Letter to Courier about the A9

Text below of my letter published in the Inverness Courier and Strathspey Herald last week

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Dear Sirs

The Highland press has seen much coverage in the last few weeks of the argument between Danny Alexander MP and the SNP over dualling the A9 and speed cameras.

I think its time we all stopped playing politics with the A9.

It’s a vital connector for the Highland economy.  But it also needs to be safe to drive on, for locals, for visitors and regular commuters between Inverness, Edinburgh & Glasgow.

I’m one of those commuters so I know first-hand how frustrating and dangerous a road it can be. 

You only need to look at the A90 that serves Aberdeen to see the benefits dualling the A9 will bring.  We need to deliver a dualled A9, as quickly as possible, without politics getting in the way of finding the money. 

I’m also a regular train user, just as frustrated by long journey times, “passing stops” and inconvenient timetables. The rail link south also needs investment to increase capacity and shorten journey times.  Would the option of more rail freight take some big lorries off the A9?

Meanwhile, inter-city and local buses are the forgotten services in all of this; expensive and not meeting the needs of rural and town communities alike.

A fresh approach is needed – Westminster, Holyrood and The Highland Council working together – to deliver an integrated transport system that really works for the Highlands.  An approach that combines big capital investments in the A9 and the rail links to Inverness, alongside imaginative ideas to improve local bus services.

Less playing politics, more getting it done.

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Mike Robb to tackle 'Tory cheerleader' Danny Alexander

MP Danny Alexander has been “a cheerleader for Tory policies” which have damaged the Highlands, says the man selected to oppose him in next year's General Election.

Highland businessman Mike Robb has been selected as the Scottish Labour Party candidate for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.  Mr Robb finished runner-up to Mr. Alexander at the 2010 election.

Mr Robb, whose wife Gwen is an NHS nurse, runs his own UK-wide IT consultancy with an office in Inverness. He has a degree in physics from Edinburgh University and he and Gwen, who live in Muir of Ord, have two adult sons.

After being unanimously selected again as candidate at a Labour Party meeting in Inverness, Mr Robb said:  "Being in second place last time puts us in the driving seat as the leading challenger to replace Danny Alexander, who has led the charge in driving up the cost of living, hitting families with a VAT hike and the Bedroom Tax while doing nothing about rocketing fuel and energy bills.

"If you feel let down by Mr Alexander, then I'm the alternative if you want him out of office.

"I've spoken to many people who voted for him -- but didn't realise he would be such a cheerleader for Tory policies that have been so damaging for young people, ordinary pensioners and the poorest in our community."

“We’ll be campaigning hard over the next 12 months to beat the LibDems, elect a Labour MP and give the Highlands its very own Portillo Moment.”

Mr Robb said that providing jobs for young people was his number one priority.  "It's tragic that so many youngsters are leaving school or college with no real employment prospects", he stressed.

"We also need a welfare system that's there when required -- helping people to make their lives work instead of stigmatising them.  Scrapping the Bedroom Tax will be a good start"

David Stewart, local Labour MP from 1997 to 2005, said he was delighted that Mike Robb has agreed to stand again. "He has enthused our membership as the fight begins to give the area a Labour voice again."

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Latest Scottish Tax & Spend Numbers show why we are Better Together

The article below by my former Physics IV colleague Ian Gray deserves a read.  In simple language it demolishes the SNP case for a financialy secure indepndant Scotland.

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It was obvious the SNP knew the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures were bad news for them when the First Minister briefed journalists instead of John Swinney whose job it usually is.

 

Of course they were right, for the sums just don’t support their rhetoric on Scotland’s financial position and their promise of economic prosperity under independence. 

 

In their White Paper, the SNP’s vision for future income is largely dependent on revenue from oil which is a volatile and finite resource. What these new GERS numbers show is that last year, if you divvy up oil on a geographic basis, Scotland’s oil revenues dropped by 44% as oil gets harder to extract from the North Sea and therefore less profitable. 

 

This is a drop in one year of £4.4billion, equal to the budget for all of Scotland’s schools combined. If we were an independent nation right now then that hole in the Scottish economy would have to be filled by a Scottish Chancellor either by huge cuts in public services, or massive tax rises. There is certainly no spare oil money for any oil fund to be set up. 

 

Over the last year the SNP have based much of their economics of independence on the assertion that Scotland’s deficit is lower than the UK’s. The latest figures show that while they’ve been arguing for separation based on this claim, the reality is that Scotland’s deficit (8.3%) is actually greater than the rest of the UK’s (7.3%). This blows their economic case for separation out of the water.  It leaves the White Paper, already shown to be wrong on currency and Europe, without a shred of credibility.

 

The GERS numbers are complex and the SNP have complicated them further in their attempt to conceal the bad news and bamboozle us with varied interpretations of the figures. However, the bottom line is that the only way in which Scotland can withstand such volatile shifts in oil revenues is through the stability and security of being part of the larger UK economy. 

 

There is no doubt that the SNP’s fiscal case for separation has been dealt a fatal blow and they need to tell the people of Scotland how public services and pensions will be paid for if independence goes ahead.

 

Yours,

 

Iain Gray

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance

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Speech to Labour Party Special Conference 2014

Comrades
My CLP met jointly with Inverness and Nairn CLP in  December to discuss and agree our response to the Collins Report.
We agree with much of the principle and proposals in the Report.
There is a real need for our party processes and structures to be modernised in order to tackle the widespread public disengagement with party politics.
We are in favour of developing new models of membership and affiliation for individuals wishing to play a role in the party.
But we also believe that the principle of collective affiliation to the Labour Party - by Trade Unions and Socialist Societies - is a bedrock of our movement which needs to be retained and developed.
We need to build on collective affiliation to develop better and modern ways to encouarge individual participation in labour party democracy by both trade union members and labour supporters in our communities.
So we support the proposals for affiliated memberships and One Member One Vote in the Collins Report.
We support the NEC resolution.

Comrades, I represent a Highland CLP.

Maybe I should be apologising at this point about Danny Alexander.

Well I can tell tell you we are working on it.  

Our Dump Danny Campaign is up, running and gaining wide support.

You can expect a Highland Portillo moment in 2015.

In September this year we will have the most important vote in Scotland in generations.

A referendum where the YES campaign to split up the UK is led by the SNP and Alex Salmond.

A leader whose response to facts, the polls, to business, the Bank of England, the EU commissioners....

...., to Ed Balls and his future opposition Treasury colleagues......

......  is to say "I'm right, you're wrong".

Not so much "One Member One Vote" as "One Man, My Vote, My Way"!

That's why were better together in Scotland.

That's why were better together in the UK with a One Nation Labour Party.

Comrades, support the Resolution.

Thank you.

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The Positive Case for Pensions

Pension provision has become one of the key economic battlegrounds for the Independence debate.  When it comes to economic security in retirement, there is strong and positive case for why we are better to stay together as part of a joined up UK.

The first thing to say is that whilst our current pension system is not perfect, many of the benefits of the UK pension system are universally acknowledged.  There are many changes I would like to see to our benefits and pension systems, but breaking away from the financial security of the current UK state pension scheme is not one of them.

In our UK welfare system, Scots contribute resources to the common pool, and take benefits from it. Perhaps the most significant of these is the old-age pension, introduced first by a Welsh Liberal 100 years ago, but integrated into a wider system of national insurance and social security by an English Labour minister. When you are out of work in Glasgow your benefits are paid by the taxes of someone in work in Glamorgan. When you retire in Lanark your pension is paid by the taxes of a young person in Liverpool starting out in working life.

The UK has learned the hard way how to build a sustainable pension system.  The system that is now being built here offers a better combination of fairness, sustainability and predictability than most other countries in both the developed and emerging worlds.

It is not a system that is going to make anyone rich, but it will deliver, will stand the test of time and provides incentives and confidence for people to plan for their own retirement. It is a pension system that doesn’t over-promise and it is realistic about what can be delivered.  It provides people with the reassurance that, when it is time for them to retire, the benefits they thought would be there are actually there.

Looking to the future more people are living for longer.  The ratio of people receiving their pension compared to the percentage of people in work is rising. This will put pressure on public finances across the UK.  However the position in Scotland is worse with the proportion of people over pension age in Scotland projected to be higher than in the rest of the UK.  That will increase the pension bill.  

Carrying this cost is a bigger problem for Scotland than for the rest of the UK because of the age structure of our population. Within the union, however, that risk is pooled with the whole country – 60m people across a broad range of employment, age and earning power - and will not have to be borne purely out of Scottish resources. That’s a positive benefit of the union for Scotland.

The SNP Government, in its White Paper on Scotland future has proposed that an independent Scotland would have a more generous state pension system than is currently provided across the UK.  The headlines are a small increase in the state pension to £160 per week and the introduction of a “triple lock” to ensure the state pension always rose by more than average incomes, prices or inflation whichever is the higher.  Both good policies.  However, the White Paper (see Chapter 4, pages 138 – 150) whilst describing in detail the changes to the pension system an SNP administration would make, does not provide any detailed costings of these changes nor any analysis of the fiscal impact of the ageing population in Scotland in future years.  Nor does it make clear whether it will set up its own state pension fund and how it will be funded if it does.  Indeed the language talks about Scotland “administering” pensions on behalf of Scottish pensioners.  Does this mean it intends to reach an agreement with rUK to remain part of the UK fund, whilst deciding on its own rules for how it spends its share of the state pension “pot”. 

A recent Institute of Fiscal Studies Report has looked at the detail.  It concludes: “It seems likely that this slightly more generous system could not be sustained in the long term without discretionary tax rises or further cuts to spending on public services.”

The other key argument for remaining part of the UK is the potential risk to occupational and private pensions, which more and more working people rely on to top up the basic state provision.  EU rules on pension schemes operating in more than one country (“cross-border schemes”) are strict; they have to be fully funded and comply with much stricter actuarial standards than apply to single state schemes.  There is a real risk that Scottish pension contributions for occupational schemes may have to rise, benefits fall, separate schemes be set up just for Scottish employees, or even close.   The SNP recognise this in their White Paper (p148) and talk of negotiating transitional arrangements.  This seems to me, however, to be a risk that is just not worth taking.  Why risk changes to occupational pension arrangement that demonstrably work now?

The UK pension system is not perfect of course, nor is the system in any nation. But the UK system is built, it is sustainable and it has a broad spread of population to support it; a system built through the generations and there for the generations to come. That's something worth keeping.

The only way for Scotland to remain a partner in the UK pensions system is for Scotland to remain a partner in the UK, pooling and sharing our resources. For what is the UK national pension system but a form of collective insurance against poverty & indignity in old age where risk and reward is shared across classes, across regions, across nations, and across generations young and old.

It does makes sense to look at devolving some aspects of the benefits system to Holyrood e.g. housing benefit so that the detail of welfare policies could be better adapted to the different priorities and demographics in Scotland.  But when it comes to Pensions, I believe we really are better together.

It can take 50 years to prove that a pensions system works and by then it is too late to do anything about it if it doesn’t. In that respect, we are being asked by the Yes Campaign to make a calculated gamble.  That’s not a risk I think is worth taking.

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Better Together at Tain High School

Text of my speech to 5th and 6th year pupils at Tain High School this morning.

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Good morning.

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

We are a cross-party group campaigning for a NO vote in the independence referendum on 18th September.

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

Project Fear I think we are called.

Facts, figures and fears about joining the EU, giving up the Pound, Bank of England control, can we afford our pensions?

What happens when the oil runs out?

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

I want to talk about my vision for Scotland and why I think we really will be Better Together in the UK.

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

In her speech in December 2012, 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.”

So what is the Independence Referendum really about?

The SNP seem to be making it about what form of government can best deliver what the people of Scotland need.   Their argument, simply put, is that an independent Scotland can run its own affairs in the best interests of Scots than a Westminster government with a different agenda.

And while we endure the baleful effects on living standards of a Tory/LibDem Coalition driving through its, free market, small government, anti public sector, benefits cutting agenda that’s a powerful argument.

We hear much talk from the YES Campaign about democracy, about delivering a government for Scotland that better reflects the will of the people of Scotland than now.

But it’s not a joined up UK that is holding Scotland back. 

It’s the SNP who want to put it all at risk by a leap of faith into the unknown.

Everything will be fine in an independent Scotland because the SNP will make it so.

Europe will fast-track our EU membership because it’s the will of the Scottish people.

The rest of the UK will agree to a sterling zone because it’s in THEIR interests, whilst Scotland competes for jobs and investments with an Irish-style low tax policy for big corporates.

And look what happened there.

The SNP know this.  But in pursuit of their own ideology they are ready to plunge Scotland into years of economic uncertainty. 

In pursuit of their own interest they will not take some of the actions they could take now to mitigate some of the worst effects of the Tory/LibDem coalition.

They talk about Project Fear and Project Hope. 

But it’s what they are proposing that risks plunging Scotland into a generation of fear, uncertainty and doubt.

I’m a Labour activist.

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 part of a socially progressive United Kingdom which shares those values, working together to deliver them.

So what does staying together in the UK mean for young people like you?

It means the best opportunity to work anywhere you want in the country without any artificial barriers.

It means that if you want to go on to study at a university or college you can choose the best one in the UK that suits what you want to do and not be limited by fees or borders.

The daughter of a friend of mine in Edinburgh has just chosen to study at Exeter rather than Stirling because it was a better course.  I’d never like to see her options limited.

First and foremost what we need in Scotland is a strong economy.

A strong economy that delivers decent jobs and a decent standard of living.

That’s hard enough in the current climate.

I think it will be harder still with the leap of faith proposed by the YES campaign.

Let me give you an example.

I run a small business.  We are a specialist IT Company.  We have clients all over the UK, from Invergordon to Edinburgh, in Birmingham, London and Cornwall.

We compete for that business against companies in each of those regions.

Times are tough.  Winning business and keeping people employed is hard.

Where we are based now – in Inverness – isn’t an issue.

But imagine if Scotland was a separate country.

I’m bidding for a project in Nottingham that will keep 2 of my team busy for a year.

Were good on price and quality, but were up against a competitor from Manchester.

Think about a post YES vote England which has lost its share of oil revenues and is still arguing with us about how the national debt should be shared out.

Today I’d probably win that business.  After a YES vote I’m not so sure.

Multiply that by thousands of small businesses like mine who trade all over the UK and what does that say for jobs.

What does that say for your chances of finding a job or an apprenticeship with a local firm.

It’s hard enough now.

How on earth will independence help?

Nationalism in Scotland attempts to provide a simple morality tale of decent, progressive Scots held back by whoever is their chosen ‘other’ of the day… London, austerity loving Tories, Scottish Labour.

The fact is that the citizens of the rest of the UK are not all ‘austerity loving Tories’, but are friends, family and work colleagues.

In Scotland today, the difference between pay and prices matters much more than any differences of outlook between Scotland and England.

In Scotland today, the real questions is will our children and grandchildren have a good school to go to, have opportunities to make the best of who they are for themselves and for others.

In Scotland today, detesting the Coalition’s approach to welfare reform which punishes those in poverty and blames them for the national debt is something my party and the SNP will agree on.

But it has nothing to do with independence.

I am a proud Scot. I am ambitious for Scotland's people and Scotland's possibilities.

My case is not that Scotland could not survive as a separate country – it is that there's a better choice for our future.

The best choice for our future is to remain a strong and proud country while benefiting from the economic strength, security and opportunity we can take advantage of as part of a bigger United Kingdom

The best choice for our future is to build a strong Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom which gives us the best of both worlds: real decision making power here in Scotland, solidarity with our friends in the rest of the UK. 

Doing thing differently where it works for us in Scotland, but staying connected with communities across the UK with common interests and values.

Scotland can be one of the best small countries in the world to live and work in. 

A free and equal country, where everyone enjoys the benefits of those values.

I don’t think we need independence to achieve that.

We already have a Scottish Parliament with the power to do so much.

We need to win a resounding NO vote in 2014.

And then we need to use that power.

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Scottish Labour: beyond the Referendum

After a relatively quiet year in political terms in 2013 – no national elections, not many by-elections - we have three major political challenges over the next 3 years.

The Independence Referendum in September 2014, a UK General Election in May 2015 and the next Scottish Parliament elections in May 2016.

The big challenge, of course, is to win a resounding vote against separation this year.

The 2015 and 2016 elections will be very different if the YES campaign is successful.  It’s tempting to ignore them for now for that reason.  I’ll argue here that  its exactly by being clear about what Labour will set out to achieve if elected in 2015 and 216 that we give ourselves the best chance of a resounding NO vote in September.

To listen to the pundits and read the polls, you'd think it was a done deal.  The case against independence seems compelling.  Confusion about the pound, doubts about EU membership, risks to jobs and pensions.  And that’s just the headlines.

But I don’t think it’s that simple.

In fact, I think we risk the political equivalent of sleep-walking into independence.

Because there are 10s of thousands of people who I don’t think will vote with their heads on 18th September but with their hearts.  Who have heard all the arguments - probably even agree with them - but may still pause in the polling booth, pencil over the two boxes, and just wonder.... what if?

Because there are an awful lot of people out there who are fed up with how government works - or doesn’t work - for them.  People who are fed up with politics and politicians of all parties.  People who don’t even vote.  People who may be persuaded, just once, to vote for a change, regardless of the risks. 

That’s who the SNP will mobilise and spend their election money-chest to target this year.

People who will vote with their hearts. 

People who want a better, different, Scotland than is on offer from the main parties right now.

We need to win those hearts.

We need to win those hearts not just for one vote, but to vote Labour again in 2015 and 2016.

So what is the Independence Referendum really about?

The SNP seem to be making it about what form of government can best deliver what the people of Scotland need.   Their argument, simply put, is that an independent Scotland can run its own affairs in the best interests of Scots than a Westminster government with a different agenda.

And while we endure the baleful effects on living standards of a Tory/LibDem Coalition driving through its, free market, small government, anti public sector, benefits cutting agenda that’s a powerful argument.

We hear much talk from the YES Campaign about democracy, about delivering a government for Scotland that better reflects the will of the people of Scotland than now.

But it’s not a joined up UK that is holding Scotland back. 

It’s the SNP who want to put it all at risk by a leap of faith into the unknown.

Everything will be fine in an independent Scotland because the SNP will make it so.

Europe will fast-track our EU membership because it’s the will of the Scottish people.

The rest of the UK will agree to a sterling zone because it’s in THEIR interests, whilst Scotland competes for jobs and investments with an Irish-style low tax policy for big corporates.

The SNP know this.  But in pursuit of their own ideology they are ready to plunge Scotland into years of economic uncertainty. 

In pursuit of their own interest they will not take some of the actions they could take now to mitigate some of the worst effects of the Tory/LibDem coalition.

They talk about project fear and project hope. 

But it’s what they are proposing that risks plunging Scotland into a generation of fear, uncertainty and doubt.

But I don’t think it’s good enough just to challenge the SNP to be more honest.

We need to challenge the SNP, get them off their moral high-horse about democracy and start to explain why they are ready to take such huge risks with all our economic futures.  

As Labour politicians and activists we need to start getting angry with the SNP about the risks they are taking with the economic and social lives of most Scots.

The Better Together campaign of course has to spell out all that is wrong with the Yes campaign’s arguments.  But as a working arrangement of Labour, Tory, LibDem and Independent politicians and activists, it’s limited in its ability to really spell out positive alternatives.

I’ve shared Better Together platforms with Danny Alexander, but my view of a post-referendum Scotland and UK is very different from his and those of his “quad” colleagues.  

Contemplating another Tory/LibDem Coalition after 2015, it’s tempting to flirt with the idea of an independent Scotland.  How different would a Scottish Labour Party be then?  Or would we need a new party?  Independent Labour Party anyone?

But this baleful coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats is only there because the Labour party ran out of ideas and popular support. Post Iraq, post the credit crunch, post the banking collapse.

We need a Vision for a post-referendum Labour Scotland

The Labour Party needs to talk a lot more about how things would be different after a NO vote in 2014.

What will our priorities be? What new policies will we promote, what will we actually do if elected into power in 2015 and 2016?

I’ve argued before about the need for a positive Labour vision for a post referendum Scotland.

What does that actually mean?

It should start with a clear statement of what we believe in as a Labour Party.

A fair, equal and socially just society.

A society where there are always decent jobs which pay a living wage for those that need or want to work.   A society which abhors the waste of young people not able to find work or proper training and wants a government determined to tackle it.

A socially just society where the right to a decent standard of living is recognised for all and provided for based on need rather than earning power.

A society which places a high value on its public services, freely available to all when they are needed and is prepared to fund excellence and not just a safety net.

A sustainable society, committed not just to sustainable energy but to maintaining and protecting diverse communities across the country, urban and rural.

A society which values the role of government in delivering economic and social benefits for us all, because the free market, left to itself will not do so.

Scottish Labour need to be talking much more about what kind of society and government it wants to deliver post the referendum and the elections of 2015 and 2016.

We need some big ideas and some new policies that give people a clear view of what a post-Referendum, Labour-governed Scotland could be like.  Big, ambitious ideas.

Here are some ideas from my list:

·        a commitment to a living wage for all public and private sector employees, backed up by changes to public sector procurement practices to ensure that any business bidding for a public sector contract will pay it

·        establishing a network of regional banks – maybe by breaking up RBS whilst we still own it – that can provide lending and services based on the needs of the local economy not global competition.  This works well in Germany.

·        requiring major private sector companies whose decisions impact the lives of thousands to appoint trade union representatives as non-execs on their Boards.  

·        bringing ScotRail under public control in the same way as East Coast, which is running well and generating income for the government (and opposing the sell-off of East Coast as well), then using that power to develop joined up public transport services – especially in rural areas – that reduce the dependency on cars    

·        extending Labour’s proposed control of gas and electricity prices to all fuels – including petrol and diesel at garages – using a public pricing indicator where private firms have to justify rises above this or why they are not reducing prices when it falls

·        not replacing Trident.  A policy which saves us a huge amount of money and gives us the moral high- ground to argue for a non-nuclear weapon world.

Some of these are policies the Scottish Parliament can already pursue if it wanted to.

Others will need co-operation, and argument, with a Labour Government at Westminster.

Creating jobs, building economic security, promoting equal opportunity and funding decent public services are what anyone in this country should expect from a left of centre government, whether run from Westminster or Holyrood.

There is a line in the Internationale which sums this up.

"Freedom is just privilege extended if not enjoyed by one and all". 

Scotland can be one of the best small countries in the world to live and work in. 

A free and equal country, where everyone enjoys the benefits of those values.

We already have a Scottish Parliament with the power to do so much.

We need to win a resounding NO vote in 2014.

And then we need to use that power.

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