Okay, if HBOS has to be sold, does it not make sense to sell it to another company which has no UK high street presence, therefore allowing all the branches to stay open?
Not if you're Alistair Darling, it doesn't.
Having actively discouraged the approaches of the Burt/Mathewson combine, and the Bank of China, both of which would have kept branches open, and jobs intact, he opts for the cut price 'deal of the century' for Lloyds TSB, with whom the original deal was stitched up in the first place.
Despite the fact that:
The Lloyds TSB takeover will cost thousands of Scottish jobs.
The Lloyds TSB purchase was so anti competitive that the government (that's Alistair again) had to suspend competition commission rules to let it go ahead.
The expanded Lloyds TSB will now be in an utterly dominant and anti competitive position in UK high streets.
Why would a Scottish chancellor and prime minister back a rotten, anti competitive deal which costs thousands of jobs, when these jobs could be saved with a better deal?
Why indeed.
When Darling and Brown leave politics behind, it might be interesting to see if they end up as non exec directors of any UK banks.
On that score, can I draw your attention to this site.
Just click here.
Saturday, 29 November 2008
A St Andrews Day Message From Labour
Some history first, I think.
When Iain Gray was elected as leader of Labour’s MSPs, he stated that he would support the government in all ways he could.
Now, in the intervening months, I assume he’s been looking very hard at this indeed, but unfortunately for Iain’s veracity, there’s de’il the sign of any co-operation at all.
In fact, it’s been pretty venomous stuff, and not all of it accurate.
(I’ve been taking the understatement pills again, sorry)
So when this lily laddie (he’s a couple of years younger than me, so I feel I can say that, you know) states that we didn’t keep our promises on student debt, I think he needs to be put straight with a few facts.
First off, Labour weren’t going to do anything at all to alleviate debt, or the Graduate Endowment charge, had they been re-elected last year.
Nothing at all.
Nada (my daughter’s taking Higher Spanish – it’s rubbing off).
Second, we have, in the first 18 months, junked the endowment, saving each student over £2300.
The debt and grant will follow.
Iain ignores both of the above.
I wonder if he would have approved if we’d done nothing and followed his party’s policies.
Of course, we don’t actually know what Iain would have done, because he’s torn up Labour’s manifesto, and replaced it with precisely nothing.
So, in the midst of a policy vacuum, Iain follows orders and goes on the attack.
It’s a similar situation with the LIT.
He doesn’t like it himself, in fact he hinted he’d like to drop it, but soon changed his mind.
Now he wants to amend it, but he’s no’ sayin’ how, and I wonder why that might be.
Subsidising first time house buyers has been dropped by the government.
I opposed this grant in the first place, because all it would do would inflate prices (this was over a year ago, mind) and provide no benefit.
Happily, the government took advice, and decided it wasn’t a goer.
This didn’t stop Iain.
He’s now trying to give us a nudge for dropping a policy which he opposed in the first place.
I swear, you just cannae win with this boy.
You disagree with him, and he girns and whines.
You do what he wants, and guess what?
It’s howls and bellyaching time again.
Now he wants to continue with PFI, despite the mind boggling costs, and to put Scotland in hock for decades to come.
Of course, given that PFI charging will appear on government PSBR balance sheets as of next year, I daresay that he feels that this debt can be sold as a ‘black hole’ to argue against independence.
Despite the fact that it was quite deliberately created by Labour.
This is hypocrisy of the blackest sort.
It is also fundamentally dishonest.
No criticism, you’ll note, of the £500m cut in Scotland’s budget as a result of Darling’s pre Budget Report.
Nor of the fact that the budget will increase by little, if at all.
Tomorrow is St Andrew’s Day.
Iain is honouring this in his own special way, by adding to the unionist chorus of whining and scaremongering which is apparently their only tactic against the SNP.
Now, Iain used to carry the Chancellors’ golf clubs be the Chancellor’s adviser after he was booted out of the Parliament last time, so I wonder if he could use his best offices to suggest that slashing Scottish budgets as a result of London’s incompetence might be a good little earner in terms of votes.
You’d think so, wouldn’t you?
I don’t think Iain would.
When Iain Gray was elected as leader of Labour’s MSPs, he stated that he would support the government in all ways he could.
Now, in the intervening months, I assume he’s been looking very hard at this indeed, but unfortunately for Iain’s veracity, there’s de’il the sign of any co-operation at all.
In fact, it’s been pretty venomous stuff, and not all of it accurate.
(I’ve been taking the understatement pills again, sorry)
So when this lily laddie (he’s a couple of years younger than me, so I feel I can say that, you know) states that we didn’t keep our promises on student debt, I think he needs to be put straight with a few facts.
First off, Labour weren’t going to do anything at all to alleviate debt, or the Graduate Endowment charge, had they been re-elected last year.
Nothing at all.
Nada (my daughter’s taking Higher Spanish – it’s rubbing off).
Second, we have, in the first 18 months, junked the endowment, saving each student over £2300.
The debt and grant will follow.
Iain ignores both of the above.
I wonder if he would have approved if we’d done nothing and followed his party’s policies.
Of course, we don’t actually know what Iain would have done, because he’s torn up Labour’s manifesto, and replaced it with precisely nothing.
So, in the midst of a policy vacuum, Iain follows orders and goes on the attack.
It’s a similar situation with the LIT.
He doesn’t like it himself, in fact he hinted he’d like to drop it, but soon changed his mind.
Now he wants to amend it, but he’s no’ sayin’ how, and I wonder why that might be.
Subsidising first time house buyers has been dropped by the government.
I opposed this grant in the first place, because all it would do would inflate prices (this was over a year ago, mind) and provide no benefit.
Happily, the government took advice, and decided it wasn’t a goer.
This didn’t stop Iain.
He’s now trying to give us a nudge for dropping a policy which he opposed in the first place.
I swear, you just cannae win with this boy.
You disagree with him, and he girns and whines.
You do what he wants, and guess what?
It’s howls and bellyaching time again.
Now he wants to continue with PFI, despite the mind boggling costs, and to put Scotland in hock for decades to come.
Of course, given that PFI charging will appear on government PSBR balance sheets as of next year, I daresay that he feels that this debt can be sold as a ‘black hole’ to argue against independence.
Despite the fact that it was quite deliberately created by Labour.
This is hypocrisy of the blackest sort.
It is also fundamentally dishonest.
No criticism, you’ll note, of the £500m cut in Scotland’s budget as a result of Darling’s pre Budget Report.
Nor of the fact that the budget will increase by little, if at all.
Tomorrow is St Andrew’s Day.
Iain is honouring this in his own special way, by adding to the unionist chorus of whining and scaremongering which is apparently their only tactic against the SNP.
Now, Iain used to carry the Chancellors’ golf clubs be the Chancellor’s adviser after he was booted out of the Parliament last time, so I wonder if he could use his best offices to suggest that slashing Scottish budgets as a result of London’s incompetence might be a good little earner in terms of votes.
You’d think so, wouldn’t you?
I don’t think Iain would.
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Sanity At Last - but too late for some
Credit where it's due; James Purnell, Works and Pensions Secretary, has bowed to public and political pressure, and awarded the vital Card Account contract to the remaining UK post offices.
But the post offices marked for closure in East Lothian, under the recent review, will still close; those which have had opening hours chopped, will remain chopped; local communities which would have suffered under these restrictions will continue to suffer.
And the SNP will continue to support and fight for this vital local asset.
But the post offices marked for closure in East Lothian, under the recent review, will still close; those which have had opening hours chopped, will remain chopped; local communities which would have suffered under these restrictions will continue to suffer.
And the SNP will continue to support and fight for this vital local asset.
Sunday, 2 November 2008
A Breathless Hush from Anne Moffat over Post Office Closures
There’s been a stony silence from Anne Moffat, MP over the closures of the West Barns and Elphinstone post offices, and the reduction to part time status of several others.
It’s not surprising; despite her stage managed support for some post offices which weren’t going to be closed anyway, facts are what matter. And the fact is that Anne voted in parliament to close our post offices.
Post offices matter; they matter particularly in rural communities where people have to travel miles to find an alternative post office, using public transport.
Now there are doubts as to whether the Post Office will be allowed to retain their card account.
If this contract is lost, it will be a death blow to even more rural and small post offices.
Post offices are a community resource; they are vital to our elderly and vulnerable who rely on having these services close at hand.
We are in a process in which the people of
We've been waiting since summer, but for some reason they seem loath to tell us what's happening, especially as losing this contract could lead to the closures of hundreds more post offices in Scotland.
Now, is it cynical to surmise that this is being delayed simply because it's going to be bad news.
And that it just might have a retrograde effect on Labour in the Glenrothes by election?
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Central Heating - More Good News
We're extending the availability of central heating systems to those on income support with kids under 5, and with handicapped children under 16.
The SNP Government of Scotland has delivered good news for many people in
We have delivered a record number of central heating installations over the past year, many more than that achieved by Labour in their last year in power.
With these additional funds, that support is going to be provided to families who claim income support, and who have children under 5, or disabled children under 16 years of age”.
An Explanation, Please.
Over six months ago, Iain Gray complained about a case in which an elderly couple were allegedly denied a central heating system.
I told the minister in charge, and invited Iain to contact him to resolve this complaint.
To date, the minister, Stewart Maxwell, has received no information from Mr Gray.
Looks like it wasn't such an urgent case after all, if the leader of Scottish Labour MSPs couldn't be bothered following it up.
I told the minister in charge, and invited Iain to contact him to resolve this complaint.
To date, the minister, Stewart Maxwell, has received no information from Mr Gray.
Looks like it wasn't such an urgent case after all, if the leader of Scottish Labour MSPs couldn't be bothered following it up.
Expanding Free Bus Travel
You see, fuel costs are forcing people in
For many of our elderly taking the bus is the only way around.
That’s why the SNP is committed to delivering free bus travel for pensioners in East Lothian and across Scotland, and is also looking to extend free travel to local veterans with disabilities to make sure those who have served our country are served by us.
In addition to our commitment to make war pensions exempt from local income tax, the SNP further honours those who have given their health for their country.
While the SNP is expanding free travel services Labour are looking to increase taxes on those who have todrive.
In contrast to this, the Treasury is driving ahead once again with plans to reinstate the 2 pence rise in fuel duty.
The SNP is the only party that has put forward serious proposals to bring fuel taxes under control with a fuel duty regulator – a policy all other parties failed to support.
Some time ago the local MSP accused the SNP of wanting to cut back on free bus travel.
This has, not for the first time, been exposed as mischievous and ill informed scaremongering, and we in the SNP are delighted to provide an enhanced service to every area of our communities.
.... sorry, Iain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
