Saturday 31 March 2012

CRUDIE DOES IT AGAIN!

This is Munguin's Republic's 1000th post, so I was looking around for something to write about... not so easy if you're bored with Granny Taxes, Bridie (Pasty) Taxes, Meeting Toffs Charges, lessons on how to create chaos from pretty much nothing (OK, our Francis really does deserve a special mention. The minister for crisis management... I ask you! There's a bit of irony for you. Did Cameron not bother to tell him he was supposed to "manage" OUT OF rather than IN TO crises?). 
Anyway, I was going to give up, then I noticed this little beauty on the BBC site. It's referenced back to the Sunday Times (behind a pay wall).
Peter Cruddas secretly taped making Tory Union claims
Now I thought that there was going to be an unexciting story about trades unions, but I reckoned it was worth a read... However, it's not about trades unions at all. It's about THE Union.

The gist of the story is that, our friend Mr Cruddas (who is turning out to be almost as accident prone, and as much of a liability as Great Uncle Francis), has been caught on camera letting the cat out of the bag about how the party REALLY feels about the Union.

And it appears that all this garbage from Cameron (looking back on which you might have said was a little dramatic and over acted...not to mention full of factual holes), was just that. Garbage.

They don't want to save the union, without which they would have a natural majority in the UK, London parliament. Not a bit of it. They want an end to it. they want to lose Scotland. But they must appear to want to fight for it, with, what was it Camergoon said... "everything I've got".

Mind you, in fairness he did also say he would fight for benefit caps, the NHS, the jet contracts, the British corner in the EU and to let Turkey join the EU, 'with everything he had'...so I hope he's got an awful lot, because it's gotta go a long way.

Anyway, so far the Tories have refused to say anything about this. They are presumably looking for someone who can come up with some excuse for 'the Crude one', for the second time in a week, after all he can't resign again! (Boy, Rupert must really hate him!).
On the other hand Ms Sturgeon has said: 

 "This is another bombshell for the Scottish Tories who are isolated and irrelevant in the games being played by their London bosses.
"It shows that senior Tories in London are cynically faking their opposition to independence to position themselves for a post independence deal.
"The Cruddas revelations show that they believe in nothing except protecting Westminster interests.
"Their claims about winning the referendum are exposed as mere bravado. In fact they are already preparing for losing."

Thursday 29 March 2012

DO YOU FANCY A HOT BRIDIE, GRANNY?

Just a week or so ago it was all so different. There he was being tucked up in bed by one of  the world's most important men, in a flying palace beyond even his none too modest means. He must surely have felt that he was, in every sense "on top" of the world. This, he must have thought, was what life was supposed to be about for people of his class, with his education.


And now...?


Well, he's come down to Earth in more ways than one.


The headlines even in his chumiest of papers, the Telegraph and the Mail are anything but friendly.


First, I suppose, we're in recession. Even if Georgie boy says we are not (which he did, only last week in his Budget), the OECD says we are. This international organisation has been supportive of Osbo's strategy so far, and the Mail is an adoring Tory paper, so we can't really accuse them of an "anti" bias.


Of course it's everyone's fault but George's. And the EU and Euro crisis comes in for a lot of stick, but at the end of the day, it is the chancellor's responsibility to foresee all the issues that might effect the economy when making predictions.


And then the news broke that RWE and Eon have pulled out of the English/Welsh government's multi-billion plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations in the two countries. Effectively this appears to have rendered their governments' energy plans in tatters. This is embarrassing for Cameron as he has talked them up presumably in the hopes of scaring Scots whose government refuses to build nuclear power stations.


Furthermore, the country's roads are in chaos too because of cack-handed handling of the possible, but not certain, industrial action that might or might not come about if talks with tanker drivers' representatives fail. This possible action may or may not take place over the Easter weekend (which is an important holiday in England), when millions of families make a mad dash for the coast, and spend most of their holiday sitting in traffic jams). So rather unfortunately for them, in an attempt to blacken the unions involved they let Cameron and  Foot & Mouth, sorry Francis Maude make statements, in which they said, in their own little way, "PANIC". 


Today traffic jams are building up outside petrol stations, even in Scotland, where there is no holiday and no mad rush for the coast. In Dorset police were forced to close petrol stations in order to get the traffic flowing.


This is not a crisis, but the government's handling of it has led to this mess. And even when they are deep in it, they keep on making blunders. Ed Davey suggested that drivers should top up when tanks are half empty, but hours later, said they should when tanks are two thirds full.


Can you imagine this lot handling a REAL crisis?


And lastly (for this post anyway), the Times has reported that Andrew Mitchell, who, according to the Channel Four "Despatches" programme has money salted away in the British Virgin Islands in a tax avoidance measure, also was involved with a company which used a legal loophole to avoid stamp duty worth £2.6 million in 2006. This is the very practice that Gideon says he will clamp down on... 


...and that's not even mentioning Pastygate (or as we call it in Scotland "Bridiegate"), and the Granny tax... or dinnergate...
Yes, how Mr Cameron must long for a good night's sleep clutching Mr Obama's teddy...


(I'm hoping today is one of the days that 'somepapfaedundee' is lurking. The Osbo picture is just for him). The second one is of Ed Davey who has managed to arrange his features to make himself look  soft in the head. His ever-changing advice to motorists gives the same impression!


PS:THE Government's approval rating last night plummeted to the biggest low in its two-year history.
Just 25% of Brits gave the thumbs up to how ministers were doing. And a new high of 61% disapproved, found a YouGov poll for The Sun. Just 34% would vote Tory, compared to 44% for Labour. The Lib Dems flatlined on 10%.
The Budget, the cash-for-access donor scandal and unhappiness over fuel may be to blame...

Wednesday 28 March 2012

IT TOOK MRS THATCHER A LOT LONGER THAN THIS

Downing Street said that those who rely on cars to get to work should have “contingency plans” for possible disruption of the fuel supply network. (There was a failure to suggest what kind of contingency plans ordinary people should have... presumably Mr Cameron is thinking we should fill the Bentley, the people carrier, the off roader, the Range Rover and the sporty little thing we keep as a toy, or maybe he just thinks we should fill the stable block with large containers of fuel. Idiot.))


Ministers are considering a range of options for keeping fuel flowing, including deploying Service personnel to drive tankers (the few that aren't in Afghanistan)


No 10 has not ruled out trying to employ foreign drivers to stand in for British staff. (That, I assume is a departure from Iain Duncan Smith's recent call for a Brownite policy of the use of home-grown labour. "British jobs for British people, except when they're on strike, of course...then you can use the more reliable foreigners!)


Anyway, I'd write to my MP about it, but the nationalised banks aren't lending and I certainly can't afford a stamp without a loan.  


Update: Downing  Street, in the form of our old favourite plonker Francis Maude, appears to have done a U-turn on government advice. The Fire Services have advised that the government's strategy for dealing with the petrol problem was based on illegally storing petrol in gerry cans in your garage (or whatever)...  Back to the drawing board Maudie

Sunday 25 March 2012

TORY TREASURER'S RED FACE IS DUE TO MORE THAN THE MEDITERRANEAN SUN

"Two hundred grand to 250 is Premier League… what you would get is... when we talk about your donations the first thing we want to do is get you at the Cameron/Osborne dinners. 


"You do really pick up a lot of information and when you see the Prime Minister, you're seeing David Cameron, not the Prime Minister.


"But within that room everything is confidential - you can ask him practically any question you want.


According to the BBC (and they attribute it to the Sunday Times...goodness me, what did Cameron do to hack Rupert off so badly?), the rather garbled, disjointed stuff above is a recording of Peter Crudass (is that really his name...ahhh, I bet he had a hard time at school) offering access to the prime minister for money... and not just ordinary access, if you've shedloads of money, it's "we will listen to you" kind of access.
Oh dear, that's embarrassing, isn't it? Fancy Mr Crudass, who, strangely enough is both a resident of Monaco and indecently rich, not being aware of the possibility of undercover journalists. 
A bit naive for such a "clever" man.
It is of course fair in the interests of balance to point out that a statement from the Tories said: "No donation was ever accepted or even formally considered by the Conservative Party". Nope. But it was solicited by its Co-Treasurer. And maybe the reason that it was never accepted was that these were Times men and not in the least interested in meeting the prime minister. They only wanted to find out how corrupt you lot were.
(Hat tip, yet again, to Cynical Highlander for pointing me at this story and giving me a push!)

Friday 23 March 2012

"WHY CAN'T WHINGING BLOODY PENSIONERS JUST STOP BLOODY WHINGING?"


In the wake of the "Granny Tax" fallout, Cameron put Tess of the Horribles into the firing line today, to draw some of the flack away from his beloved Gideon.

It seems from what Tess says, that the Tories have come to the conclusion that what the SNP intends to do in Scotland is the right path for them too, just as they did with the council tax freeze. The trouble is that, yet again, it will involve prices going up and more money going to the Treasury.

Now Gideon the Greasy had already pulled a fast one on the price of alcohol this week, having said that there would be ‘no change’. What he meant was that there would be no change from the Labour policy, which meant that the tax would rise by inflation +. So all the people who thought that no change meant no change in the price, were sadly mistaken. 
Tess announced minimum pricing legislation would be introduced to reduce the mayhem to which many English cities are reduced at weekends and to reduce the cost to the NHS in England (and Wales), after all, in a semi privatised health service it might be their chums who would carry some of that cost. It was surely not an extremely unConservative-like meddling in people's lives and lifestyles. 

Meanwhile, whether or not Cameron liked it, the furore over the "granny tax" continued with someone from the Treasury, called Gauke (must be the minister for making the tea or something) said that it was fair, many pensioners would be better off and they had been largely protected from the coalitions deficit reduction.

Unfortunately for him, or rather for Gideon (as probably no one knows who he is), none other than the highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies sees it differently. They said that 5 million pensioners would be worse off, losing around £350. They criticised Osborne for trying to dress up "what is clearly a tax increase" as a simplification.
 
I suspect that the pensioners who will be better off are the ones who will benefit from the reduction of 5% from the top rate of tax paid on income over £150,000: maybe Michael Cain or Paul Daniels.

Have pensioners been protected? Gideon was at pains to tell us how much the pension would increase in April, seeming to think that the pensioners might have forgotten that this was a legal obligation based on the rate of inflation. 

The truth is that pensioners have suffered very badly from this, (and the last) government's policies. Private pensions have been ruined by Gordon Brown's raid on pension funds, and have tumbled even further as a result of quantitative easing. Low interest rates have turned savings into a depreciating asset, paying low interest and losing value by the day.
 In England cheap travel has been cut, and now the NHS, which older people need more than most of the rest of us, is to be privatised.

Is this the Treasury’s idea of protection? 

From minute one I said that it was a silly mistake to hit pensioners in the same budget as he gave away billions to the rich. Osborne will live to regret it.

FLIP FLOP ROMNEY'S AIDE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

This video speaks for itself. 


In fact we all know that that is what the potential candidates have to do. They must appeal to the more lunatic fringes of the party when they are campaigning to be the candidate. But the minute that they have to face the electorate in the Presidential election, all the nuttiest stuff has to be dumped. 


It's just that this is the first time that a senior aide of any potential has actually come out and admitted that they intend starting again from zero if and when they are on the real campaign trail. As you can see from this video, the Democrats are having fun with it.


Incidentally, as Danny never tires of reminding me, the presidential starts in the snows of New England in January (although this year it started in Iowa on January 3), and it ends in November, with the actual election. 


Who the hell would put themselves through that, and having done it, will they be in any fit shape to take over running the Western world?

Wednesday 21 March 2012

SOME RANDOM BUDGET REFLECTIONS

Contrary to what Osborne said, this organisation thinks that the 50p tax band was set to make some £6,7billion for HMRC. But I suppose statistics can be made to say whatever you want them to say. I'm inclined to think that if they actually insisted that the rich PAY their tax instead of dodging it, they probably would have made more than the £1 billion that Osborne seemed to think they would.
The tax allowances increase was welcome, and hats raised to the Liberals for pushing for this, but remember that it's about the cost of 15 cigarettes a week that is being added to the wage packet. It's welcome but it's more than swallowed by inflation and VAT increases (which although they have fallen out of the inflation rate, are still with us). Another thought: Did it not occur to the treasury to tell the revenue and Customs NOT to send out 2012-13 codings last week. I got two separate envelopes, and now I'll have to get another two. So presumably will another 40 million or so people, and their employers. That's a lot of stamps.
It's a risky business, perhaps even more so these days, taking from pensioners. The winter fuel allowance was substantially reduced last year, and now the additional tax allowances for pensioners is to be phased out for existing pensioners and not introduced for new ones. Pensioners have had a rough ride. First of all they had their state pension cut by Mrs Thatcher by linking increases to inflation instead of general wage increases, and thus falling behind by around £40 a week, then their private pensions were decimated (in the modern sense of the word) by Gordon Brown, then decimated again (same sense) by Osborne's quantitative easing. Now Osborne is having another go. Of course the pensioners in his family aren't typical, but most pensioners need more heat, because they are in the house more, and they feel the cold more, and as they get older they sit around more. Still, Osborne would do well to remember that pensioners vote. And they do it in vast numbers. it might be an idea to review this in time for the next election.
It seems strange that having agreed that the low cost of alcohol is contributing to the drink problem that the whole union has, Osborne didn't think about adding something to the price of drink. It's not the only cause of our problems by a long way, and I think that Scottish Labour's spokesman made a reasonable point about high caffeine/alcohol drinks (although if you tax them heavily people will just put a red bull substitute in their vodka), but an increase in tax might have killed two birds with one stone, without making a bigger profit for the stores or brewers. There must be vested interests somewhere in the Tory party somewhere.


I've not chosen the photographs for this post because of their close correlation with the story, but because they all made me smile. The first relates to a temporary relaxation of the strict Sunday trading laws of England (and possibly Wales). I think it's for the period up to the Olympics. After all what would that great sporting event be without a bit of Sunday shopping. The second one makes Cameron look like a patronising git, which he probably is; the third was the look of hate that was apparently directed at Bercow, when he compared the Queen to Gandhi. Maybe Cameron, who presumably believes in all that order of precedence garbage, should remember that Mr Bercow is a deal farther up the ladder than he is, and treat the little fop with the respect he deserves. The last is Cameron stuffing his fat little coupon with hot dog, preparatory to being tucked up in bed and read a story by Mr Obama on the big aeroplane, oooooooowwwww... whatever.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

IF YOU PAYS PEANUTS, GIDEON, WHAT DO YOU GET?

Has it occurred to George Osborne that if he pays civil servants more in those parts of the country where people are well off, and less in those where they are poor, he's likely to find that all the good civil servants will want to go where the money is, and the poor one (and yes, there are undoubtedly poor ones) will end up in the poverty zones?


Thought not!


This will be particularly counter productive in the departments that deal with social security. In, for example, Bath, where people are relatively well off, and there is a relatively low unemployment rate, there will be huge demand for positions in the Jobcentre. Those who are unemployed are less likely to be saddled with a string of criminal convictions and drug and alcohol issues, so the job will be easier... and the pay will be reasonable. 


But in the likes of Liverpool, no one will want to work in the Jobcentre. The pay will be low and so the least capable civil servants will end up there, just where really good people are needed to meet the real challenges of the mass of unemployed.


Still, as long as it saves money, eh George?
I chose two English areas, although clearly there is abysmal poverty in some areas of Scotland, and a fair amount of money too. But you see, by the time he gets all this stuff organised (and past the trades unions who are going to fight it tooth and nail), he won't have squat to do with our civil service!

Thursday 15 March 2012

A COUPLE MORE...

Michael Moore and Jobcentre Minus, sorry Plus (must remember the irony in their name), have announced a scheme which will give unemployed people 50% off train fares if they are travelling to interviews. 


Great! I don't want to rain on their parade, because every little bit helps, but despite what His Smugness Lord Baldermorte said today, there are NOT NOT NOT plenty of jobs for the unemployed, and the ones that there are, are often part time, some with what are called 'zero hour' contracts, which means that there are different shifts and hours required every week. The minimum that an employee can be given in any given period is...zero hours. (Not handy when there is rent to pay, kids to feed and electricity to buy.)


Additionally, there aren't THAT many train routes away from the central belt, so unless you are in "Edingow" this may be of limited use. 


Thirdly, even with 50% off, Scotrail fares are some of the most expensive in Europe, and if you have to travel by train to interview, won't you have to travel by train to do the job? 


Fourthly, I'm not certain I'd trust Scotrail to get me to an interview on time. I once trusted them to get me to a post PGD examination in Aberdeen, with near disastrous results.


And lastly First Scotrail receives subsidies amounting to around 75% of the cost of operating the railways in Scotland so this is not, as was suggested by Moore, incredibly generous. (And just for a little bit of extra information, the salary of the highest paid director is over £400,000!)
*****


The English Courts system is in turmoil because the translation service has been put out to tender and as usual they have made a mess of choosing the correct company.


The trouble is that to provide the service at the knock down cost Applied Language Solutions said that they would only pay a translator for the time (s)he actually spend translating. In most cases this is very short. A tourist who has witnessed a crime for example may be only 10-20 minutes in the dock to give evidence. But they could be called or recalled anytime, so they have to sit around, sometimes for hours, waiting... and so do the translators ... for no pay. The people who do that kind of work are highly trained, highly skilled ... they aren't going to hang about all day for 10 minutes' pay... 



So the good ones won't work for Applied Language Solutions. Trials have had to be abandoned because translators can't be found, don't turn up, or can't do simultaneous translation. 


But here's the big laugh. The Olympics organising body, whatever it's called, has to engage translating services for athletes, coaches and minders from all over the world.... and guess who put in the cheapest tender... and got the contract...


Yep! 


The word 'Duh' comes to mind.
*****

Wednesday 14 March 2012

"Political Betting" is one of these rather cliquey blogs on which there is absolutely no point in posting if you don't belong: I don't the latter, so I don't the former.  Their blog is run by some old guy who goes by the name of Mike Smithson. I've kept his title on the blog list because occasionally I like to pop over and read the comments, which always seem to me to be a competition in bitchiness.  Well, that's always good for a laugh, isn't it? Smithson appears, rather like Admin the Numpty at the twee Labour "Hame", to dislike criticism, but where Admin operates a policy of disallowing comments he doesn't like, Smithson simply bars people who make comments which are disagreeable to him. As they now appear to have barred everyone who ever spoke up for the Nationalist cause, I have decided that they no longer serve any purpose on Munguin's Republic, so, I'm taking them off the blog roll, if no one minds.


Poor old Cameron. He goes all the way to the USA, gets a 19 gun salute, gets to ride on the super cool presidential plane Air Force One, and is relegated to the second half of the 6 o'clock news on the BBC by that devastating accident in Switzerland, and the fact that unemployment is up again. Now he's been knocked off the headlines in the Telegraph by the attempt on the life of the American Defence Secretary who was visiting Afghanistan today. And still Cameron makes a speech saying that what our troops are doing in Afghanistan will make the UK safer. We know he is out of touch, but by that much?


Talking of Cameron, does any know if they teach table manners at Eton? I suspect they do. Maybe he just thought he was being one of the guys or something, but when it got round to him on the news, the BBC showed him at  a, no sorry, THE baseball game, which the President was NOT going to miss for anyone, getting "tore in", as we say in Dundee, to some burger, or hot dog, or some other item of American cuisine. I know he has a big mouth but I was wondering just how much more he could cram into it. Wouldn't it be embarrassing for us, I thought, if he choked to death. But all was well, he didn't, so threat of embarrassment over.


Talking about embarrassment, although not for Scotland, ?Sir? Dave Richards (they hand them out to anyone with a few bob these days), chairman of the English Premier League made a cringer of a speech accusing Fifa and Uefa of stealing football from the English... shortly before he fell into a pond, at a gala dinner in Doha. Well, there's always one, isn't there? 


The joy with which employment ministers met the 'slowing of the increase in the upward rate of unemployment', was perhaps a little over optimistic. They expressed themselves sure that this was sign that the UK had turned a corner: George Osborne's policies were after all working. (Yeah right, and I'm Harry Potter.) They were positively gleeful that public sector redundancies, at 37,000, were more than matched by private sector jobs created at 45,000 in the last three months of 2011. But only a few hours later, I read that, in the same period, the number of people working part time, because they couldn't find full time work rose by a massive 110,000. It may be marginally better than being unemployed, but if you need a full time job, only having a part time one (sometimes with no guaranteed hours) is plain miserable.  No things aren't getting any better, but at least ministers can make the figures look that way, if they feel like it.

Sunday 11 March 2012

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Fair's fair. I'm a republican, but I can praise individual royals' work when it's good. I've always said that Anne is a star with her Save the Children work. But today I take my hat off to Harry. He may be a bit of a prat sometimes, but he's done a good job of showing other royals how they can behave on tour. He's been a credit to his mum and to Britain the way he's been connecting with people, especially with kids.  You'll not get any bowing and scraping or any idiotic titles and styles from me, Harry; just a well done, mate.

Hague is going to be sued (couldn't happen to a nicer bloke) for providing intelligence to America which then drone bombed  Pakistan killing totally innocent people. Lawyers said that they had "credible, unchallenged" evidence that Hague oversaw a policy of passing British intelligence to US forces planning attacks against militants. And this time he, or they, or both,  got it wrong! We really have to learn that this isn't the good old colonial days when we could go around killing natives with abandon.


On the same theme, I wonder what kind of payback there is going to be for the murders of 16 Afghans, including 5 kids, carried out by a "rogue" soldier. There is sure to be some. It might be better to use this as an excuse to get the hell out of there, with our apologies for the mess we are leaving it in. 


Talking about leaving messes behind us, I was reading this morning that fashionably dressed men in Iraq are being attacked and killed. The Telegraph reported that up to 90 people, all but 2 men, have been killed for being trendily dressed and having floppy hair. It is assumed by the religious fanatics that now hold sway in the country (that we went in to liberate from a dictator), that anyone who is dressed fashionably is a homosexual, and that justifies killing them. Clearly the fanatics should get out more. Oh and to Bush and Blair...well done guys. You certainly liberated the Iraqis.


According to the Independent, the bill for London's Olympics has increased by another £2 billion. You would never credit that we are all in this together, would you? Just how much more is this fiasco going to cost.


Again, this time in the Telegraph, (enough to take you breath away, this one), the London government is going to support people buying homes worth up to £500,000 in an effort to revive the middle class dream of home ownership. Apparently rescuing the banks from their own stupidity and greed, and then handing them further billions of pounds in quantitative easing hasn't actually stimulated any lending (and we all know why that is: they needed it all for their bloody bonuses and salaries). So the government is going to have to guarantee their loans too, out of our money....at a time when house prices are going down. Smart thinking, Cameron.


And finally, while we're on the subject of the idiot Cameron, I noticed in one of the "idiot" papers yesterday that Cameron is going to get a ride in Airforce One. Imagine that! The paper pointed out with glee that President Sarkozy has never been invited to ride in the President's personal plane, ergo that President Obama had a very special relationship with Britain and Cameron. A bit of a leap.  I think it's highly unlikely that the  intellectual Mr Obama, who got where he is despite his origins, and because of his brain, would have much in common with Cameron who got where he got because of his connections and despite his brain.

WOOF WOOF

Click to enlarge.

Saturday 10 March 2012

GOOD LORD! IT'S FFFFFOULKES, THE NOBLEMAN

You have to love the good Lord ffoulkes....Who could forget him? And Nicol bless him. Does anyone remember him? Didn't he resign and now spends more time with red leather along with the aforementioned Noble Barn, sorry Baron? Eck is superb, as usual, and so is Hardeep Singh Kohli. 


Pure logic, that's what it is.


PS: That Dumblebum bloke is still doing Question Time. I heard he refused to come to Glasgow during the BBC's decentralisation (let's pretend that they count, after all they do help pay for it) campaign. Did the BBC thank him for his services over the years...the L O N G years... of his chairmanship and start looking for another chairman?


Thought not.

ALEX'S SPEECH TO SPRING CONFERENCE 2012


Almost a year ago to the day I stood on this very stage and spoke to you about Scotland’s future.
We were behind in the polls. The press did not give us a chance but we believed in our cause.
I said that if we worked hard, if we earned the trust and support of the Scottish people, then together we would make this nation a stronger, fairer and better place.
Just a few short weeks later, in the Scottish election, the people of Scotland placed their trust in us.
And they did so in record, overwhelming numbers.
Friends, since then our every action has been about repaying that trust,
About honouring our commitment to the people.
Today, in every town and every community, we are working as never before, to make Scotland the country we all know it can be.
Building recovery.
Creating opportunity.
And working for a Scotland that can truly prosper – the strong economy and the just society.
And what a difference those extra SNP votes have made, the special votes, the ones which built an absolute majority in our proportional Parliament.
This time last year we had just passed our final budget as a minority government.
Our plans scraping through despite Labour opposition.
Back then, Labour opposed, and almost stopped, our plans for 25,000 modern apprenticeships.
They rejected, and almost defeated, our plans to protect family budgets with the council tax freeze and to keep our streets safer with the 1,000 extra police.
A LABOUR PARTY, YES, A LABOUR PARTY, VOTING AGAINST WORK AND TRAINING FOR YOUNG SCOTS.
ONCE UPON A TIME, IT IS SAID, LABOUR WERE THE ‘PEOPLE’S PARTY’, BUT DELEGATES, IN MAY LAST YEAR THE PEOPLE SPOKE.
AND THEY CHOSE SCOTLAND’S PARTY.
What a difference a year makes.
That difference is not in the nature of the Labour opposition we face.
If we say black, Labour will still insist it is white.
If I say the sky is blue they say ‘no it isnae’
As we move forward, they will still do all they can to hold Scotland back.
Even now, even in this year’s budget they couldn’t help themselves.
Voting against the 25,000 apprenticeships, again .
Voting against the council tax freeze, again.
Against the extra police, again.
Conference the Labour Party want everyone in Scotland to pay hundreds of pounds more Council Tax – despite the pressure on family budgets everyone is to pay hundreds more except in the case of Stirling Council where they voted with the Tories to reduce it by 23p a week.
That’s right a whole 23p - while they voted with the Tories in the Scottish Parliament against the freeze.
The only consistent thing about Labour in Scotland is that they now vote with the Tories at every opportunity.
That is why the people of Scotland now vote against Labour at every opportunity.
AND JUST AS LAST YEAR’S ELECTION TOOK AWAY THE POWER OF THE LABOUR PARTY TO BLOCK PROGRESS ACROSS SCOTLAND.
SO TOO CAN THESE ELECTIONS IN MAY.
THE PEOPLE CAN CALL “TIME’S UP” ON LABOUR’S LOCAL FIEFDOMS.
AND IF THERE IS ANY PLACE THAT NEEDS RELIEF FROM A LABOUR PARTY THAT HAS LOST ITS WAY, IT IS THIS CITY OF GLASGOW.
FRIENDS, SCOTLAND CAN FLOURISH, AND GLASGOW WILL FLOURISH, WITH THE SNP.
Last year, I stood on this platform and spoke of Glasgow and how its influence has stretched across the world.
First as the workshop of the empire and now as a creative city – building a new empire of the mind.
I announced a £90m investment – Government and private sector – in Strathclyde University’s International Technology and Renewable Energy Zone. IT-REZ is what they call it.
This was a substantial announcement at the cutting edge of the green revolution and the knowledge economy. Combining Scotland’s great strengths – our environment, our people and our education.
It was a promise, a signal, of better days to come. A first step in the green re-industrialisation of this city, and of this country.
And it is a project that is already bearing fruit. Today, one year on, there are already over 100 jobs directly linked to the Innovation Centre.
100 high skill, high value jobs. Jobs in this city that will keep Scotland at the forefront of green energy research and create opportunities across the nation.
And it is just the start. Delegates, at IT-REZ we can expect a further 600 high-skill, high-value jobs will be created in the years to come.
It is just one investment among many – north, south, east and west.
Taqa, Avaloq, Samsung and more.
Energy, finance, engineering
International companies making Scotland their home
Combining with Clyde Blowers, the Wood Group/PSN, Global Energy –
Scottish companies making the world their oyster.
Jobs and opportunities – that is our priority.
Last December we appointed a Minister for Youth Employment, Angela Constance, the first such appointment anywhere in these islands.
Angela has an additional budget of £30 million and a clear instruction – to do all she can to improve the life chances of young Scots.
We have a clear commitment to all our young people who yearn to be productive.
No young person should go through school only to become, and stay, an unemployment statistic at the age of 16. We will not allow that in Scotland.
That’s why we’ve delivered 300,000 training opportunities since 2007 - including those record 25,000 Modern Apprenticeships this year.
Apprenticeships, each and every one of them linked to a real job.
Friends, those 25,000 apprenticeships aren’t just for one year – they are for EVERY year of this Parliament.
And we are taking forward OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL - an initiative that will see every single 16 - 19 year old in Scotland offered a learning or training place if they are not in already in a job, a Modern Apprenticeship or education.
But more can and more must be done.
Today - I can announce a £5 million package which will ensure a further 2,500 young people are given the right support to help them towards the world of work. This will engage young people in volunteering opportunities in the international and national events Scotland will have the privilege to host over the next three years.
LET ME BE CLEAR CONFERENCE – THIS GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO OUR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN IS UNWAVERING.
WE INTEND TO CREATE THE CONDITIONS IN THIS LAND WHICH WILL SEE A LIFE OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERY YOUNG SCOT.
Friends, today is about progress, about Scotland moving up a gear.
It is about the path and the opportunities that lie ahead.
In this land of possibilities, in this Scotland, we have much to look forward to.
In a little over two years this city will host the Commonwealth Games and preparations continue to be on track and on budget. Construction began last summer on the athletes’ village which will accommodate over 6,500 competitors. And once the games are done, that great facility will be used to provide affordable homes for local families.
Around this very Conference venue is being built the Scottish Hydro Arena, the venue for netball and gymnastics during the Games. The arena will seat 12,000 people and will become one of Europe’s busiest venues, contributing £131 million annually to the Scottish economy.
No longer will we be turning away big acts like Barbra Streisand and Beyonce.
Indeed if this party keeps growing at the current rate we might need it for our own Annual Conference!
As First Minister I’m committed to ensure we make these games the greatest sporting event our country has ever seen. I look forward to these Commonwealth Games, not only because Scotland competes in her own right, but also because I know they will put Scotland on a global stage, where we belong.
In 2014 our light will shine for the world to see, through the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup, and the second Homecoming Year.
But as well as having great ambitions for Scotland's sporting stars at the 2014 Games, this Government has great aspirations for the event to be a catalyst for economic and social regeneration.
With real benefits for communities and individuals. For our society as a whole.
And that is why I’m delighted to announce today a new legacy initiative.
The establishment of a £10 million fund that will allow communities to bring their local sports facilities across Scotland into the 21 st century.
WHETHER IT BE A RENOVATION TO A COMMUNITY HALL, RE-TURFING OF A BOWLING GREEN OR EVEN A NEW MULTI-PURPOSE SPORTS FIELD – OUR AIM IS TO INSPIRE SCOTS YOUNG AND OLD TO SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED BY THE GAMES AND ITS LEGACY TO BECOME A BETTER NATION.
Yes - these are exciting times for Glasgow. Jobs are coming, the Commonwealth Games are coming and as far as May’s Local Elections are concerned – THE SNP ARE COMING!
Delegates – 2014 will also see another significant event for Scotland…
In January, the Prime Minister tried to lay down the law and dictate the terms of Scotland’s referendum.
Parties so long opposed to any referendum, now want to run the referendum.
BUT I’VE GOT A MESSAGE FOR MESSRS CAMERON, CLEGG & MILIBAND.
THE DAYS OF POLITICIANS IN LONDON TELLING SCOTLAND WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO THINK ARE OVER.
Delegates, we should of course thank the Prime Minister. After his intervention SNP membership has surged – up over 2,400 in the weeks that followed.
AS ROBERT BURNS MIGHT HAVE SAID: ‘THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND THE TORY PARTY GANG AFT AGLEY’
And friends, this support will continue to rise.
BECAUSE HOME RULE WITH INDEPENDENCE BEATS TORY RULE FROM WESTMINSTER. ANY TIME AND ANY DAY.
There is a simple and winning truth about independence.
It is fundamentally better for our nation if decisions about our future, about our success, are taken by the people who care most about Scotland.
That is and always will be the people who live in Scotland.
We have the greatest stake in our nation’s wellbeing. In good times or bad, it is the people of Scotland who will work hardest and care most.
No one will do a better job than the people living here.
With the people of Scotland in charge, speaking with our own voice, reflecting our own values and our priorities – we will make our country better.
THIS IS OUR MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR THIS NATION.
And how it contrasts with the London parties’ message of fear. They want to knock Scotland’s confidence and self-belief. They seek victory through negativity.
But friends, they are not even very good at that.
Since David Cameron’s blunder into Scotland’s constitutional debate we have been treated to some very bizarre contributions from the anti-independence parties.
William Hague said British embassies would no longer promote Scotch whisky, according to the Daily Mail.
But, I dug a little deeper and discovered Mr Hague actually charges the Scottish Government when we hold a Scotch whisky reception!
And the Daily Mirror reported a threat to take away our pandas!
But don’t worry - Tian Tian and Yang Guang will be staying in Scotland.
I’ve offered them political asylum, while reflecting of course that the UK Government did not contribute a single RMB to the cost of the pandas’ arrival in our capital city!
Friends, the people of Scotland have got wise to these scare-stories.
It was a Westminster tactic tried before to stop devolution. It failed then because the people of Scotland saw it for what it was - empty, hollow, negative scaremongering.
It failed then, and it will fail now.
Because we know what has been achieved with the power Scotland already has.
We have seen the progress that has been made in those areas where our nation already has some independence.
In our National Health Service . . .
Record low waiting times.
Record high satisfaction with the job our health professionals do.
Prescription charges abolished.
Nye Bevan once said that “no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means.”
In this very spirit, the SNP in Government continues to protect frontline health spending, despite the Westminster cuts and despite the huge pressures on our budget.
Friends, with the people of Scotland in charge of Scotland’s health service we can choose, and have chosen, a different path.
A path that reflects Scotland’s social democratic consensus, our shared progressive values - our priorities as a society.
A TORY PRIME MINISTER ONCE TOLD US THAT THERE WAS NO ALTERNATIVE TO HER POLICIES.
ON THE HEALTH SERVICE WE ARE SHOWING OUR FRIENDS IN ENGLAND THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE.
AND LET ME BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR – BECAUSE OF THE INDEPENDENCE WE HAVE OVER THE NHS – THIS GOVERNMENT, THIS SNP GOVERNMENT, WILL ENSURE SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE IS NEVER FOR SALE.
And in education . . .
I remember back to 1979 – just of course, I was a babe in arms - when some of the foremost sceptics about devolution were in our universities.
But is there anyone on campus now - student or academic - who would rather the Tories were in charge of our universities?
Free education would be a thing of the past.
Public funding would be slashed.
And tuition fees would, today, be creating an insurmountable barrier for thousands of young Scots – a barrier to aspiration and talent.
Our Universities are an international success – 5 in the world’s top 200 – more research papers per head than virtually any other nation on the face of this planet – with the protection and independence we have given them from the philistines in Whitehall
Conference, with even just a taste of independence we have been able to deliver fairer policies than elsewhere in these islands.
In higher education and in further education.
Of that, we should be proud.
As a party, as a government, we will never kick away the ladder of opportunity. Never put a price on learning that undermines the value of learning.
The Tories’ decision to scrap the educational maintenance allowance is part of their same agenda. An agenda Scotland completely and rightly rejects.
And just as our Parliament stood firm against tuition fees so too do we stand full-square behind the Education Maintenance Allowance, and in support of proper support for our college students.
FOR 35,000 YOUNG SCOTS – WITH THE SNP THE EMA IS HERE TO STAY.
Delegates, progress, in our NHS, in education and in creating safer communities.
Earlier this week, official statistics were published showing 17,343 police officers in Scotland.
For the fourth year in a row, the SNP government has delivered and protected the 1,000 extra police officers on our streets. A truly remarkable achievement given Westminster funding cuts and one which Labour said it would take us 13 years!
In this, another area of public life where we have independence, we can choose a better way.
As we work to keep police officers in our communities – delivering a 35 year low in recorded crime and a fear of crime that continues to fall.
Down south, they look to privatise, yes, privatise key police functions. Investigating crime, detaining suspects and even patrolling neighbourhoods – the traditional functions of the police now open not just to the highest bidder but to the lowest common denominator.
And now the UK Government’s own figures reveal that England will see a 16,000 reduction in the number of police.
CONFERENCE, THE CONTRAST IS CLEAR – MORE BOBBIES ON THE BEAT IN SCOTLAND OR CUTS TO COPPERS UNDER CAMERON.
With a measure of independence on health, on education and on law and order we have made Scotland a better place.
Think what we could do with Scottish control of the economy, of international representation and of security.
Our economy needs capital spending and bank lending.
We have sent a list of shovel ready projects to London. We demand that they are now redeemed.
Our small and medium sized business need finance. We have major banks largely in the public sector. Why are they not instructed to lend to force the pace of recovery?
Of course last year we now know from the official figures that with control of our own finances Scotland would have been £2.6 billion better off - £510 for every man women and child in Scotland - money which could have been used to invest in the economy, to reduce borrowing, to save for the future.
In devolved Scotland we can demand. In an independent Scotland we can deliver.
On international representation, why would we wish to be isolated and ignored in Europe when we could be influential and respected?
On defence why would this nation of 5 million people elect to waste billions on weapons of mass destruction, when we have still have thousands waiting for a decent home and a life chance?
Independence means real security.
WESTMINSTER WOULD SPEND ON WEAPONS WHICH COULD DESTROY THE WORLD. SCOTLAND SHOULD SPEND ON SOCIAL PROVISION WHICH COULD BE THE ENVY OF THE WORLD.
Friends, our task is to transform Scotland – to change our nation for good.
At the local elections in May we can take the next steps on that journey. We can elect a strong team of SNP councillors who will put their communities first.
Conference, these elections are about local services.
About help for hard-pressed families, with the Council tax freeze.
About safer streets and keeping the 1,000 extra police.
About giving our unpaid carers more of the support they need.
Every vote for the SNP is a vote to build recovery with investment in new homes and new schools, investment in jobs and training.
We hear and we understand the pressures individuals and families are facing across our nation.
And step by step we will deliver.
We will use the powers we have today and, together, we shall make Scotland better.
That is right and good in itself. But friends, it is more. It is a statement of intent - a signal of the nation we can be, and we will be, with the powers of independence.
For parents and for young Scots, we know where our nation must be, with world-class childcare.
And we know how we can get there.
Already, new investment in children’s centres through the Sure Start Fund.
A re-targetting of resources through the Early Years Fund.
And at these elections, a new step forward.
We have long cherished the ambition to increase pre-school education. In our first term we moved it from 412 hours to 475 hours free pre-school per annum, benefiting 100,000 children a year.
Now we intend to move further and to place it in statute so that families in every part of Scotland can share in the benefit.
Conference, we will place into the new Children’s Bill introduced to Parliament next year a statutory guarantee of over 600 hours of free nursery education for every Scottish 3 and 4 year old and for every looked after 2 year old in our land.
The best package of free nursery education on offer anywhere in the UK – a statement of faith and commitment to the future.
Flexible in its delivery, using the wisdom of the Early Years Taskforce to help us but definite in our intent.
FOR EVERY YOUNG MUM OR DAD JUGGLING WORK AND PARENTHOOD – OUR MESSAGE IS CLEAR.
THE SNP IS HERE FOR YOU AND FOR YOUR FAMILY.
And, friends, the SNP is here to build a fairer Scotland.
My ambition to reduce inequality, to give all Scots a fair chance in life. Across the world the evidence is clear - the more equal our society the better it will be for all of us.
I want a Scotland where a fair wage is a living wage – where work pays. And that is what we can achieve with independence.
We have taken the first steps already, with every employee of the Scottish Government, the NHS and our agencies, guaranteed from this year at least the living wage of £7.20 an hour.
Two thirds of the thousands who have benefited have been women.
Delegates, where we have the power we shall act.
I can announce today that every SNP led council elected in May will also introduce the living wage.
THOUSANDS MORE OF OUR LOWEST PAID WORKERS WILL RECEIVE FAIR PAY AND FAIR PLAY WITH THE SNP.
PUTTING MORE MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS.
BOOSTING LOCAL ECONOMIES.
AS WE BUILD TOWARDS A SCOTLAND THAT IS A LIVING WAGE NATION.
Conference, by our deeds we shall be known.
If we make the right choices for our universities and for fairness and families, who can doubt that we will, also, make the right choices on the economy and on Scotland’s place in the world.
SCOTLAND’S SOCIAL DEMOCRACY CAN SURVIVE, CAN FLOURISH, BUT ONLY WHERE WE HAVE THE POWER.
WE CAN BE A BEACON FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE BUT ONLY IF WE ALLOW OUR LIGHT TO SHINE
DELEGATES, THE LESSON IS A SIMPLE ONE.
A LITTLE INDEPENDENCE HAS BEEN GOOD FOR SCOTLAND.
BUT REAL INDEPENDENCE WILL BE EVEN BETTER.
We can put our vast resources to work for the benefit of Scotland, creating a competitive economy and in doing so creating new opportunities and new jobs.
Saving and investing our offshore wealth as the guarantee of a safer, more secure future.
Scotland, not just a nation of promise, but of potential fulfilled.
Standing taller in the world, speaking with our own voice.
A partner for justice and for peace.
Friends, these things and more are just a ‘Yes’ vote away.
When the United Nations was formed there were just over 50 independent countries in the world. Today, that figure has risen to almost 200.
Some still say independence is difficult. But, conference, these numbers don’t lie.
Of the 10 countries that joined the European Union in 2004, a majority have become independent since 1990, and Scotland is bigger than six of them. Each and every one of these nations now has a seat at Europe’s top table: a right they cherish – a right Scotland too should embrace.
BECAUSE BEING INDEPENDENT IS THE MOST NATURAL THING IN THE WORLD.
It is what we seek as individuals – for our own families.
It is the point we take responsibility for our own future and our own success.
We are able to speak with our own voice, choose our own direction and contribute in our own distinct way.
WITH INDEPENDENCE WE STAND ON OUR OWN TWO FEET, BUT WE DON’T STAND ON OUR OWN.
We gain a new, more modern relationship with the other nations of the UK – a true partnership of equals.
A 21 st century social union, replacing a political union that is long past its sell by date.
It will require effort and commitment to make our country as good as we know it can be.
A Scotland that is better than what we have today: a more successful Scotland that we can pass on proudly to the next generation.
So, let us heed the words of Fletcher of Saltoun and: "Go forward into the community of nations to lend our own, independent weight to the world.”