this election. Indeed, to find the last time Labour finished third in East Renfrewshire you have to go back to SDP days and 1987.

David Cameron has promised change at Westminster and is providing the leadership that Gordon Brown is so clearly unable to do. We need a General Election as soon as possible so that voters can have their say. We need a strong Government, not a divided one, to lead the country out of Labour’s recession.

Thank you for your support. My campaign team and I will continue to work hard to earn your trust and to ensure that East Renfrewshire becomes a Conservative seat again.

European Election Result for East Renfrewshire:

Conservative - 6872 (28.5%)

SNP - 5475 (22.70%)

Labour - 5000 (20.73%)

Lib Dem - 2136 (8.86%)

Green - 1565 (6.49%)

UKIP - 1201 (4.98%)

BNP - 441 (1.83%)

Christian - 404 (1.68%)

Socialist Labour - 301 (1.25%)

Duncan Robertson - 243 (1.01%)

Jury Team - 140 (0.58%)

No 2 EU - 131 (0.54%)

Scottish Socialist - 121 (0.50%)

Britian Deserves Better - Let The People Decide

We are just 24 hours on from European and County Council elections that have reduced the Labour Party to an electoral laughing stock and what is the Prime Ministers response? A Cabinet reshuffle, of the very people who have already failed to provide leadership, followed by holding a press conference in which he told members of the press his late father had taught him never to tell lies before denying he had wanted to sack his Chancellor when everyone knows he did.

Leadership is about many things and one of them is knowing when to give in. With five members of his Cabinet having resigned and Caroline Flint having launched a furious tirade against the Prime Minister in her resignation letter, (accusing him of operating a "two-tier Government" and of using women ministers as "female window dressing"), in standing down as Europe Minister it is plain for all to see that the Labour Party in complete and utter disarray at the very time when the country needs unified leadership.

And it is not only his own Party and members of opposition parties who believe the Labour Party is no longer in control. The people who voted in yesterday's elections passed a damning verdict on Labour having relieved them of control of every single County Council in England for the first time ever and pushing them into third place in terms of their share of the popular vote. On Sunday night a more complete picture of attitudes across the United Kingdom will become apparent following European election results. If predictions are to be believed it may well be that the governing party of the UK fall into third, or potentially even fourth, place - a position which does not afford legitimacy.

So, in light of recent event, because his Party is split at a time when our country needs united leadership most and to restore the public's faith in British democracy it is time for a General Election so that the British people can elect the people they feel are best placed to see us through the deepest recession in living memory. That's why I am backing David Cameron's "Sign For Change" campaign - demanding a General Election so that the public can pass judgement on every politician.

A lot of hard work make European Elections worthwhile!

Polls have closed and we must now all wait to see how the electorate in East Renfrewshire voted in the European Elections.

An early start for the whole Conservative team, under slightly gray skies, was followed by a lot of hard work manning polling stations, knocking out pledge voters and providing lifts to polls. Ultimately this all proved very worthwhile - with positive feedback from those we met and a great deal of encouragement from the statistics we gleaned from ballot box voting numbers.

And today provided so many people in East Renfrewshire with a golden opportunity to pass judgement on the attitude and failures of a Labour MP, MSP and Council administration who are completely out of touch with the mood and attitudes of their electorate. In Clarkston, Carolside parents were able to protest about Labour increasing class sizes. In Giffnock, Woodfarm and Thornliebank residents vented their fury at a Labour Party prepared to continue to propose selling off parks for residential house building in the Local Plan. In Eaglesham & Waterfoot we found continued opposition amongst voters to the Council proposed Eaglesham Hub. While in Netherlee there was a massive increase in voting between 6pm and 10pm, during which time in some cases the number of votes cast doubled, as local people were motivated to get out and vote.

From our own figures it is clear that, excluding postal votes, Netherlee won the prize for the area with the largest turnout while Neilston surprised us with the lowest turnout after a very promising start.

Whatever Sunday evenings result holds in store the one thing that won today was the democratic process of the UK. I have a number of concerns about the way the election was conducted today but in the end it is not about those of us in political parties it is about the people we entrust to use their vote wisely. Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote and let's hope that the six MEP's we return from Scotland do us proud no matter which political party they represent!

Goldie Direct a hit in East Renfrewshire

Annabel Goldie MSP held a public meeting last night, at Giffnock Primary School, under the banner "Goldie Direct".

And "direct" she was!

No matter the question asked by members of the audience they got a straight and honest answer, sometimes even answers it was clear they were not going to be happy with. In doing so Annabel demonstrated to members of the public the sort of politics and politician our country needs at a time when our entire political establishment is in a state of complete and utter disarray.

Questions included how to restore faith in politics, what voting system ensures politicians are accountable to their electorate and on a more local theme are East Renfrewshire Council right to be increasing primary school class sizes. There was also questions on reform of the Children's Panel system and how would Conservatives get more police onto local streets to counteract increasing levels of youth disorder.

On every question Annabel was able to give clear and concise policy direction to everyone present and from the feedback received after the meeting finished it is clear people were convinced Annabel and the Conservative Party offer something new and refreshing to politics.

Bringing politics back to the grass routes through public meetings is undoubtedly a good way to engage with people otherwise dissolutioned with politics and something that must be encouraged to ensure our democracy prospers.

Time to prosecute the guilty and restore faith in the political system!

It is very difficult to persuade people that, as a candidate, you are not actually a full time, well paid politician.

Over recent weeks, and in the eye of the storm that is the MP expenses furore, it has become increasingly difficult to get any message across to ordinary members of the public. Instead, (almost to a man, woman and child), everyone wants to vent their anger on the disgraceful action of MPs who have cheated the expenses system of taxpayers money.

As an ordinary member of the public and taxpayer - I agree!

To start the process of restoring faith in our political system I believe that all those who have made fraudulent claims on their expenses MUST be prosecuted without delay. It is simply not tenable for people who have claimed mortgage interest on expenses when they don't have any mortgage to pay interest on to claim they are within the rules and anything other than dishonest.

These people must be thoroughly investigated and, if the Daily Telegraph are right, charged with having committed fraud.

Such action is long overdue and should be just the start of action against those who felt able to make expense claims that were not "wholly, exclusively and necessarily" incurred in service of their constituents.

Simply paying back money or paying back capital gains tax is not good enough! If a member of the public is a day late in their personal tax return or pays up late they have surcharges, penalties and interest to pay HM Revenue & Customs - so why do these MPs think they should be treated any differently?

David Cameron has called for a General Election so that the public can decide the fate of those implicated in this saga and I am happy to support his "Sign For Change" initiative so that ordinary members of the public are able to register their desire to shape our democracy. Put simply, David gets it in a way that Gordon Brown is simply unable to fathom.

The rules the public have to abide by should be good enough for MPs or they are not honorable members. So let's see the guilty treated the same as everyone else for the sake of fair play and let's have a General Election so everyone can vote for change and a better UK democracy!

It Was The Tories That Won It!

Would you believe it!

Just a few short days after I broke the news that Glasgow City Council were withholding £600,000 from East Renfrewshire Council, despite a legal judgement in December of last year awarding the cash to East Ren, and what do you know Glasgow pay up!

East Renfrewshire may have a Labour MP, a Labour MSP and a Labour led Council, but their combined efforts failed to persuade Labour led Glasgow City Council to return the £600,000 plus it owed East Renfrewshire for the provision of regular school placement requests.

I am not a great one for telling people what to think but if there is a moral to this story it is that "you can trust your East Renfrewshire Conservatives to look after the interests of local people while the Labour Party sit on the sidelines and do nothing!"

Glasgow owe East Ren £600,000 so why is no one within Labour doing anything for East Renfrewshire to secure our cash?

Regular readers of my blog will know I take a very simply view of life where I think matters are indeed simply. There tends to be a right and a wrong in most instances and nothing needs to take as long as bureaucrats seem to make them.

Thanks to some great work by Councillor Gordon McCaskill, local conservatives have discovered that Glasgow City Council owes East Renfrewshire Council a whole load of cash and simply aren't paying up because they don't feel like it. I press released this on Friday and copy this on my blog so everyone can see just how little Jim Murphy and the Labour Party are actually doing for the people of East Renfrewshire:

Glasgow City Council owes East Renfrewshire £600,000

Murphy inaction puts new special needs school on ice

Conservatives are calling on Labour led Glasgow City Council to return the £600,000 plus it owes East Renfrewshire Council Tax payers for services provided to people living in Glasgow. In particular the sum is owed for the provision of regular school education on placement requests and specialist schooling at Isobel Mair School for children with special needs.

East Renfrewshire Conservatives can reveal that a binding legal opinion was received by both Councils in December, but so far Glasgow has not returned the money (see notes to editors). As a result East Renfrewshire Council has had to postpone plans to build a new Isobel Mair School, which is one of only two schools in East Renfrewshire rated below B for structural condition.

Commenting on his findings Conservative Westminster candidate for East Renfrewshire, Richard Cook, said:

"Glasgow must pay up now so East Renfrewshire can build the new Isobel Mair School. For Glasgow to withhold this money is nothing short of scandalous.

"East Renfrewshire has a Labour MP, a Labour MSP and a Labour led council, but all continue to sit on their hands as their Labour colleagues in Glasgow withhold more than half a million pounds of East Renfrewshire taxpayers’ money.

"Instead of trying to manufacture political spats with the SNP and going on overseas junkets, East Renfrewshire’s MP and Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy should be fighting to get a fair deal from the Labour Party in Glasgow. Mr Murphy has had 3 months to use his influence to bring this stand-off to an end, but at the moment it seems he would rather be in China playing golf and taking boat trips to dinner with the great and the good.

"So the message to East Renfrewshire Labour is simple. Stop dithering, get this money from your Labour colleagues in Glasgow and give Isobel Mair pupils a new school now! It’s simply not acceptable for Labour in Glasgow to be bumping up its minimum wage to £7 per hour at the same time as it withholds money that would build a new school in East Renfrewshire for children with special needs."

Conservative Councillor for Netherlee, Stamperland and Williamwood, Gordon McCaskill, who has been working with Richard Cook on this investigation, added:

"I was aware that Glasgow’s Labour council had not paid us to educate their children for quite some time, but was not aware that the courts had found against them in December last year. Both councils kept that quiet! The money East Renfrewshire is owed would pay for the new Isobel Mair School, the building of which was postponed by the Labour led administration during this year’s budget process due to lack of funds.

"Isobel Mair School has a national reputation for excellence and I am not prepared to sit back and watch its pupils and staff suffer as a result of Glasgow City Council dragging its heels. This is Labour’s fiasco and it’s Labour’s job to bring it to an end, now."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. East Renfrewshire Conservatives are able to release today details of a judgement passed down by Lord Penrose on 12th December 2008, in relation to the case in the Court of Session of East Renfrewshire District Council against Glasgow City Council. This opinion relates to monies due to East Renfrewshire over many years totalling more than £350,000. The remaining monies due to East Renfrewshire relate to legal costs and interest payments awarded to East Renfrewshire Council.

2. East Renfrewshire's Labour led Council rejected the Conservative Groups budget amendment to start building the new Isobel Mair School this year. This requires capital of £152,000 in the forthcoming financial year and £444,000 next year.

Mervyn King - finally someone in power talking sense!

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, is not one renowned for interfering in government policy and yet he has publicly criticised the Prime Ministers desire for further economic stimulus.

In short, Mr. King is saying that UK Plc simply cannot afford any more debt. With the total liability of the taxpayer now more than £2 trillion, when you include our liability for part nationalised banks and current economic stimulus packages, it is clear the Bank of England believe that any further government financial stimulus that requires us to borrow more as a nation will essentially mean we go bust.

And the reaction of government? Well that is difficult to tell. Gordon Brown says there is no disagreement between his Government and the Bank of England, Harriet Harman refused to answer any question put to her on the subject when she stood in for Mr. Brown at Prime Minister's Questions today and the media report that the Chancellor is in general agreement with Mr. King.

That the Prime Minister still believes further economic stimulus is affordable shows just how deeply entrenched within him the feeling of denial has become. If British families have to live within their means so must the British government. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. So it's time to face up to the consequences of our actions as a nation and to admit we are on the brink of bankruptcy as a nation and must stop trying to spend our way out of trouble and get real for the sake of future generations.

Scotland's Nuclear Ambition Will Send Alex Ballistic!

If ever you want proof that the public know what's best for them while politicians prefer to listen to pressure groups within their own party, look no further that the debate on nuclear energy.

With the vast majority of Scots in favour of building more nuclear power stations in Scotland, to ensure we have energy security for generations to come, it is clear Alex Salmond and his SNP Scottish Executive remain completely out of touch with public opinion by continuing to exercise their veto over new planning applications for nuclear stations in Scotland.

In uncertain economic times only nuclear offers Scotland the energy security our economy needs. Russia switches the gas supply on and off as they see fit and oil remains both volatile in price and damaging to our environment. How else are we to ensure the lights don't go out when the wind doesn't blow?

Surely Alex Salmond and his band of increasingly unmerry men must now abandon their opposition to new nuclear power stations in Scotland in the national interest? If they do so and masquerade it in the press as doing what is right during this recession though through gritted teeth, I for one will cheer!

Hold On Tight For A Bumpy Quantitative Easing Ride

I am no longer sure the Government have any idea what they are doing!

Just a few weeks ago it would have been inconceivable, and considered bad practice, for us to be borrowing as a country at 10%, more than twenty times our national base rate. It would have been inconceivable, and considered bad practice, for interest rates to be at 0.5% providing no incentive for people to deposit money in banks that need to be better financed. And it certainly would be inconceivable, and considered bad practice, for the Bank of England to be printing £75billion of new money to buy questionable assets.

To make printing of money more palatable it is given a fancy name - quantitative easing! Sounds okay, means little to most people, but if we get this wrong the risks to every single one of us are massive.

If the additional money in our economy is too much, or the assets it buys prove to be worthless, we risk massive devaluation of Sterling on the international money markets, which in turn could lead to hyper inflation. Imagine the difficulties ordinary families would face in the midst of a recession if the cost of goods starts to shoot up because we import so much and our currency devalues every day. That is the threat posed by quantitative easing if it goes wrong in any way and yet no one is talking about this and warning the public of the risks Labour are taking with their way of life.

The United Kingdom is no Zimbabwe and yet that is exactly what Labour are turning us into, minus land grabs and police brutality. Labour are taking huge risks in the hope of saving their own political skins and what they are doing to us all is delivering an economic policy that is simply too risky and irresponsible to make any sort of sense.

Child Protection - Why Are We Failing?

The catalogue of failures, across the UK, when it comes to our ability to protect children in danger is truly appalling. Already this year there have been convictions in the cases of Baby P and now of little Brandon Muir - both killed by people known to authorities as both dangerous and potentially deadly.

Police, social work, health service and to some extent education service personnel must all look at themselves. Yet again no one is prepared to take personal responsibility and do the decent thing by resigning for having failed 23 month old Brandon. This poor child lived with a drug addict, prostitute mother who brought a man into her life who was known by authorities to be violent and a potential danger to her child.

Post a conviction we find out, yet again, that authorities were just moments away from taking a child who died into care. TOO LATE! Why oh why do we always hear what they might have done instead of hearing about early intervention to protect children who are being physically abused.

Statistics released today suggest that as many as 50,000 Scottish children are living with drug addict parents. Given the risk to them of their parent being unable to look after them, or indeed of accidentally taking drugs left lying about, it is surely time for state intervention on an unprecedented scale to protect these children.

Our continual inability to get this right is a stain on the reputation of our society and something we must address. There are thousands of possibilities out there for placement of children in need of proper homes. Foster care, adoption, care homes take your pick, all would be better than leaving children at risk in the way we continue to do.

I don't know why I was adopted just after birth but I am very grateful that I was placed with a loving, caring mother and father who would have given anything to protect me from harm. Where parents are not able to do this for their children it is the states role to step in and for as long as the state fails to do so effectively we should all hang our heads in shame.

Labour Luvvie Sir Fred Continues To Benefit

During the good times when RBS were making billions from taking massive unregulated risks, New Labour was in love with Fred Goodwin and he in turn in love with New Labour. Of course his Knighthood was a reward for services to banking not any association with the Labour Party but as the wool has been pulled over the Government's eyes in relation to the massive pension pot he is being paid by the taxpayer questions really have to be asked about how cosy Sir Fred and New Labour really are.

When Sir Fred was asked to resign he apparently made it clear to Government Ministers that a condition of him agreeing to do so was retention of an overly generous pension pot. Today we hear that Sir Fred is to receive £693,000 per annum for the rest of his life as a reward for failure because the Government were told this was a contractual requirement and did not ask for proof before agreeing to his resignation on this basis.

There is of course the possibility that someone in Government did know that it was not a contractual obligation but a condition of resignation and that they decided this was a price worth paying in order to get Sir Fred out the door and a new more competent broom into RBS. I would not agree with this but if this is the case the Government should say so.

If, instead, the truth is that Government Ministers did not check whether they were obliged to allow Sir Fred to retain his pension pot then the Ministers and their officials are incompetent and they should resign for failing the UK taxpayer so spectacularly. Sir Fred is only 50 and we can expect to be paying him millions and millions of pounds as a reward for taking risks with a well respected institution to the verge of bankruptcy.

Turning one of our largest banks, one of our largest employers and a company that bares the Scotland name with pride into a basket case is simply not something the taxpayer should be rewarding. If we cannot challenge paying Sir Fred his pension in the courts and Sir Fred is not prepared to give up his entitlement to his pension voluntarily then we must legislate to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again - even if it is a contractual obligation.

We all need to tighten our belts and being ripped off by someone when it was avoidable is a national disgrace. Had we simply sacked the man he would have been entitled to £1.5million up front (one years salary) but would not have been able to claim a penny of his pension pot until he hit retirement age - a saving of nearly £8.9million by my calculation.

Labour have failed the taxpayer here and someone must take responsibility and resign. If Sir Fred won't set an example of taking responsibility by giving up his pension pot someone in politics must set an example for him by taking responsibility and resigning. The taxpayer deserves nothing less!

I am often told by members of the public that politics is a cut throat business lacking in compassion, but just sometimes events allow those representing us to show the human face of both politics and politicians.

The tragic death of Ivan Cameron at just 6 years of age brought the House of Commons together today, at the time normally reserved for Prime Minister Questions, in an atmosphere of grief and respect. To his credit our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, gave a most considered and respectful speech uniting the House of Commons in sending condolences to David and Samantha Cameron on the death of their son.

Elaine and I are awaiting the birth of our first child this July with a sense of excitement very similar to that of waiting for Christmas morning. We cannot imagine how David and Samantha Cameron must be feeling and can only hope that they know our thoughts and prayers, as well as those of millions of other decent people across the country, are with them.

The very human face of politics was on show today and for his part in demonstrating that there are some things that simply pull people together no matter how much they would normally disagree Gordon Brown has my utmost respect.

The Truth About Boom & Bust

Have you ever wanted to see something simple that shows the underlying strength and underlying truth about our economy?

Let me help you!

Our stock market, in particular the FTSE 100, provides a fascinating insight as to how strong our companies are in good time and in bad. From Margaret Thatcher's election as Prime Minister in 1979 through to the end of John Major's premiership in 1997 the FTSE rose consistently - though admittedly with the odd peak and trough as markets reacted to national and international economic circumstances.

Having inherited a golden legacy, New Labour presided over a few more years of growth. There followed a massive correction in the market, between 2000 and 2003, before the FTSE shot back up to levels close to its peak through to 2008. The truth is that the markets knew the underlying strength of our economy was massively overvalued because our economy was based on a mountain of national and personal debt. What has followed over the past year is the product of a decade of borrowing in times of plenty instead of saving up for a rainy day.

So if you ever want to be able to show someone the truth about "Boom & Bust" show them this graph. The difference between good economic management and economic management based on rhetoric and debt is simply the difference between Conservative Government and Labour Government.

Let's hope we get back to some sound economic management before it's too late!

Time to get tough on CRIME!

Our justice system is out of control! Let me tell you why.

1) A man has just been sentenced to two weeks imprisonment for entering a drug dealers home, threatening the drug dealer (who has hooked one of his family members on heroin) and for taking the drug dealers heroin and flushing it down the toilet.

What an outrage! The gentleman in question admits to being no angel but if the police and procurator fiscal are unable to get drug dealers off our streets no one should be surprised if members of the community take matters into their own hands.

2) Sex beast John Cronin absconded from a probation hostel earlier this week and is now in the custody of West Midlands Police on suspicion of fraud. This man was sentenced to (and wait to you hear this) Life Imprisonment in 1992 for attacking a woman in her Edinburgh home, only to be released from prison in 1996. LIFE - someone is having a laugh at the expense on the safety of our public.

Since his release Mr. Cronin has been in custody in Sweden, Ireland and England for a string of offences and he remains a danger to the public wherever he goes. It was the Scottish justice system who let us down first when they released Cronin after just 4 years and it is surely time he was incarcerated for LIFE to protect people all over the world.

The PC Brigade will cry foul and point to the human rights of both the drug dealer and John Cronin. I say that as both have chosen to take NO responsibility for their actions they have no right to expect compassion from society given the threat they pose to us all. It's time to get tough on crime and that means stiffer sentences for those that are the causes of crime!

How Bad Could It Really Be?

When the governments own regulatory watchdog predicts that our economic slump might be worse than feared you know things are going to get really bad.


The Financial Services Authority warned today that Britain's recession could go deeper and last longer than expected, despite the government's fiscal stimulus and multi-billion pound economic rescue plans. Possibly more telling they say, about their own bosses, the impact of measures like reduced interest rates and the government's £12billion VAT cut remained unclear, and advise businesses and consumers to "plan for a greater degree of uncertainty than normal".


If this is the assessment of our own FSA you can only wonder what the OECD, IMF and World Bank are thinking. My greatest fear is that Labour are ignoring any economic forecasts they don't want to admit to favouring a scorched earth policy designed to leave the next government with nothing to work with. The only good news is that I am in doubt the energy, ingenuity and dedication of the British people will see us through to a prosperous future despite the actions of the current government!

A Prime Minister for all of the UK

David Cameron's piece in Scotland on Sunday (http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/David-Cameron-I-would-govern.4958461.jp) clearly defined how a Conservative Government, led by David, will be different from the Labour administration, led by Gordon Brown, that is failing Scotland so badly.



It is a scandal that in difficult economic times our Prime Minister and First Minister have not met since Spring of last year. This only goes to show that Labour have no idea how to handle a nationalist administration at Holyrood. Their lack of appreciation of the need to be seen to be doing everything they can from London to help Scotland only serves to add to the nationalists media machines claims that Westminster does not understand Scotland and is doing little to help it now times are tough.

What Scotland needs, if devolution is to survive and quash the advance of independence, is a Westminster administration that treats Holyrood with respect and that works with it to benefit Scotland. Regular meetings between Prime Minister and First Minister, as well as communication between their respective cabinets, is essential to foster an atmosphere of trust between Westminster and the Scottish Parliament. This will also prove to the Scottish people that our place as an integral part of the United Kingdom is worth retaining.

David finishes his article by saying, "This commitment to true partnership between our nations sets the Conservatives apart from the other parties in Scotland as much as our commitment to modern, centre-right ideas. We are the only party that can bring about the change Scotland needs."


I could not have put it better myself!

Counting The Cost of Murder!

I think it is simply a scandal that senior police officers are to be asked to account for every single penny they spend during murder investigations. Not that I don't approve of proper auditing of public expenditure and not that I don't think it is possible that our Police could do better.

My outrage comes because during a murder investigation I want the police officers in charge to be concentrating on getting violent, dangerous individuals off our streets and into custody not filling in forms and worrying about whether a penny here or there will be cast up and used against them at a future date.

The Herald covers this issue today as Hunting Murderers on Budget, http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2487646.0.Hunting_murderers_on_budget_new_rules_for_police.php) , but for the general public I don't believe there is a value you can put on solving such serious crime.

It's time our Police became a Force in our society again and to do that we need to back them in good times and in bad and not to become preoccupied with cost. We won't make them a force by placing financial constraints on investigations and we must trust those in charge of our Police to hold themselves accountable for what their force spends.

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

The Bank of England cut their headline interest rate by 0.5% today to 1%. In times gone by, when our economy was managed by cuts in interest rates that were designed to manage the inflationary trend of our economy, this sort of intervention would undoubtedly have done the trick and an almost immediate benefit to our economy would have resulted.



The problem we have today is not that interest rates are in any way the problem. Quite the contrary, and today's cut will only serve to penalise the millions of prudent savers with money deposited in banks and building societies - many of whom rely on interest payments to make ends meet.


Across the UK the problem faced by our economy is not the cost of borrowing - it is the reluctance of banks to lend!


Despite the taxpayer owning many of our banks it appears our government are unable to get them to relax lending criteria so that businesses can borrow to invest in our future.


Why? Simply because it is government policy that tells banks to pay us back as quick as they can and to reduce their exposure to bad debt as they do so.


So what are banks actually doing instead of lending to viable businesses? They are foreclosing on businesses in trouble and in homeowners struggling to keep up payments in compliance with government instructions.


In conclusion, today's interest rates cut will damage those who have done the right thing by saving and do very little to help those who need to borrow, because none of our lending institutions will take any risk. So despite hundreds of millions of pounds spent on bailing out our banks cuts in interest rates are simply not doing anything to help our economy recover.