Rural Fuel Prices

The Highland LibDems - and Danny Alexander in particular - after all the noise they made about reducing rural fuel prices during the election, have a lot of explaining to do.

The Herald has predicted fuel prices in the Highlands could soar to 136p per litre from January as a result of the proposed hike in VAT to 20% on top of the already planned fuel duty increases.  See here.

VAT rises always hit the poorest hardest, so what exactly is "fair" about this, Danny?

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Blairs Millions

Whatever money the British Legion gets from Tony Blairs book profits will be well used and appreciated by those that benefit from it.

I am not going to get into his motives. That's for him to deal with. But the torch shone on his financial affairs as a result reveals so much. The multi-million pound properties, the huge fees for speaking and advice to other governments, the estimated total wealth in 10s of £millions.

Criticising him for taking advantage of the opportunity to make that kind of wealth is difficult. How many of us would walk away?

But you can't operate in that world without losing touch with the world the rest of us live in.

For me, sadly, that explains a lot.

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Benefits should define Labour

An effective and enabling benefits system is for me a pillar of the kind of society I want to see.

There when you need it, supporting you and your family into work or education. Enabling you to develop to your full potential and play a part in your community whatever your personal challenges.

We need to drive cheats out of the system but above all we need to make it simpler. Recent estimates are that more than £3bn is wasted through errors and mistakes which dwarf the estimated loss of £1.5bn through deliberate fraud. Never mind the folk who don't get what they are entitled to because it's so daunting.

The Coalition seem determined to use benefit system reform as a blunt instrument to save money and drive people into low paid jobs. Incenting private companies like Experian to spy on our communities to achieve this is a shocking definition of "fairness".

But there is no point in Labour just criticising from the sidelines. We need to work out our own new ideas and reclaim the Benefit System for Labour in the same way as the NHS.

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