Murphy's law

Calman looking to reverse devolution

2009-03-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

Reports that the Calman Commission is looking to possibly reverse powers over energy consenting so that either the current Labour or a future Conservative UK Government can build nuclear power stations in Scotland against a Scottish Parliamentary majority is definitely irking many this morning, not least of which the First Minister.

Only the Tories and Labour support nuclear power in Scotland. Every other party in the Scottish Parliament is against the expansion of civil nuclear power. So will the Lib Dems sign up to this?

Just last week SoS trumpeted that Scots would rather have nuclear power than pay more through their bills for renewables (which they are currently doing with no complaint). The SoS said:

More people said they preferred renewables to nuclear by a margin of two to one, but the survey also concluded that most Scots are unwilling to see their bills going up in order to pay for it. One report by the House of Lords concluded last year that the average power bill would rise by £80 by 2025 to pay for the "rush" to wind, wave and tidal power.

So are taxpayers happy at paying over £100bn to pay for nuclear decommissioning and waste storage for this 'cheap' form of electricity?

Will Iain Gray finish his apprenticeship as Labour Leader?

2009-03-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. Not a good week for the Labour Leader in the Scottish Parliament. Badly briefed and lacking political judgement, he used a young guy with a penchant for anti-social behaviour and expulsion from college under his belt, to be his role model for First Minister's Questiontime. Tom Gordon has the story in the Sunday Herald.

This is the respected Lewis Doig on YouTube - but dont go looking, the video has now gone 'private'.... instead, if you can bear it, watch Mr Gray's weekly YouTube vid:

Lewis Doig might have closed down his foul-mouthed vid (or had it closed down for him) but Mr Gray is still maliciously peddling the untruths about young Mr Doig's true employment status.

This is a hilarious piss-take of In the Thick of It mixed with Iain Gray on Newsnight Scotland..... Classic!!! Congrats to Cybernat for this brilliant video editing.

Lib Dems talking about Independence

2009-03-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

I watched a bit of 'Conference Report 2009' at lunchtime but sadly have watched the highlights of the Scottish Lib Dem conference late on a Sunday night. So what exactly are the Lib Dems about? Well it would appear that they have nothing else to talk about but Independence. Tavish Scott is 'twisting' on whether the Lib Dems will support an Independence Referendum (but only after the 2011 election, he doesn't want to play his aces just yet!). Ming the Meaningless was his usual bitter old self towards Alex Salmond, the man who has done more than he could.

Watching Hugh O'Donnell and Jim Wallace tussle over defining fiscal autonomy "within the Calman Commission" discussions was hilarious as Jim's face girned at Hugh's fulsome support for full fiscal autonomy. Ooops, didn't take long for Jim to get Hugh back on message.

Meanwhile Vince Cable's speech was a huge disappointment. Here was the grand man of economic rune reading. No doubt Vince started off his career in fortune telling but then lost the knack by joining the Liberals. Anyway, here he was spreading doom and gloom about whether an Independent Scotland could cope with the collapse of a bank the size of RBS. Does that not beg, would an independent Scottish banking regulator allow RBS to have gambled in the way that it did? Would the small Scottish financial community have heard the ex-Group Director of Regulatory affairs blowing his whistle in the way the City of London singularly failed? However, no amount of jealousy that Alex is our First Minister and Vince is out of government could be hidden.

Finally, I had to laugh when Vince said the Lib Dems were not just about devolving power to Edinburgh, but also about decentralising power to local authorities and communities... now please explain to me what exactly the Scottish Lib Dems did to decentralise power to councils and communities in their eight years in coalition? Did they fight to remove ring-fenced funding? Did they legislate to reform the Council Tax which they have campaigned to 'Axe the Tax' in England & Wales... and then belatedly in Scotland? No.

Dundee: Scotland's first SNP City?

2009-03-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

Following a dramatic Council by-election win in the Maryfield Ward yesterday, the City of Dundee is poised to become the first SNP-led City administration. Craig Melville trumped the Labour candidate by over 500 first preference votes to take the place of ex-Labour Councillor Joe Morrow (who wasnae in when I canvassed his address!).

The balance of power would appear to be in the hands of Independent Ian Borthwick. What way will this man swing? Or will one of the other minor parties vote to keep their jobs.

Glasgow's Living Wages

2009-03-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

No doubt you will have heard our Dear Leader of Glasgow City Council trumpet (stick one up at Gordon Brown, Iain Gray and all their cronies) his decision to unilaterally raise the minimum wage for 681 workers to £7 an hour. A welcome move which will only cost £1.2 million, yes, that's right only £1.2 million. A bargain in any Council budget.

How will this be paid for? Does it apply to employees under 21? Why was it not identified in the Council Budget when it was set on 12 February? Why was it not passed by the Executive Committee on Friday? Of course, Cllr Purcell wasn't at the Executive Committee on Friday. All that rehearsing in front of the mirror has paid off though.

So, will the 47 social workers who were paid £500,000 in overtime last year have this curtailed to pay for the increase in minimum wage for those at the bottom of the pay league? I hope so. Will it derail Iain Gray's fightback against the SNP? Most definitely.

Alcohol and our communities: no action from Labour

2009-03-02T17:24:00.000-08:00

Well done to Nicola Sturgeon and Shona Robison, the SNP health team, who are taking the bull by the horn and tackling the blight of alcohol problems in our communities. Just as it was an SNP MSP, Stewart Maxwell, who ploughed the furrow and sowing the seeds of the Smoking Ban, so it is SNP Ministers who are now prepared to walk the talk.

Meanwhile, what are our opponents saying? Empty words as ever. The Tories are more concerned about the profits of the supermarkets than the health of our people. The Lib Dems are playing on an age-limit increase for young people which isn't even going ahead nationally.

"we will encourage local Licensing Boards to develop local solutions to address local problems."

And Labour are strangely silent. Strange? Naw! Labour are always found wanting when tough action is needed. How's this for a response: "we cannae support it cos the Bill is too difficult to scrutinise".... pathetic! Well hard working families and citizens who want a safer society will take notice of Labour's opposition to this.

Even after the doctors, the police and alcohol recovery groups have given their wholehearted support, still we hear nothing constructive from Cathy Jamieson.

And for once, the BBC 10 O'Clock News gave the best impartial reporting of a Scottish Government initiative I have witnessed so far. The balanced reporting of alcohol consumption in relation to price was well handled with views from both sides given an airing.

Pensions, peers and profiteering

2009-03-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

What a mess Gordon Brown and his pals are in. From trying to take back the pension which Lord Myner, the City Minister approved, to stripping Fred Goodwin of the knighthood which Gordon Brown personally recommended. And of course if someone is have their pension taken off them for the mess they have caused, then why isn't Brown giving his up? There's a lot of nasty scapegoating going on at the moment. Goodwin is a key architect of one bank's demise. But casino capitalism was hardly the design of just one bank or one chief exec.

What about the Halifax Bank of Scotland merger with Lloyds TSB? A shotgun wedding with Gordon Brown as the officiating meenister. Is the ex-CEO of HBOS being chased for his pension? And the CEO before Hornby, Sir James Crosby? A special adviser to Broon, deputy chair of the financial services regulator and now a man who's reputation is in tatters.

So before there are lots of posts reminding us all of how Tommy Sheridan forewarned of these ills before he was out of nappies, the reality is too many people endorsed the climate of wreckless financial gambling as consumers and policy-makers, myself included.

However, Labour's hypocrisy doesn't stop there. Take the case of Adam Ingram, MP for East Kilbride and environs. Not satisfied with being a highly paid Minister for most of the 10 years of New Labour in power, he now is taking lucrative salaries from defence-related companies. A whopping quarter of a million pounds of year. But it does look like he isn't long for the House of Commons. (No doubt a seat is being warmed for him in the House of Lords where his 'consulting' skills will be even further rewarded like his chums, Lord Moonie (another former Defence Minister) and Lord Foulkes (former International Aid Minister).

However, today's story that his constituency assistant is reportedly writing letters to the press in the name of a local party member to support Mr Ingram is way out of line. More so when we learn that the said constituency assistant, Cllr Michael McCann, is the front runner to succeed Ingram as the Labour candidate at the General Election. Nice to know that the sneaky underhand tricks academy is hard at work in Labour circles.

Glasgow Labour cronyism row erupts

2009-03-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

I had a feeling it would only be a matter of time, but the 'appointment' of Lesley Quinn, former Scottish Labour general secretary, to a newly created post of Business Development manager with Glasgow City Council's subsidiary - City Building LLP - has hit the headlines.

At the time of City Building losing the Glasgow south maintenance contract with Glasgow Housing Association last Autumn, I met with the Trades Conveners to hear their concerns. During those discussions, Ms Quinn's appointment was thrown in with an air of disgust. So it comes as no surprise that the 'exposing' of this perceived cronyism has come from Labour ranks.

There is considerable unease within the factions that is Glasgow Labour about Purcell's strategy, especially the school merger and closure programme. The next few days and weeks will be interesting to see (1) how Labour defends its decision on this appointment, and (2) whether the ructions in the Labour Group take on new developments.

Glasgow Labour's schools hypocrisy exposed

2009-02-26T06:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks to CyberNat for drawing my attention to the Joan McAlpine article in the Sunday Times. We have been hearing for weeks now how the non-arrival of the Scottish Futures Trust has been holding back plans for the re-building of Glasgow's remaining primary school estate. Bailie Gordon Matheson referred to SFT as the "damp empty sporran", but I bow to his superior knowledge of such affairs.

The reality is, local government can't borrow on the never-never now, even if it wanted to. All former off-balance sheet borrowing must now be included from April within the Council's financial statements. Therefore, whether the money comes from PFI, SFT or directly under 'prudential borrowing', it is all assessed under whether the Council can afford it or not. And the reality is Glasgow City Council has maxed out its credit cards in a follow-my-GreatBrit-leader attempt at recession economics.

And after a spending spree of £80 million for a Transport Museum that is over-budget and over-hyped and is rapidly making the Scottish Parliament over-spend look small, the £8 million bail out of the secondary schools PFI scheme for failed ventilation systems and £7 million to the Kings Theatre for structural work which resulted in 45 staff being paid off, we know what the Labour administration's priorities are. Instead of 6 new super-schools for Glasgow, Labour are bailing out failing assets and propping up white elephants. Even the National Audit Office which scrutinises local authorities in England has exposed how PFI is failing English schools - over-priced, over-budget and late delivery. So whatever the answer to the Education Estate problems are, PFI isn't the answer.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: 'Where there are difficulties in private finance, I believe the Treasury will bring forward proposals.'

But it doesn't stop there. In the SNP Budget proposals for Glasgow, we highlighted a number of efficiency savings. Firstly, over half a million pounds was paid to 47 residential social workers for over time. (Yes, I can hear you gasp, 'how can that be?'). For every £1 of efficiency savings made, a Council can borrow ten times that in 'prudential borrowing' - so there's £5 million pounds for starters.

Then we pointed out that not everyone in Glasgow is paying the Council Tax (and Glasgow has the worst record in Scotland for its collection). Experian, the credit reference agency, were able to demonstrate that people claim to live at addresses for credit purposes but don't pay the Council Tax there. Again, it is thought that £3 million in additional Council Tax collection could be created - consequently another £30 million in available prudential borrowing.

We also put in investment to the Polmadie recycling centre so that an additional waste separation could be opened up - for a little investment we could double the income from recyclates - even in these difficult economic times.

These are but three of the examples of efficiencies which the SNP put forward in a budget for schools, skills and cutting waste. Alas, Labour (and the Evening Times) ignored them, such is their blinding self-righteousness that 'we know best'.

Well, the school merger/closure programmes are going ahead full-steam but parents are gearing up for a damning demolition of half-baked ideas. I have never seen such dynamism and energy as displayed by the parents of St Gilbert's and Barmulloch Primary School in their opposition to plans for the their schools, but also their creativity in proposing credible solutions. These are just ordinary parents making sense of the data provided by highly-paid officials in Education Services. The difference is, they understand what community means to them and the importance of a school within their community. Hard decisions will be coming, but it won't be for the lack of engagement from hard-working families and parents in Barmulloch and Germiston.

Lib Dems snub Federalism

2009-02-26T05:34:00.000-08:00

Never before has a political party been gifted an opportunity to promote one of their core policies by a sitting government, only for that party to turn up its metaphorical nose at it. That basically is the reaction of Tavish Scott's Scottish Lib Dems in response to the new Fiscal Autonomy consultation document launched under the National Conversation banner.

Finance Secretary John Swinney is offering five options for debate:

Current framework - Scottish Parliament can vary tax by 3p
Assigned Revenues - Budget determined by amount of revenue collected in Scotland. No power to alter taxes and no block grant
Enhanced devolution powers - Holyrood able to set some taxes. Limited borrowing powers
Full fiscal autonomy - Taxes set in Scotland. Percentage of revenue paid to Westminster for defence and foreign affairs
Independence - All revenues collected in Scotland. Holyrood able to borrow and determine monetary policy

Just as the First Minister has embraced in dialogue with the Calman Commission (which also double-crossed the Lib Dems over a Federal fiscal approach), now it's time for the Lib Dems to get off the proverbial fence and campaign for what they believe in. What is clear is Calman will never deliver what the Lib Dems want, so why bother supporting a talking shop that is going nowhere? Principle before fear.