Scottish Political News

"He’ll be lucky not to get slapped..."

2007-03-09T16:53:18+00:00

That, apparently, is the welcome that awaits David Mundell should he be foolish enough to draw attention to himself at the pre-election Conservative conference that opens in Perth today. The unattributed quote comes from a story by Angus Macleod in today's Times and follows the leak to the Daily Record of Mundell's critique of the Scottish Tories.

It's interesting to note that most of the criticism being directed at Mundell is around the fact that his thoughts found their way into the press - there's no tremendous dissent from the observations that he made (although they are almost a year old - if a 'day is a long time...'). To anyone who's observed the Scottish grassroots in action as well as watched the party in Holyrood the contention that there's a "simple lack of thinkers" and that the party "don't get" Cameron's repositioning shouldn't come as a tremendous surprise. David Mundell must be writing his thank you note to Patrick Mercer as we speak.

David also had a go at Annabelle Goldie's performance as leader - without wishing to comment on that either way and in case anyone missed it, Iain Dale highlights that one thing she's very good at is withering put downs. Responding to taunts from Jack McConnell about the leaked memo she retorted:

"The difference between the First Minister and me is that the internal memos of my party do not end up in Scotland Yard."

Crossrail Glasgow

2007-03-08T21:05:16+00:00

A new website has been launched to campaign for Crossrail in Glasgow.

This is a great site and its looking for people to sign up and support. The campaign is being lead by SPT and the business community.

Check out the site www.crossrailglasgow.com

Labour could be a seat down

2007-02-11T21:35:27+00:00

Jean Turner MSP, the GP who beat Labour to take Strathkelvin and Bearsden in 2003, has today announced that she is to stand again in May. This is despite making a pledge to only stand for 1 term.

Turner could well keep the seat considering the unpopularity of Labour. It will be tougher than when she won it in 2003 as her key issue to save Stobhill Hospital has been dealt with successfully.

Every constituency seat is crucial for Labour. Labour need David Whitton to win this seat for them. Without seats like this Labour will be looking ever closer to the possibility of not being the largest party after May 3rd.

I wouldn't put money on Turner keeping this seat, but given a fair wind she might just. Against her is the lack of single issue and her anonymity during the last four years. The people of Strathkelvin and Bearsden will have to decide if they want a Labour government or if they can cope with an ineffective non-entity representing them for another four years. Crucially, they need to ask if Jean Turner would support a Labour or SNP government in the event of such a close tie.

Independent Candidate Trying to Make a Mark

2007-02-08T22:50:09+00:00

Independent candidates and small parties made their mark in 2003. So far polling is suggesting that they will fail to do so in May. The latest Scotsman Poll saw the Greens fall to 1 MSP, SSP implode and it failed to account for Margo McDonald or the Scottish Pensioners Party. Opinion polls are bad at picking up support for independence so we should be cautious, however it does make sense that if two major parties are close and battling for power then the smaller parties (and I include the Tories and Lib Dems as well as the very small ones) will probably lose out

Duncan Thorp is the latest to have a go at being an independent. At the age of 29 you could say it is a rather brave move to go it alone. You could also say it was arrogant or egotistical. I'll let you make your own mind up. You can check Duncan's website out here.

Today he issued a media release calling for the Standards Commissioner to investigate the political parties use of the Scottish Parliament, and public resources, to fund their political activity. In his release he says:

"In the Scottish Parliament the political parties are operating mini party headquarters.

"Despite each party having their own privately well-funded offices across Scotland, many workers paid by the parties freely carry out political work in our Parliament with the blatant use of publicly-funded parliamentary facilities.

"Since 1999 there has been a creeping trend towards discreet party exploitation of public money. From so-called MSP staff working time to publicly paid-for computers, telephones, fax machines and other equipment, these are all being used not just for the legitimate benefit of MSPs but for the benefit of the political party machines.

"As we speak party workers will be sitting in our parliament using taxpayers money to write party manifesto's, deal with enquiries about other politicians and political activities, work on election propaganda and draft party conference material. There may also be a case for investigating where the parties use the Holyrood research team, SPICE, when their own private income fails to provide enough researchers.

"Should the public really be forced to prop-up the financial failings of political parties? This is surely an inappropriate use of public money and I have written to the Parliamentary authorities and to the Standards Commissioner to urge them to investigate these dubious practices and take action where appropriate. The politicians must stop abusing our trust and state clearly at what point legitimate parliamentary activity begins and party politics ends."

I actually think he has a fair point. I know from personal experience that he is right. The parties are quite clever at using public resources to fund party work and employment, some even work at the party HQs despite being paid by the parliament.

However, Duncan needs to think again if he believe this kind of issue will propel him into Holyrood as an MSP. This simply won't catch on with the public. It simply proves his background working in the Parliament and would suggest he has not much else to offer us other than being a little peeved at the political machines, one of which he has obviously fallen out with.

My bet would be that Duncan will be job hunting come May 4th. Independent candidates need to have a real local campaign reason if they are to stand a chance, or they need to be huge personalities in their own right. Duncan, no offence, but you don't seem to fit either.

Still Confused Over Tory Toll Policy

2007-02-08T22:29:12+00:00

A few posts ago I commented how the Tories' policy on tolls had become somewhat confused over their latest announcement that they were to back the abolition of tolls for the Forth Road Bridge. The point being that did this mean that the Tories had now abandoned tolling as an option altogether?

The latest media release from the Tories seeks to clarify this, but I don't think it does. They are trying a fudge to please everyone, and as ever probably please no one.

Murdo Fraser said:

“We not (sic) object in principle to the idea of tolls being paid by travellers. Indeed, the principle of a Road Pricing Scheme is one which many in our Party would find attractive although the scheme currently being proposed by the UK Government is too seriously flawed to merit support. Where there are major new infrastructure works, particularly where these involve bridges or tunnels, it is not unreasonable to expect the users of these who will derive the most benefit to make a direct financial contribution.

"But if that is the principle we are going to apply it should be applied equally in all parts of the country. Firstly, in order to appease the Liberal Democrats in the Highlands & Islands, the Executive removed the tolls on the Skye Bridge. Then Labour members in the West of Scotland started to rattle their cages and so the tolls on the Erskine Bridge went. That left tolls only on the Tay and Forth Bridges, and it is very difficult to see the justification for these. "

OK, fair point. But surely that means a toll on a new bridge would be unfair too as it would then be the only toll in Scotland?