Indy Debate with Unison

Full text of my speech to the AGM of Unison Highland Branch this morning, on behalf of Better Together.  With acknowedgements to Douglas Alexander MP for the inspiration!

Good morning.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of Better Together

You will probably be expecting a well-rehearsed list of scare stories about independence.

Fears about access to NHS specialists, joining the Euro, Bank of England control, can we afford our pensions?

What happens when the oil runs out?

As even John Swinney is now asking.

Well I'm not going to do any of that.

I'm going to talk about my vision for Scotland and why I think we really will be Better Together.

I'm going to make the case for why staying in the UK will better deal with the big issues that are important to the Labour and Trade Union movement.

I’d like to start by taking Nicola Sturgeon’s advice.

In her speech in December last year, the Deputy First Minister said this:

 “I ask you, as you make up your minds over these next two years, to base your decision not on how Scottish or British you feel, but on what kind of country you want Scotland to be and how best you think that can be achieved.”

Well I believe the kind of country I want Scotland to be is best delivered by progressive politics based on fairness, equal opportunity and social justice.

A Scotland with its own distinct political and economic identity but which is part of a socially progressive United Kingdom which shares those values.

Because we should not confuse the arguments of nationalism with those for advancing social justice.

We live in an unfair society right now as the Tory & LibDem Coalition shrinks the economy, cutting jobs, benefits and services for the poorest whilst protecting their rich friends.

But the great advances that were struggled for and secured by working people across the UK – the Welfare State, Trades Union Rights, Equal Pay, a National Minimum Wage - were secured by the votes of working people in Cardiff, Liverpool and Newcastle, just as surely as people in Dundee, Inverness or Glasgow.

It was the votes of Yorkshire miners and Lancashire mill workers which helped deliver a National Health Service, not Edinburgh consultants, Fife Farmers or Glasgow captains of industry.

Socialism doesn’t stop at a border.

We need to fight together to create the UK society we want.

Better together means social justice is not just an ideal for Scotland but is a statement of solidarity and connectedness with our comrades and fellow workers across the UK.

We must maintain a distinctively Scottish view on public services regardless of who is in power at Westminster.

The NHS has been much safer in the SNP’s hands than the Coalitions.

We need to get away from the neo con view that the private sector is always best, that local government is just an expensive bureaucracy.

That decent public services are a burden on the state rather than a measure of the health of our society.

At the risk of arguing the case for small independent nations, Norway, Denmark and other European countries manage to run social democratic economies with high quality public service, low unemployment and decent workers’ rights. 

Paid for by higher taxes.

So can we, but we need to argue that case.

And we need to win that argument TOGETHER or the banks, the tax avoiders and the big corporates will pick us off just as they have done with the other “arc of prosperity” countries.

And we don’t need to look far to see how badly wrong things can go in a small independent country.

From the early 1990s, the combination of the Celtic Tiger phenomenon and Trade Union engagement in the Social Partnership Agreement worked to drive up real wages in Ireland, especially in the public sector.

By 1999 the country attracted up to one quarter of all US direct investment for the EU with a total of over 1,000 multinationals employing over 100,000 people in electronics, software and pharmaceuticals.

Much of that investment, however, came at a cost of sweet-heart non-union deals to attract the big corporates. 

The IFSC was in effect a “free port” for big capital.

When the crunch came, ordinary working people paid the price.  Unions were undermined and isolated.

Would an independent Scotland have to go down the same route of low taxes and low regulation to attract big business? 

Is that what the business backers behind the SNP are really looking forward to?

Competing with our comrades in the rest of the UK for investment, in a race to the bottom driven by the big corporates?

That’s not the Scotland I want to live in.

I want to live in a Scotland where….

We can share the costs of developing Green energy across the rich UK tax-base not just those in Scotland.

We can ensure a level playing field for jobs and the minimum wage which does not allow workers in one part of the country to be exploited by another.

We can devote much bigger resources to engineering and medical research in centres of excellence right across the country instead of having to fund it ourselves.

It won’t just happen; we will all need to work hard to elect governments in Westminster and Holyrood which share those ideals.

Tory government is not inevitable. 

But a free market UK economy will drag down an independent Scotland.

A rightward drifting Tory party in England needs to be defeated by a Labour government not given its head by Scotland walking away.

We must fight for decent public services and the kind of NHS we all believe in right across the UK and not abandon working people in other parts of the UK to the worst of Tory free market dogma. 

Scotland can prosper as a social, economic and politically devolved country…..

.. making its own choices about what works for us…

…… but able to flex its economic power as part of a joined up UK which shares the same core values. 

That’s why we are Better Together.

Thank you.

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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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