Another nail in the coffin of good relations
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THIS week, the SNP gathered in Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, for its first annual conference since the famous victory in May which gave the party the chance to lead the Scottish Parliament outright.
There was a mood of resolve in the face of the London coalition’s prescription to slash the block grant to Scotland along with its austerity package to control the UK’s spiralling debt crisis. Opinion polls show strong support for the SNP Government and its determination to use the funds it has to inject capital into growing the economy through constructing schools, hospitals and other public procurement. Indeed, Scots are increasing their support for independence.
Most people are seeing the diverging approach to securing public services of the governments in Edinburgh and London.
The SNP supports small business, freezes the council tax and aims to invest in new energy systems and manufacturing, while London is in two minds about stimulating the economy because in England there are far more service industries dominated by financial services and fewer manufacturing concerns.
We can also see the London coalition is as negative as ever when it deigns to drop in on Scotland. David Cameron came to Aberdeen to praise the role of oil and gas in the economy after his chancellor, George Osborne, made a raid on its coffers and stunted development.
They ignored Alex Salmond’s plan to ring-fence the exploration funds of companies before tax is calculated. So the west of Shetland plans of BP and its partners are directly affected. I would hope this does not sacrifice safety in the quest for oil.
At the conference, I have been discussing the road map to renewable targets with experts from Heriot-Watt University. This week’s news dropped a bombshell in our midst as London has slashed the carbon capture project at Longannet coal power station in Fife. The chance to use empty oil and gas wells to store CO2 under the North Sea has been postponed indefinitely.
Osborne’s fingerprints are all over this decision because he has stated the UK will reduce climate change gases “no faster or slower than our European neighbours”. Where was the Scottish frontman, Danny Alexander, in all of this? It is another nail in the coffin of good relations between London and Scotland.
At Eden Court this week, I helped promote children’s rights in a motion that states the SNP believes Scottish ministers should have regard for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) when considering government actions or legislation; and further calls for the principles of UNCRC to be enshrined in statute.
We would be following the example of the Welsh Assembly. Therefore, in setting out the Scottish Government’s legislative priorities, the first minister has spoken of demonstrating his commitment to young people by introducing a Rights of Children and Young People Bill to enshrine children’s rights into Scots law.
This duty will underpin wide-ranging reform of services for children and young people in Scotland, including through a Children’s Services Bill in 2013.
I was pleased to see Sam Dimmock, domestic policy and parliamentary manager at UNICEF UK, support the Scottish Government in building on its public commitment to the CRC by considering legislation to embed children’s rights into Scots law.
She added: “We will be working with partners in Scotland over the coming months to strengthen the proposed bill to ensure every child in Scotland, regardless of their background or circumstances, is supported to enjoy all of their rights. While the proposals as they stand do not provide children with legally enforceable rights under Scots law, they demonstrate a significant step forward in the Government’s thinking.”
The consultation on the Scottish Government’s proposals closes on December 1 and links can be found on the Government’s website.
If we are to make progress on securing small rural schools to meet the needs of children who live there, and if we are to secure proper funding for their secondary education and at college, then we must build an economy that brings in the taxes to pay for the services we all want.
So it is shocking to see headlines such as a fifth of young Scots are unable to find a job and fuel poverty is hitting young people just as hard as their grandparents.
I am never surprised the Labour Party in Scotland – leaderless as ever – and their poorly thought-of UK boss, Ed Miliband, fail to link the need for job creation to help young people get apprenticeships.
This week the SNP was accused of creating an unemployment crisis among the young. Yet the budget which Labour scorned in the Scottish Parliament early this year made plans for a record 25,000 apprentice places for young people in Scotland.
Iain Gray and Margaret Curran never change their spots. They fail to link the bank crisis and Labour’s spendthrift governments under Blair and Brown with any of the problems facing young and old alike. And they only grudgingly support green energy developments that are part of the manufacturing success story in a Scotland whose economy cannot rely on people spending on goods and services while fuel prices rocket at six times the rate of incomes.
No wonder Scots are supporting far more powers for the Scottish Parliament that Labour has opposed.
Anyone who uses their local post office knows fewer and fewer stamps are being sold. Companies use franking machines which are much cheaper and the colourful sets issued by Royal Mail only appeal to the Christmas market or to collectors of interesting designs.
Nevertheless, new stamps are being commissioned for the London Olympics next year. So I suggested the parliament calls on Royal Mail to produce a set of postage stamps to celebrate the Year of Homecoming 2014, which should include the 10th anniversary of what is considered the iconic Scottish Parliament building, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and other notable events which will be held in Scotland that year.
Unsurprisingly, the Tories claimed the stamps would fuel nationalism and Labour agrees. Sorry to see none of them has signed my motion or consider Scottish subjects like hosting the Ryder Cup or the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn as worthy of celebration.
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