Westminster Comments
- Regular Brief on Topical issues

 

5 May, 2008.   Down but not out   The London Mayor and the English and Welsh Council elections were a disaster for Labour last week and no amount of prevaricating to the contrary can disguise that. For me the low turnout did not diminish the clear message that voters were sending to the government.   The political reality now confronting Gordon Brown is that he has to respond to what is a warning shot across his bow. He needs to get his government back on the road by first fixing the mess of the 10p tax band issue and more than ever, commit his government to view everything it does through the eyes of the people it governs.   People do not expect miracles or perfection from their governments but they have a right to demand that the Government is on their side and that their concerns are at the core of everything it does.   The Prime Minister acknowledged that there have been errors made. There now has to be some hard headed decisions taken immediately in the wake of last weeks’ local elections. The Government will redouble its’ efforts to re-engage with hard working families and to ensure that the people’s priorities and the government’s priorities are at one with each other.   This week the PM promised to stay focussed on the economy and guide the country through the current difficulty of the global turbulence in the financial markets caused by the American credit crash. Had it not been for the resilience of the British Economy, the impact of the credit crash would have been much worse.   Electing a Tory Mayor of London, whilst being a huge disappointment to Labour, is devastating news for ordinary Londoners. However, it may yet prove to be a poison chalice for David Cameron. Cameron will now have to show the country via his Eton School friend, Boris Johnston how he squares the Tory circle, of promising to spend more than Labour whilst taxing less?

28 April, 2008.   10p Tax   Gordon Brown first introduced the 10p rate in 1999 as a necessary tool to get immediate help to people on low incomes. Attacking poverty was the priority of Tony Blair’s 1997 Government where the primary tool in the Chancellor’s armoury was to be the Minimum Wage, Child Benefit, Minimum Income Guarantee, Working Family Tax Credits, Child Tax Credits and Pension Credits, but all these required legislation and took time to pass into law. Therefore increasing the Winter Fuel allowance from £20 to £200 and introducing a 10p band gave a more immediate relief from poverty, particularly among young people and pensioners.   You may recall that the Minimum Wage, Minimum Income Guarantee, Tax Credits and the 10p lower tax band was opposed by our political opponents.  Something they do not want to talk about now. Particularly the Tory Leader Cameron who is not one to let his Party’s antecedence for causing poverty to get in the way of his crude populism. He has changed his Party’s line on the 10p 3 times in the last year from Yes we will abolish it; to No we will keep it to his present position of Maybe Yes or No. Listening to Tory leader bleating about the plight of the poor is toe-curling stuff. Who gave us 3 million unemployed, highest ever mortgage rates, 15% interest rates and 250,000 home repossessions? I am not going to be lectured to by the Tories, who were the inventors of Boom and Burst economics. Contrary to the advice of the Lib/Dems and Tories who wanted us to abolish the new deal. Labour has helped more young people and long-term unemployed into work than any Government since 1945.   “Rebel” Amendment   I was one of the 45 Labour MP’s who supported the Labour backbench amendment last week to give support to the people on low incomes who were not provided for by tax credits and increased tax allowances. Young single people and the elderly pensioners aged 60-64 who were disproportionately affected by its abolition will now be properly compensated and the necessary changes to give that relief backdated to the beginning of the tax year.

14 April, 2008.     Zimbabwe   Gordon Brown, singularly more than other western leaders has earned his international reputation on a pledge to ease suffering in Africa. He now needs to assert his influence around the world to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. So far his response to Zimbabwe's crisis has been too reliant on the other African governments to persuade or compel Mugabe to step aside. If the African Council and other EU countries had united behind Gordon Brown’s condemnation of Mugabe and his regime, he could not have remained in power. Therefore the solution to this crisis in the first instance lies with the African Union led by Mbeki of South Africa. Never, in the sad and tragic life of this great continent has it been so important for the forces of good to triumph over evil. Surely nobody is surprised at the Mugabe regime’s refusal to concede defeat. There is the blood of many hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans on their hands and they know and fear they will be brought to account for their tyranny if they are out of office. The PM has repeatedly urged Mbeki of South Africa to toughen his position on Zimbabwe, but Mbeki so far has preferred to play the role of Pontius Pilot. It is depressingly worrying that the PM failed to galvanise NATO at its recent summit in Bucharest into united condemnation of the Mugabe regime. Civil War   The Zimbabwe judiciary ruled that after two weeks it was not for them to force the results of the General Election to be published. The same judges authorised recounts at parliamentary elections that haven’t even been published whilst none of the opposition parties were allowed to see the results.   A civil war is increasingly becoming likely and many thousands of innocent Africans will die. Mugabe will never accept the General Election result and he will use his military might to keep power. By this time next week our worst fears could be realised.

7 April, 2008.   Zimbabwe   Following the country’s independence from Rhodesia in 1980, Robert Mugabe the despot dictator of Zimbabwe has murdered and oppressed his people for most of his 28 years in power. He is said to have surpassed Uganda’s Big Daddy dictator Idi Amin, also known as the Butcher of Africa, who murdered 500,000 Ugandans when he seized power in the 1971 coup.   Why then are the United Nations and the other African leaders not coming to the rescue of the people of Zimbabwe? Should we be surprised that this mass murderer is not giving up power to the democratic will of his people? Is it really surprising that South African President, Mbeki, is not encouraging Mugabe to accept the will of Zimbabweans when he himself is ignoring the will of the ANC who have removed him as their party leader in South Africa? I pose the questions that the African leaders need to answer.   Political reality   In spite of the huffing and puffing from some of the African leaders there seems to be no appetite amongst them to remove Mugabe. I remember the joy of celebrating the independence of Zimbabwe from Ian Smith’s Rhodesia. In their 28 years of independence the country that was once known as the Jewel of Africa is being governed by a despot and a regime that makes China look like a liberal democracy.   If the United Nations is to have any relevance to world peace, it has to step up to the plate to defend and uphold the dignity and human rights of Zimbabweans. The removal of Mugabe is a challenge for all Africa that must not fail. Robert Mugabe is preparing a war against his people. The key to preventing this civil war is South Africa’s President Mbeki. The next few days will be critical for Zimbabweans and all Africa.

31 March, 2008.   Nude photos   It was to be her first big test on the world stage. Every Western journalist, backed by their paparazzi was assembled around the Palace of Westminster last Tuesday to see Madam Carla Bruni Sarkozy accompany her husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy on his first State visit to the UK.   Her Majesty’s Government (Cabinet) and her loyal Opposition (Shadow Cabinet) along with 400 MP’s and Peers were assembled in the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords to hear President Sarkozy’s speech. But whilst France’s new and controversial leader impressed those assembled, it was his new wife Madam Sarkozy that attracted more attention from the snapping cameras.   Some tabloids had published a full frontal photo of France’s First Lady taken nine years previously when she was a top model. The question on everyone’s lips was how she would appear on the catwalks attending the Queen’s two palaces, i.e. Buckingham and Windsor and the spiraling carpet to the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords. They were not disappointed as she magnificently displayed her beauty and demeanor to the world. The Parisian fashion house Christian Dior had provided Madam Sarkozy with a reported £30,000 wardrobe for her visit and it was well spent as she returned to Paris after two days being likened to the new Jackie Kennedy of France.   The other half of the Sarkozy entourage, i.e. the President, made an excellent speech to his audience of Cabinet Members. Peers and MP’s and returned with his new wife to the Elysée Palace with job well done.   Disabled Parking   Is it time to be more rigorous with drivers who abuse parking bays provided for disabled drivers? We all know or have heard of incidences where inconsiderate drivers park in “disabled bays” without the right to do so. What do you think about penalizing those drivers who park in disabled parking spaces? Should they be fined, named and shamed? Should those who constantly park illegally have their license endorsed? Write to me if you feel strongly about those who park illegally in disabled bays.

24 March, 2008.   Tibet   The whole world was shocked last week by the pictures and reports from Tibet of the violent crackdown by the Chinese Authorities in the streets of Lhasa. The Prime Minister immediately spoke to China’s Premier Wen, and made it clear that there had to be an end to the street violence in Tibet. MP’s on all sides were pleased and supportive of the Prime Minister’s expression of disdain to China. Gordon Brown also told the Commons during PMQ’s that in addition to calling on China for constraint that he would meet with the Dalai Lama when he is next in London to try and facilitate legitimate talks between the Dalai Lama and the Government in China.   Speaker Pelosi   I was delighted to accept an invitation from Mr Speaker last Tuesday to attend a reception in honour for Mrs Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the American House of Representatives. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet this formidable first ever woman American Speaker. I have long admired Nancy Pelosi and was delighted when given the opportunity to meet with her. Having conversation with Speaker Pelosi in the splendour of Mr Speaker’s apartments was a moment I will cherish. This mother of five and grandmother of six, first elected to Congress 1987 in the same year I was elected to Westminster was friendly, articulate and inspiring.   Speaker Pelosi accompanied by her husband Paul and a number of fellow Congressmen and women were visiting the UK before going on to India as part of a Congress enquiry into Global Warming and Climate Change. The good news of the new political direction in America, that is being driven by Speaker Pelosi’s leadership of the Democrat controlled Congress, is that they are determined to improve their country’s image abroad, so badly damaged by George Bush, and to be part of a political renaissance where America acknowledges that it has to get engaged more with the rest of the world in dealing with issues such as global warming etc. Within 24 hours of her visit to Mr Speaker House, Nancy Pelosi was holding a press conference in India with the exiled Dalai Lama supporting Gordon Brown’s call for an end to violence in Tibet.

17 March, 2008   America This weeks news from America that the JP Morgan Chase Bank is to buy Bear Sterns, Wall Street's fifth-largest investment bank, for $240 Million when the Bank was worth $18 billion only eleven months ago, is testament to the real problems in the world economy threatened by the continuing credit crisis emanating from the US that is effecting every economy globally.   The Investment Bank got into trouble over its sub-prime mortgage debts when the other large American Banks stopped lending to it. The news of the JP Morgan buy out has rattled investors worldwide, as the Sub-prime mortgage lenders credit crisis deepens. This may sound familiar to Northern Rock shareholders. Bear Sterns Investment Bank is a Northern Rock on a much larger scale, with one important difference, i.e., The British Economy was better prepared for such a catastrophic event where the American economy is now plunged into recession and the Bush administration, in an election year, is trying to buy its way out of a crisis of their own making by pumping billions of dollars from borrowing into the US economy. Budget The new Chancellor’s first Budget was widely condemned by the right wing press and the political opposition parties. Against the backcloth of the global Sub-prime Credit crisis and last week’s run on America’s fifth largest Investment Bank, Alistair Darling’s Budget now seems to have been a brave and responsible decision to keep faith with pensioners and families whilst taking no risks with the economy.   The Tax increases on tobacco and alcohol were necessary to fund the extra £50 to the Pensioners Winter Fuels allowance and for working families with children; families with one child on the lowest income will gain up to £17 a week, lifting 150,000 children out of poverty. Child Benefit for a first child rises from £11 to £20 a year - a year earlier than planned giving an extra £125m to combat child poverty.   The core purpose of this Budget is stability. Its core values are fairness and opportunity, founded on stability and strength.  This year's Budget is a Budget that will secure stability in these times of global economic uncertainty.

10 March, 2008   Groundhog Day   Having served as Chairman of the European Scrutiny Select Committee and its predecessor the European Legislation Committee for 15 years until November 2006, the last four weeks examining the Lisbon amended EU Treaty Bill reminds me of the film Groundhog Day. i.e., the same debate; same speeches; same people making speeches and the same rhetoric proclaiming that the end of the world is Nye and that it is all a conspiracy by those  foreign people in Brussels.   Referendum A lot has been said of the Labour manifesto promising a referendum on the then proposed New Constitutional Treaty. Few words have been written and little said of what the manifesto actually said. i.e., “Labour would put the New Constitutional Treaty to the British people in a referendum”. That Constitutional Treaty is dead and buried – no more. The Referendum Campaign, financially backed by a clique of Conservative dysfunctional right wingers, has consistently fed the media a diet of glutinous untruths. For example : 1.  They claim the Treaty would cut the UK’s voting strength! -  Not true; it is a lie; 2.  There will be a President of the EU.   -  Not true. There will be a President of the    Council,  not the EU,  and it will not be a member of the Commission; 3.  The amended Treaty will create a Foreign Secretary for the EU.   -  It will not.  Such calumnies and lies were fed into propaganda documents and the media to fool people. This money rich rightwing campaign fed lies to people in leaflets and postcards, postage paid, to send back, so that it could claim a victory for a referendum. Lib/Dems? What a muddle; the Lib/Dem’s new leader Nick Clegg, (the David Cameron look alike) sacked three front benchers for not abstaining in the referendum vote. The Party of Gladstone and Lloyd George now has no tolerance for eccentric thinkers.  In my lifetime I can recall that being eccentric was a precondition of membership to the Liberal Party! The SNP were not going to be outdone by the abstaining Lib/Dems. Alex Salmond travelled to Westminster to vote with the Tory right and a Labour dissident’s amendments calling for a referendum. No surprise there, had it not been for the fact that their Westminster leader, Angus Robertson MP had voted against a referendum 9 times in the European Scrutiny Committee. Oops Alex?

3 March, 2008.   Picking fights   Tax   When children squabble in the school yard there are often gasps of exasperation. When politicians emulate the school yard squabbles as Scottish Ministers sought to do last week on Council Tax and Air Gun controls, is it any wonder when people find it difficult to take them seriously.   The SNP flagship promise at the Scottish Election last May was to eliminate Council Tax and replace it with a Local Income Tax. They promised that only the top 10% would pay for their Council Services and the other 90% would not pay any tax. We now know, as I said at the time that, 1) their local tax was a national tax, i.e. you would all pay the same regardless what Council area you live in; and 2) that the rate of increase in income tax would be 6.5p in the pound not the 3p they claimed to fund it.   Last week the Scottish Government asked the Treasury to give them £400 million to subsidise their so-called Local Income Tax. The Works and Pension Minister James Purnell told the SNP that if they abolished Council Tax the Scottish Government would have to fund it from their new Tax on incomes. The SNP asked for the £400 million paid to individuals in Council tax rebate be given to them as a subsidy to fund their new tax. The Works and Pensions Minister rightly told the SNP Finance Minister that Council Tax Benefit was only paid to individuals who were liable to Council Tax. If there is no Council Tax liability there could be no rebate to a Tax that did not exist.   The SNP Ministers wanted a fight regardless of the illogical rationale of their argument. The SNP want the English, Northern Irish and Welsh taxpayers to subsidise their unfunded tax cuts. The Works and Pension Minister thought their behaviour was incredulous and told them not to be childish.   Guns   Incited by their failure to get £400 million from the Treasury the SNP began briefing the media that the Home Secretary was refusing to attend their “Firearms Summit” in Scotland and portraying that as a slur to Scotland. They did not tell the press that the Home Secretary had already chaired 10 round table discussions on guns, knives and gangs and that she advised the Scottish Justice Minister that she would be delighted to consider any changes which can be made to the Legislative framework that the Scottish Executive consider necessary. This did not sound like an affront to the Scottish people. More like a rebuke to a churlish Scottish Minister.

25 February, 2008     NATO   I started my journey to Parliament last Saturday morning flying from Edinburgh via Amsterdam to Brussels for two days of meetings with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Economics and Security Committee where we discussed issues such as “Outlook for the World Economy”, “India & Russia Policy Developments and Challenges”.   I left Brussels on Tuesday by train to Paris for another two days of meetings, participating in an OCED High level Parliamentary Seminar on Turbulence in Global Financial Markets. As the subjects of the meetings indicate it was a very intensive four days of high priority discussion attended by parliamentarians representing the 26 member States of NATO. The American Congress had the largest delegation attending and whilst the meeting agendas were very interesting, the private conversations between meetings inevitably centred on the American Presidential Primaries.     There were more Democrats attending than Republicans, so the discussion was more about Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton. If you thought it looked like a close run race, I can confirm that after canvassing American Congress Democrats their race is certainly too close to call. Obama is edging it but it will be decided in Texas. It could be Hilary’s Alamo.   Northern Rock   Thursday after Lunch I travelled by Eurostar Paris to London, arriving in Westminster in time to vote on the Banking Bill that after a bit of synthetic  objections and ping-ponging between the Commons and the Lords the Bill was enacted and received its Royal Assent at 11.05 pm.   Having been in Parliament for 20 years and never had the opportunity to support legislation taking anything into public ownership, I could have been excused a little celebration last Thursday.   But there was little joy in having to rescue a failed Bank that was recklessly managed so badly that the reputation of the whole Banking sector and the life savings of millions of savers, mortgage holders and shareholders were on the brink. That was the abyss that confronted the Government last September when Northern Rock management went to the Bank of England to announce their insolvency.   After failed attempts of Northern Rock to sell the Bank on to private consortiums the Government had only two real options left to it. The first was to do what the Tory Shadow Chancellor argued for last week. i.e., do nothing and let Northern Rock go into Administration and let there be a “fire sale” where savers with the Bank could have lost out, 6000 Bank employees sacked, and a collapse of confidence in the UK Banking sector that would have sent shudders through all UK Financial institutions. Or, as the Government did with the Banking Bill, protect the Bank’s savers, its 6000 employees, millions of mortgage holders, and in particular the taxpayers’ interest.   Last Thursday’s Banking Bill had little to do with Nationalisation or just rescuing a failed Bank. It was about rescuing people’s jobs, their homes, their savings and the reputation of the British Banking Industry.

11 February, 2008   Bugged?   Synthetic protestations followed last weekend’s news that an MP had a conversation with a person held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act tape recorded. I have never bought the argument that MP’s should be treated differently under the law to any other citizen. I do agree that constituents who seek help and advice from their MP should be able to do so in absolute confidence.  That said, there is a difference with that unconditional right to confidentiality and that of a person in prison suspected of planning or being involved with terrorism.     The most serious question on taping conversations covertly was the news that lawyers’ conversations with their clients in prisons may have been taped secretly and used to achieve successful prosecutions. If these allegations are true, the consequences of prosecutions achieved by taped conversations could prove to be cataclysmic.   Archbishop   The leader of the Church of England, Archbishop Dr Rowan Williams speaking last week to a conference of Christian lawyers floated the proposition that, adopting Sharia law into British Common law is now unavoidable. The uproar that followed was ferocious.   To the amazement of some, the Archbishop of Canterbury was said to have been surprised at the response to his speech. The politicians were delighted that they had somebody else to kick other than themselves and they were gleefully joined in their denouncements of Dr Williams by the tabloid press and the right wing conservatives inside his own church.   The calls for his head to role, metaphorically of course were equally predictable. It is a few hundred years since the last holder of his office was beheaded, i.e. Thomas Cranmer 1556.   I did not agree with the Archbishop’s proclamation but neither did I agree with the knee-jerk responses to it. Those seeking to rid the Church of England of its Archbishop were accused by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland of being involved in a witch hunt. Dr Williamson’s remarks were certainly uncomfortable to some but what is so unusual about Church leaders thinking the unthinkable and speaking the unspeakable?

4 February, 2008.   Politics shamed   The Thursday previous to MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, Derek Conway, being booted out of Parliament by the Parliamentary Standards and Privilege Committee, he was chairing the Health & Social Care Bill. The Bill Committee that I co-chaired with him will now seem like light years away from his present predicament of having being judged by his peers to have brought shame on political life in general and his fellow MP’s in particular. One Labour MP may have grasped the real mood of MP’s last Thursday when he said, “while we may individually be held in very high esteem by our constituents, collectively that is not so; it is difficult to think how much lower our collective reputation might sink among voters generally”.   If some of the gossip that emanated from last weekend’s massive press coverage of Conway’s expulsion are to be believed; the disgraced successor to a former Tory leader, the late Ted Heath was said to be positioning himself to be the Conservative nominee as the next Speaker of the House of Commons.  By extraordinary coincidence his rival for that nomination would have been Sir George Young MP, Chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee who moved the resolution that effectively ended Conway’s parliamentary career.  Conway’s other claim to notoriety is that he was the Tory backbencher  who delivered the killer letter that lead to the demise of the then Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith MP; and if we needed further proof of his questionable judgement, he was the campaign manager of David Davis MP; Cameron’s main rival when Cameron won the Tory leadership.    Kenya Whilst all these  shenanigans were going on in the UK the killing in Kenya continued as machete-wielding tribal gangs roamed the western part of the country, torching homes and hunting each other down. The security forces seemed incapable of stopping this carnage, and in some cases were actually standing by while the killings went on. The news of a peace settlement from former UN chief Kofi Annan will not be possible without effective international assistance. In this beautiful troubled country where the many tribes who once lived peaceably together are now slaughtering each other in a senseless civil war, they must be encouraged to, in the words of Kofi Annan, “stress their common humanity and uphold respect for human rights and the dignity of each other”. Alas the signs of such wisdom prevailing are not good.

28 January, 2008.   MP’s Pay   Last week’s decision in Parliament on MP’s pay, limiting their annual increase to 1.9%, received less than twenty four hours coverage by the tabloid media. You may recall the tabloids ran a scare story in the autumn announcing that MP’s were going to increase their salaries to £100,000. They claimed to have seen a leaked copy of the Parliamentary Salaries Review Board’s report that was recommending such an increase.   No Truth   If the story had a grain of truth in it, people would have been entitled to cry foul and seek explanation. But there was no truth at all in these headlines and reports. They were a complete fabrication from beginning to end. The Salaries Review Board recommended an increase of 2.35% not the 60+% reported in the Tabloids and other media. MP’s also agreed that in future they should not vote on their own pay increases at all, and that salaries should be decided independently from Parliament. Police Pay In the autumn I had meetings with representatives of the Scottish Police Federation who were lobbying me on Police Pay and expressing their concerns that their Pay Formula was under threat from their employers who for the second year running had gone to arbitration by not accepting the Police Salaries review’s award. Last year the Government accepted the Arbitration Board’s decision to award an above inflation salary settlement and as we know, this year, the Home Secretary whilst accepting the 2.35% recommended from November, did not agree to pay above the 1.9% annually in keeping with the rest of the public sector. Demonstration   The Police Federation’s reaction to the Home Secretary was quite voluminous in anger. First they passed a vote of no confidence in her and followed that with the first ever police officers’ public demonstration marching through London. It was not quite the size of other Trade Union protest marches but impressive never the less. If the figures of 20,000 as reported by the police were accurate, then 10+% of Britain’s Police officers were exercising their right to protest on the streets of London, against their pay award.   Agree   I accepted the Governments 1.9% pay limit being applied to MP’s but the Police Force do have a Pay Formula that has served them and the country well for the last 10 years.   The Police Pay Formula acknowledges that there is not a comparable occupation against which to assess pay for the police fairly. So it was right for the Government to agree that when deciding on police pay, there should be a formula that would take account of salary increases in the public sector and private industry; and award a figure that was near to the mean average of both.   Therefore the Police Officers Federation in my view, correctly argue that to break away from that formula by applying a public sector pay limit is both breaking the spirit of their pay formula and is unfair to them. There are many Labour MP’s expressing similar views and making representation to the Government.

21 January, 2008     I was fortunate to draw question 2 in Prime Minister’s Questions last Wednesday. The TV viewing figures for PMQ’s in the UK are 2 million plus with ten times that across the world where it is particularly popular in Europe, Asia and USA.  Every week 500 plus MP’s submit written applications to ask the PM a question. Names are randomly chosen by computer and usually the first six on the list will be called by Mr Speaker. Last week was the second time my name had been successfully drawn in my twenty years in Westminster.   My last success was in 1993 when I asked Prime Minister John Major if he had confidence in his Chancellor, Norman Lamont MP; I further asked if he would describe Lamont’s position as unassailable. John Major assured me he had every confidence in his Chancellor and then sacked him.   There is great excitement and a bit of nerves knowing that Mr Speaker is going to call you to ask the Prime Minister a question in front of a packed House of MP’s not made easier with the knowledge that 20 million TV viewers, who will not remember you if your question goes well, but may remember you if the preferable clanger is dropped.   Energy   My question to Gordon Brown was on the Energy Bill which receives its second reading on Tuesday. I asked him, quote, “Does the Prime Minister agree that the security of supply of electricity generation is a priority for any country’s well-being and true independence? Can the Prime Minister assure me that the Energy Bill, which gets its Second Reading, next Tuesday, will protect the Scottish economy from any political gerrymandering of the planning laws envisaged by the Scottish National Party Administration in Edinburgh?”   The purpose of my question was to put a marker down that Scottish Planning Law must be free from political dogma, and from the SNP threat to gerrymander Scottish Planning Laws to circumvent the Scotland Act 1998. Energy is a reserved matter to the sovereign Parliament and vital to the UK economy.   Olympics   Scotland has a proud tradition in sporting achievements and the 2012 London Olympics is another fantastic opportunity for Scottish sportsmen and women to excel on the world stage. But to do that we need to offer them the support needed to allow our athletes to focus on the excellence needed to compete with the best in the world.   Last week the SNP MP’s were whinging about Lottery funding to the Olympics whilst their ministers in Edinburgh were sacking Dougie Donnelly and shutting down the Scottish Institute for Sport to merge it with Sports Scotland. Not a decision driven by ambition for our country’s athletes. I read with interest a comment from Shirley Robertson, the only British woman to have won two Gold medals at successive Olympics. She said, “The plan to merge the Scottish Institute of Sport (SIS) into the Sport Scotland Quango was "soul-destroying", and she accused ministers of a "knee-jerk" move motivated only by "money and politics".   The sacking of Dougie Donnelly as Chairman of SIS and closing it down is a disaster for Scotland. SIS is credited in making dozens of Scottish champions. SIS helped them in that transition from regional and youth level to the Olympic team.   I ask myself why Nationalists are against Scottish Athletes competing at Olympic level. Is it because they compete as British Athletes? I fear that the decisions in Edinburgh and their opposition to anything that has the word “British” in it, does not bode well for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Their spokesman when opposing funding for the London Olympic games said, quote, “London stands to gain from the fantastic legacy that the city will receive, i.e. regeneration of the east end, a fantastic new infrastructure and so forth—so it is London that should pay”.    Glasgow’s east end will be regenerated and its infrastructure will be improved for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.    If we substitute the word “Glasgow” for “London” in this quote, what does that say about the SNP’s promises to support the Glasgow Commonwealth Games?

14 January, 2008   Campaign Funding   Last week’s embarrassing exposé of yet another campaign funding farce involving Peter Hain MP when he was a candidate for the Deputy leadership of the Labour Party is yet another example where senior politicians are left holding the baby when they delegate work of fundraising and organisation of elections to others.   Peter Hain is an outstanding Cabinet Minister. I know him very well and whilst I didn’t nominate him when he stood for Deputy Leader, he had all the experience and credentials to succeed. His integrity is above reproach and I am certain that the difficulty he is now in; is not because of any improbity on his part, but more about relying on others to deal with the accounting and bookkeeping.   Hypocrisy   True to form the Tories and the Welsh Nats went for the holier than thou approach and called for Hain’s resignation. Lets be quite clear that this was an internal party election and there was no public money stolen, no crime committed and everybody who gave to his campaign did so legally and without objection. Peter Hain declared his account late and apologised to the Electoral Commission for that. His sin is one of foolishness not dishonesty.   Compare that to the Tories where Shadow Chancellor George Osborne MP had £500,000 donated to his office and didn’t declare it to the Parliamentary Standards Commission in his Declaration of Interest. And the Welsh Nats who obviously haven’t heard about not throwing stones when in a glass house. They had to pay back taxpayers money they had misappropriated for party campaigning.    Hilary’s tears?   The American Presidential caucuses and primary elections are fantastic theatre for us political anoraks. The Democratic contest has caught the imagination across America as well as on the other side of the Atlantic.   Borak Obama has especially stirred the pot amongst Democrats and presented them with a dilemma. Do they go for the first ever woman President (Hilary Clinton) or the first ever black President (Borak Obama). The priority must be to ensure they win the Presidency from the disastrous George Bush’s Republicans, for their sakes and for the sake of the rest of the world.   Hilary’s tearful interview on the eve of the North Hampshire election is being credited for her turning a 10% deficit into a 3% majority victory over Obama. I watched the interview live on TV and believe it was one of those genuine moments where a candidate moved away from her brief, and was caught in her emotions. Hilary Clinton and everybody else around her believed the opinion polls but maybe dropping her guard and letting her emotions emerge into the campaign has stopped the impressive Obama in his tracks. Or, as I hope, we are going to see these primaries run into the summer and beyond to the Party’s Convention in the autumn.  I have a soft spot for the third candidate, John Edwards but he isn’t going to win, but he is helping make this Democrat contest potentially a classic.

Next page of comments...