AAA vs the BedroomTax

As night follows day, it was no surprise when Danny Alexander MP was all over the media yesterday responding to the loss of the UK’s AAA credit rating.  George Osborne doesn’t do bad news; that’s Danny’s job. 

The message seemed to be that (a) despite Osborne’s totemic addiction to the ratings this didn’t really matter and (b) we just need to keep cutting.

What sort of world are these Coalition leading lights living in?

Borrowing is going up, growth is stagnant.  So why do Alexander and Osborne think the medicine is working?  Maybe it makes sense in the circles Osborne, Clegg and Cameron move in.

Back in the real world, the Inverness Courier highlights who is really paying the price of the Coalition's mission to save our AAA rating in its shocking report on the levels of child poverty in the City. Working families on low incomes.

Part-time jobs with “flexible” hours and minimum wage rates are already the reality for many.  Over the next few months the reality of benefit cuts will start to hit home with caps and restrictions on working tax credits and housing benefits.  Monthly rather than weekly payments will drive poor families into the hands of the pay day loan sharks.  And the Bedroom Tax will reduce household incomes still further; for most families moving to a house with the “right” number of bedrooms will not be an option as they are not being built!

That’s what Danny Alexander should be on the TV and Radio explaining.

Or better still letting his two bosses take the flack themselves.

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Letter to the Courier on Target Seats

My Letter to Inverness Courier, (published Friday 8th Feb 2013)

Dear Sir

David Stewart MSP makes the point in Tuesday’s Courier that Labour will be the main challenger to the LibDems in Inverness come the 2015 General Election. 

Labour supporters in the seat will be encouraged to know that far from “giving up” on the seat, we intend  to deliver the Highlands very  own “Portillo Moment”.

Target seat lists are based on standard electoral arithmetic, average swings etc.  What they don’t take account of is the plunging level of support for a sitting MP who has broken so many of the promises he made to his voters in 2010, joined enthusiastically with the Tories and is playing a leading role in driving a programme of savage cuts affecting family after family across the Highlands.

We know that’s what happening to Danny Alexander’s vote because Labour campaign teams are already out knocking on doors across the constituency (we’ll be in Drakies on Saturday if anyone wants to join us).   People are telling us first-hand about the impact of cuts to housing benefits, child allowances and working tax credits, which mainly affect the household budgets of working people on low wages.  And as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander has a heavy responsibility for the failure to grow the economy which means borrowing is higher than ever, despite the cuts. 

By 2015, we think Highland voters will have had enough of this Coalition and will not be prepared  to vote LibDem just to put the Tories back in power again.  We’ve already seen what happened to the LibDem vote in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.  Scottish Labour will be running strong campaigns in ALL the Highland seats.  Our newly established Highland Labour Campaign Forum is bringing together party activists from all across the Highlands in a coordinated campaign between now and 2015 to make sure we elect not just one but at least two Labour MPs to represent the Highlands.

Mike Robb

Chair

Highland Labour Campaign Forum

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Independence; the Small Business Question

Local party and day job business has crossed paths with more than a few leading SNP representatives and supporters in recent weeks.

Always very civilised (socially and economically, Labour and the SNP agree about much more than we think)  One thing we do agree on is that its good we are now engaged in debate about what independence will mean rather than all the arguments about process.

Having been working "down south" on business most of this week and last I'd like to talk about how small businesses might be affected by Independence.

After all, we know that small businesses drive 70% of the economy.  That's especially true in Scotland and in the Highlands in particular.

I run a small business out of Inverness and Edinburgh.  Most of my clients are SMEs. Well more than half of them are in England and Wales. As well as the small number of people I employ directly, I’ve a network of  professional colleagues who make a decent living from my company.  Between us we spend locally on the services we buy in as well as the taxes we pay (I don't have access to Amazons or Starbucks accountants)   A lot of the small Scottish companies I work and compete for business with have similar profiles.  

So how would independence affect my company and the many businesses like mine who between us employ so many people in Scotland, directly or indirectly?

I rely on easy travel links (train and plane), sterling billing, a common tax system and all the other things that make doing business in Cardiff (where I've been today) just as easy as in Dingwall (where I'll be on Friday)  

When we are working with clients in Dublin, there is just a lot more to sort out - for me and the client - even though we are all in the EU. If Scotland and England are separate EU states, then how many times will it just be easier to employ a "local" firm?  Procurement law gives big firms an even playing field, but its a lot more challenging for small ones.

I'm assuming here (ignoring some would say) that there is no risk that an independent Scotland would not be an EU state automatically, from Day 1.  The idea of trying to work across an EU border is a nightmare scenario.  It would destroy my business. 

We hear a lot from the SNP about how independence would be good for the Scottish economy.  Maybe it would for the big firms who have the financial muscle to work through the downsides.  Though Aggreko boss Rupert Soanes doesn't think so

But how will the promised land make business easier for the small businesses on which the economy actually depends?

New Ideas for a Devolved Scotland

I’ve made a resolution to myself that I will not just post arguments against independence, but will put up some ideas for what more we can do in a devolved Scotland.  Not so much Devo Max as Devo Mike. So here we go…..

Schemes to encourage firms to take on young workers through financial incentives often produce short term results with contracts not being renewed after the initial period when the subsidy runs out.  Nor does that encourage proper investment in training and development.  So how about making it n the interest of an employer to not only take on a young person but keep them for a second year?  A Scottish Government with more fiscal powers could offer SMEs a 50% NIC discount on each under 25 employed on a Living Wage or higher for the first 12 months but rising to 100% for a second period of 12 months with a taper off for Year 3. That sort of scheme incentivises worker development and retention not just short term recruitment.  Discuss?

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On Remembrance Day

Wearing a red poppy in November sometimes feels as much a statement of conformance than a meaningful symbol.  Media and public figures can't be seen on TV, the web or print photos without the obligatory poppy on their lapel.  For many on the left of politics, the red poppy has often been seen as a symbol of the military and imperial establishment with all its connections to Iraq and other contentious conflicts. And Celtic supporters like me are only too aware of how the republican leaning members of the Celtic family see the poppy as a symbol of British army oppression in Ireland over the last 100 years.

I don’t regard myself as a pacifist.  I can't see how someone like Hitler, or Franco, could have been stopped without fighting (although the roots of the 2nd world war go back to political and economic decisions made years earlier and that could have been made differently).  I opposed our involvement in Iraq and have been a member of CND for 30 years.  I don’t believe we should be replacing Trident.

 

My own feelings about wearing a poppy began to change 20 years ago when I first started to learn from my Gran in Perth about my great-grandfather's story in the First World War.  An ordinary working man pitched into a hellish experience after leaving the UK to try and find work to support his family (he died from his wounds in Australia after being invalided back after what sounds like from my Gran's description being wounded at Gallipoli).  That started me thinking about seeing the poppy much more as a symbol of the ordinary people who fight and die in wars - whether as volunteers, conscripts or just civilians in the wrong place and time - where they are pretty much the pawns of much more powerful political interests.

That feeling has been reinforced this year where I spent a fair amount of time with my day job working at the Royal British Legion on a big IT project.  I've heard and seen first-hand the day to day work of the Legion helping ex- service people deal with the problems they encounter back in "civilian" life.  Not just dealing with the social effects of wounds and disability, but all of the issues that so concern many of us in the Labour Party; lack of jobs, debt, payday loans, poverty in old age, squalid housing, access to benefits and family support.   They do a brilliant job.  And bluntly, income from red poppy sales is a big factor is allowing them to operate.

So I'll be wearing my poppy today. As a simple symbol of solidarity with all those who have found themselves fighting, dying and surviving conflicts that were not of their making and that we need to work ever harder to prevent happening again.

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Speech to Labour Conference 2012

Below is the text of my speech to conference on Youth Employment.   I didn't get called in the main economy debate, but got most of the points into some of the smaller policy forum discussions and seminars.

 

Colleagues.

Amongst all the talk of deficits and bad bankers, the real scandal of the coalition’s cuts is the impact on the lives and hopes of a generation of young people.

1 in 4 of 16- to 24-year-olds are out of work.

In Scotland, 7,400 young people have been claiming unemployment benefit for more than a year.

And in the Highlands 5 unemployed people are chasing every job vacancy.

These aren’t just statistics. 

They mean that the hopes and aspirations of a generation of young people are being destroyed by worklessness in their teens and twenties.

People need to know that Labour is on their side when it comes to jobs and young people.

Because the other parties aren’t.

The LibDems promise with one hand then cut with the other.

Scrapping EMAs and replacing them with a pupil premium that is anything but.

The SNP talk the language of growth and investment, but their actions are all about avoiding the difficult decisions.

The SNP say no to tuition fees in Scotland.

But they won’t tell you that the resulting cuts to college budgets mean 10,000 youngsters on waiting lists for places. 

Places where they could learn the skills needed for real jobs.

We must be the party with the vision and commitment to ensure every teenager who wants to work has a job or apprenticeship when they leave school or college.

Jobs come from economic growth and we need a business strategy that is joined up where it matters.

In the highlands, that means making sure investment in wind and wave renewables creates jobs and not just profit for the energy companies.

But we need to give our kids the confidence to look at other options as well.

There is a key role for the third sector, supporting young people into work in different ways.

In Scotland, the Social Enterprise Academy is winning awards for its programmes in schools.

I met one of the tutors from these courses in Inverness last week.

She told me about the transformation in the kids she worked with. 

You can imagine the scene.   10 sulky sixteen year olds.

Heads down, arms crossed, “not bovvered”

Beaten by the system before they’ve started …..

After three days turned into engaged young people, full of enthusiasm, self esteem and confidence to achieve.

Thinking about setting up their own social enterprises, creating jobs in their own communities

So all sorts of programmes can have a big impact.

But we need to fund them properly and with long term certainty.

Above all, we need to be bold and see the big picture.                                         

The public sector in Scotland spends £9bn buying in goods and services.  We need to start using that power. 

We need to get smart about buying.

Using community benefit clauses to keep jobs local and create apprenticeships and training opportunities for our young people.

And sending out a clear message to contractors.

If you want to provide goods and services to our councils, then you’ll support local jobs and pay your workers a Living Wage!

Labour must be the party that makes creating jobs and getting our kids back to work a priority.

A labour government in Holyrood and a Labour Government in Westminster, working together to get our kids into work.

That’s why with Labour we will always be better together.

Thank you, conference.

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Conference Diary 2012: Wednesday

NHS Debate

This took up most of the morning , with series of passionate contributions from delegates as well as few famous faces, including Lord Winston and a brilliant speech from Carrie Grant.  Best moment was the elderly delegate from Morecambe who spoke so well -  with some hilarious comparisons of Cameron to various useless medical treatments - used up all her time then pretended she couldn’t hear Angela Eagle (the Chair) when she asked her to wind up and ended up  with the whole conference cheering for her to be allowed to continue.  She got a standing ovation!   

Andy Burnham closed the debate with a barnstorming performance attacking Cameron, Lansley and the “invisible man” new NHS secretary Hunt.  Absolute commitment to reverse the Lansley reforms and take competition out of the NHS.  Standing ovation as he walked onto the stage and when he finished.  I think the opening ovation was for his role in setting up the Hillsborough enquiry as much as his NHS role.  But the comparison between his obvious commitment to the NHS and Jeremy Hunt’s was stark.

Morning session ended with a series of hand and card votes on motions and rule changes.  All passed.

Ed Milliband Q&A

This was better than I expected, with no evidence of planted questions.  Just Ed on his own, no notes, taking questions in sets of 3 or 4, from people he picked himself in the hall.  Some were difficult and off message (Trident, Remploy, public sector wage freeze) but he answered them all.    Maybe all a bit too wide ranging and technical for the TV, but he endeared himself to delegates with his openness.

He seemed to commit himself to looking at the minimum deterrent required to replace Trident and that re-nationalising the railways (after the West Coast line fiasco) was not off the agenda.

Policy Forum: the Green Economy

Made it to this but energy levels were fading fast, so was there more in presence than participation!  Last event I’ll attend as need a quiet night before a work day tomorrow and heading back home Thursday evening.

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Conference Diary 2012: Tuesday

Living Wage

Rachel Reeves led the discussion about the Labour councils across the UK now paying a Living Wage to their staff.  Not just about better living standards.  Staff committement and service quality has improved as a result or more motivated and committed staff. Such a human touch when a very nervous Fran, talking about how the living wage had transformed her life had a microphone failure.  Rachel had to sit with her arm around her to share a microphone.

Missed the chance to speak in follow up debate as still scribbling changes to speech to make it relevant.  didnt stop others who spoke on all sorts of issues.  We did finally get a couple of scottsh delegates in including Gordon Mathieson who was excellent.

Better Together

Fiery speeches from Margaret Curran and Johann along with a great new video.  Session didn't really come alive though. There was no debate or opportunity for speakers which I thought made the session a bit stale.  One for the cameras probably.

Fringe Event: Connecting Britain

Politics Home, Angela Smith MP, Alstom.

Angela Smith: HS2 is a key part of growing and integrating regional economies.  Big investment needs to be combined with devolution of service planning, franchising etc to local regions.

Tim Bently (Alstom: maintains the pendolino fleet).  Build Manchester to Birmingham first.  Big benefits. Need to join up the local bus and tram infrastructure with the right location of HS station. East Coast line could be upgraded to cut 50mins off journey time to Edinburgh without hs2

Leaders Speech

Just brilliant. Relaxed and confident. Talks about himself.  Some really good jokes (dinosaurs).  Key policy announcements; banks, technology Bach; apprentices.  Really took on the Tories with some blistering rhetoric.  Two standing ovations mid speech.  Sealed the deal with the party.  A new kind of prime minister.  Will the country see the same inspiration?

Policy Seminar; growing the economy

Another big Q&A session with economy team; Ed Balls, Chuka Unuma, Rachel Reeves.  Got question in about how we will incent or instruct telecoms companies to drive high speed broadband into rural areas like the highlands.  Shoud it  be a condition of their franchise?  Long shouts of other areas with the same problems from other delegates; Cumbria, Essex; Norfolk, Cornwall and more. This is a big issue across the country.

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