Mr Brown is up in Scotland at present, dutifully going around to scare the Scots and alert them to the earth-shattering discovery that the SNP is in favour of Independence- well shut ma mouth! We thought that this was a Scottish Election for Holyrood, but we have had the Blessed Tony, en route to saving the world again, haranguing these stubborn Scots who might not believe in the disinterested do gooders in the English Parliament ongoing, and now Mr Brown, spewing forth dubious statistics, more commonly called lies; two of the leaders of the English Parliament up here on an away day, because the "outgoing" First Minister (to quote the Scots Independent newspaper) is not doing a very good job. He made his comments at a meeting of Labour Party members in Edinburgh; the press was allowed in , but not allowed to ask questions.

Mr Brown has just published another Budget, we think and has warned us all that voting SNP would damage the wonderful prospect that New Labour has planned. Strange indeed that the Royal Bank of Scotland, to name but one, has savaged Mr Brown’s estimates for business growth and investment as "an unjustified gamble", but at least he is not gambling with his own money and prosperity, but with ours; a day later came the news that UK PLC was £1 billion more in the red than the Chancellor knew, further evidence of his disregard for accuracy, or just incompetence.

He has been telling all and sundry that the SNP demand for more fiscal powers for the Scottish Parliament is "deceiving" Scotland! The SNP position and plan is quite clear, and if Mr Brown spent any time in his constituency, he would know that the SNP’s published plan is that we want to take control of the Scottish Parliament, run it effectively, a nice change, and then having established our competence, ask the people if they want Independence. It’s hardly news, never mind headlines.

I also noticed a newspaper that claimed Gordon Brown was Fife’s "most famous son"; must have been an insular English one. Andrew Carnegie and Adam Smith come instantly to mind, also Alexander Selkirk (Robinson Crusoe) but none of these became the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the English Parliament ongoing.

NEVERENDUM REFERENDUM

This proposal has been around a long time, and while it is not one that would have been my first choice, as I always believed that a majority of seats was a democratic mandate, I think I have to concede that the inept performance of the Scottish Executive over the last four years has created even less trust of politicians. The Scottish Parliament was launched with high hopes, and New Labour and its Liberal lapdog have made a mockery of these. Contrary to their beliefs, the electorate is not stupid, and has seen through them; the problem is that the guilty ones have shuffled the blame on to the Parliament, and deflected it from themselves.

So first we had a "senior civil servant" in London, saying that the Scottish Parliament had no right to run a Referendum on Independence, as this was a "Reserved Matter"; this was rightly seen as a further escalation of the New Labour "Divorce" tactic, but they rather slipped up on that. All of a sudden they exposed two fault lines in their own argument; in the first place if the Scottish Parliament could not hold a Referendum, why was New Labour campaigning against it? Surely the best way would be to ignore it? In the second place, London is obviously determined that Scotland will obey its orders, and they will put that pesky upstart the Scottish Parliament in its place, back to dog-fouling.

Some interesting fall-out (appropriate word in the circumstances) from this issue; Jim Sillars, writing in the Scotsman, says he never voted for this Parliament, but the Parliament cannot hold a Referendum, as it would be ultra vires, a fancy Latin tag that sounds classier than "acting outwith its powers". Mr Sillars disagrees with the distinguished professor of law (his description) Professor Sir Neil MacCormick, MEP, who says that the Parliament would have the competence, if it so wished; we are sure that Mrs Sillars agrees with him, and if she is elected as an "Independent" will vote against having a Referendum. It is worth while remembering that the Sillars family were both lionised by the SNP, but subsequently fell out with that Party.

It may all have been a deep dark plot to trot out TV library pictures of the late Donald Dewar, to help their election campaign; Mr Dewar had given Alex Salmond MP public assurances that if the people of Scotland wished the Scottish Parliament to move on from devolution to Independence then it would have that right. Being generally worldlywise, Alex made sure that this public commitment was made in the chamber of the House of Commons, and duly recorded in Hansard; Alex further made the point that Dewar was careful to make the distinction between Independence, of which he, Dewar, disapproved, and the right of the Scottish people to determine their own future, which he accepted.

I COME TO BURY CAESAR

I am in danger of slipping into the nostalgia that maybe Donald Dewar was really a great man, when his legacy is crumbling; during this election campaign the cost of the Scottish Parliament building is being highlighted as one of the most overt and consistent failures. This is again a New Labour, supported by their Liberal lapdog, evasion; the decision to build the Scottish Parliament was taken by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Donald Dewar, at Westminster, before the Parliament was elected. The price tag of £40 million, according to the architects’s widow, was plucked out of thin air , by Donald Dewar, and the reason the Parliament is down at Holyrood is because the eminently sensible option of the old Royal High School on Calton Hill, was seen as a "Nationalist shibboleth". Who exactly made that comment is not clear, as it has been denied by many New Labour politicians, principally as the new building is such a disaster, so the guilty one has evaded responsibility.

So the late St Donald decided where it was going, and assembled a team of the great and good to choose the design; the much vaunted public consultation never took place, even Edinburgh’s principal amenity body, the Cockburn Association, only heard about this after it had happened! The design team included one lay member, Kirsty Wark, a neighbour and close friend of Donald Dewar, who added the "media" glamour; one comment made at the time was "Well, that should spike the awkward questions on Newsnight, then"

- and so it has proved. Incidentally, Wark Clements(her production company) also won the contract to produce a filmed record of the project’s progress, which is costing the taxpayer (us) a lot of cash. So Labour decided on the site, the architect, the design and the awarding of the contract, all before the Parliament came into being.

When being interviewed on the TV Programme, the Scottish 500, John Swinney said that if he became First Minister he would peg the price at £340 million, the latest estimate, and institute a public inquiry into the project, reminding the audience that Jack McConnell had been the Finance Minister signing the cheques; the following week, the outgoing First Minster, the very same Jack McConnell, said that he would institute a public inquiry into the project. He did this by writing a letter to Mrs Sillars, who trumpeted it all over the press; it has to be said that the Scottish Parliament is almost as good a political punchbag as the Millennium Dome was, but Mrs Sillars will not be responsible for any decision. At the time the design was chosen she merely asked that the architect should "listen to the planners and the people of Edinburgh who want something a bit more harmonious with the natural surroundings." Cool but not dismissive.

I also noticed an article from David Black, author of "All the First Minister’s Men" - The Truth Behind Holyrood, in which he took issue with John Swinney’s view, but only because he felt John should have demanded that Westminster pay for the project, as they made the decision in the first place. Mr Black also pointed out that New Labour had had two chances to cancel the project, the first when hardly any money had been spent, and they had rejected these.

Recent press stories have concentrated on documents found in Baghdad which purport to show that Mr Galloway was in receipt of approximately £375,000 a year from the Iraqi government; Mr Galloway denies any involvement and claims that the documents are forgeries, specifically planted to discredit him.

This begs a question or two; why would anyone, and in this instance we must assume the British Government, go to all the time, trouble and expense to discredit Mr Galloway? And why would it depend on finding a convenient box of files, containing other documents that just happened to survive bombing, burning and looting, on the off chance that whoever found them would know what to do with them? It is stretching the long arm of planning just a bit far to think that our security services are that efficient; if they were that good, no doubt weapons of mass destruction would have popped up all over the place.

We accept that Mr Galloway will deny all knowledge, and that he will open his financial affairs to scrutiny, but if he has a Swiss bank account, or properties in the Cayman Islands, surely he would take great care to conceal these; whatever else one may accuse Mr Galloway of, he is not stupid. It could be that his opposition to the war in Iraq was because the flow of money would dry up, and what better way of publicising ones principles and getting surreptitiously paid for it; we should also remember that he was encouraging people to go to Iraq and act as human shields to prevent war. He himself did not manage to make it, by design, as he was on holiday in Portugal, writing a book - on Iraq. I seem to recall that when he was the acknowledged head of the Labour Party in Dundee, he was never elected to the City Council due to a scandal involving a corporation house for his then girl friend. He had influence and used it, and a lady called Bunty Turley, a staunch trade unionist, was elected instead, with the comment "Enough is enough." Maybe enough wasn’t enough for Mr Galloway; he is now suing the Daily Telegraph, as he has in the past sued many another. Most times he won the actions, but this time........?

Who hates him enough to stitch him up this way, and what’s the point?

The SNP also had a broadcast of its own, which highlighted the plight of those left on hospital waiting lists. It would be fair to say that it caused a bit of a stushie, although hard hitting and effective would be the best words to describe it. The response from Labour and their attack dogs at the Daily Record show they are in trouble over their failure to deliver on health and what’s more, they know it themselves.

It’s also been a week for opinion polls and the psephologists. The Herald ‘superpoll’ hit the newsstands on Thursday, reporting that Labour had opened up a 13 point lead over the SNP in the race for Holyrood. Conducted as pictures were beamed round the world of statues of Saddam Hussein toppling, commentators began to speak of the effect of a ‘Baghdad Bounce’ helping Labour in the polls.

Clearly, the poll was discouraging for SNP activists, although older hands remembered that Labour was even further ahead at this point in 1999 and still lost 10 points from their lead in the final 2 weeks. However, what really grabbed our attention here in Edinburgh was that we had bucked the trend, putting us at 30% in the Lothians on the 1^st vote and 27% on the crucial 2^nd vote. If accurate, this shows something of a turnaround in the Lothians, putting us above the SNP national average for the first time.

Traditionally, with the exception of Livingston and Linlithgow, the Lothians have been one of the SNPs weakest areas. In elections past, activists would flood out of Edinburgh to work instead in West Lothian, leaving Midlothian and the Edinburgh seats to run limited campaigns.

No longer. A set of decent results in 1999 were followed by reversals at Westminster in 2001 and some dismal performances in local authority by-elections in the city. Clearly, the potential for us was there, but we weren’t capitalising on it. Fed up being trounced time after time at the polls, local activists began a series of regular city worknights, covering each constituency in Edinburgh.

Although the war doesn’t seem to have harmed Labour’s headline support at the moment, the effect may turn out to be most devastating in the areas where the SNP is pushing hardest. Their Edinburgh activists have been posted missing in this campaign, mainly due to their personal opposition to war. All over the city, only Scottish Parliamentary and Council candidates are in evidence, with the occasional sighting of the lesser-spotted election agent to make up the numbers.

On paper, Labour may be defending seemingly impregnable majorities in many seats and wards, but without activists their ability to counter a motivated and clear SNP campaign has been hampered severely. In contrast, the SNP in Edinburgh are very much ‘up for it’ this time round, with 2 years of solid work behind us in preparation for 1^st May.

We know that if you unseat a Labour councillor, in its current state the party machine behind them will wither and die. It’s bad enough to work without the support of your party, but when the councillor goes so does the focus of activity. Instead, the newsletters go undelivered, the public meetings stop and the local institutions look elsewhere for political leadership.

In my own constituency of Edinburgh Central, we have worked as never before, starting our campaign to elect Kevin Pringle well over a year ago. Kevin has fought a tough, energetic and media savvy campaign, aided by our extremely effective organiser Nick Elliot-Cannon. Meanwhile, our activists have been out in force sometimes 3 or 4 times a week, either to work in the constituency or to aid the city-wide campaign.

More Edinburgh voters have received a leaflet or spoken face to face with an SNP canvasser in advance of this election than ever before. People know we are in their area and have been working hard to improve the quality of life in the city. Most importantly, they know that we have something worthwhile to say, and that whatever Labour’s propaganda machine may say, the SNP don’t have tails and eat babies after all.

There’s certainly all to play for between now and 1st May. It might not be a night for headlines in Lothians, but we are hopeful that a strong group of SNP councillors can be returned to the City Chambers, who will then be the foundation of our push to take the Edinburgh constituencies. We’re back in business in Edinburgh and looking to get the number of councillors and MSPs elected that our support in the city has long merited.

Jim Lynch comments "Richard’s covering note was that as he had written this near the end of last week it might need revising, but I’ve just let it be, because I didn’t want to spoil the flow".

FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

Be fair, they have only been in power for 6 years at Westminster and 4 years in Edinburgh; nothing happens overnight, but 6 years!

As the Iraqi people rejoice in their new found freedom, they realise that they can demonstrate against the Americans and not get shot; a strange way to greet liberators, but they also need food, water and electricity.

Possibly biting the hand that isn’t feeding them.

Or maybe they just decided to give us the area that spawned Foot and Mouth disease.

Surprised to see Charles Clarke, English Education Minister addressing a meeting in Craigmount High School Edinburgh with "outgoing" Education Minister, Cathy Jamieson, this week (on St George’s Day too); he has no role in Scotland at all.

It looks very much as if the promised English reinforcements have arrived; Blair and Brown could perhaps claim some legitimacy, as their jobs would be affected, but Clarke? Are they intending to subjugate the Scottish system to the English one?

The Electoral Commission might be congatulated on their tasteful posters urging people to vote for the Welsh Assembly; obviously they are concerned at the prospect of a low turnout.

Perhaps it would help turnout more if they had used billboards in Cardiff rather than ones in Edinburgh; wonder where the London planners learned their geography, or history?

Tuesday morning the Scottish organiser of the GMB Union attacked Scottish Water for announcing 900 redundancies during the election campaign; his comment that it looked like "privatisation by the back door" echoed what the SNP had already said. By Tuesday afternoon the GMB said it had known all about the job cuts, and that the SNP was scaremongering.

The giveaway was the words: "during the election campaign." Tsk!

Noticed the local Liberal election leaflet had a large picture of Charles Kennedy on it; he is their UK leader and as a Westminster MP he is not standing for the Scottish Parliament.

Probably just the London comfort factor; or are they embarrassed at the sanctimonious smirk of their Scottish leader, Mr Jim Wallace?

SYNOPSIS

SNP leader John Swinney today unveiled a five-point plan which he said would tackle the "scandal" of child poverty in Scotland. Mr Swinney said the initiative, which includes free childcare in the country's most deprived communities and a guarantee of decent housing for all, would improve the lives of the one in three Scots youngsters living in poverty. An SNP government would also introduce healthy eating vouchers to tackle low birth weights, extend the free central heating scheme to families with young children and develop a national anti-poverty strategy, Mr Swinney said. Speaking as he visited a mother and toddler group in Dundee, Mr Swinney said Labour had failed to make any progress on tackling child poverty - and insisted the SNP were ready for the challenge. He said: "In a country as wealthy as Scotland, it is a scandal that one in three of our children live in poverty. Despite Labour's promises, they have made no progress over the last four years and our children simply can't wait any longer. We will implement a package of measures designed to address both the causes of poverty and its symptoms." The SNP leader added: "It is time to move on from the empty promises of Labour to practical solutions. It is not enough to talk the language of a war on poverty - it's time to fight that war."

Labour was today forced onto the defensive after the Executive's law and order record came under public attack from Scotland's police officers. The attack came from the Scottish Police Federation, whose chairman, Norrie Flowers, denounced plans for community wardens as a "con trick". He also criticised the Executive over youth crime, saying the next administration should get to grips with the problem "as a matter of urgency". The SNP seized on Mr Flowers' criticism, saying he had accused the Executive of lacking commitment to solving the problem of youth crime. Shadow justice minister Roseanna Cunningham said: "Jack McConnell's attempts to portray himself as tough on crime are coming unstuck. Under Labour, violent crime has risen 24%, its highest in a decade. Drug offences are up 19% and drug convictions are down 16%. It is little wonder that the victims of his failure are taking him to task on the streets of Dundee and our police officers are accusing him of have no commitment of solving the problem."

Education today topped the political agenda with the Holyrood election now just over a week away. SNP shadow education minister Michael Russell hit back at claims by Labour that the SNP's not-for-profit trust were unworkable. He published a letter from Clackmannanshire Council chief executive Keir Bloomer claiming the council was running such a scheme and insisting the Executive had congratulated the council for using it. Mr Russell said: "Cathy Jamieson's poor grasp of her own portfolio is legendary but today's gaffe really does take the biscuit. She has managed to attack a scheme her own department is funding to the tune of £48 million. Her junior minister even went to the trouble of calling the council involved to congratulate them on it." He added: "In Glasgow, for example, for every £100 invested, AMEY, the private company involved, was making a profit of £31. A not-for-profit scheme would have allowed us to match PFI brick for brick and do more. It would have delivered 25 additional schools in Glasgow and another ten in Edinburgh." Leader of Clackmannanshire Council Keith Brown said: "Our not-for-profit trust will allow us to make every penny of council tax payers' money count."

See also "Foot in the Mouth Notes".

An attempt by Gordon Brown to attack the SNP's economic plans backfired spectacularly this evening, after it emerged he got his numbers wrong. SNP Westminster group leader Alex Salmond rounded on the Chancellor, describing him as having a record of "unmitigated failure" on the Scottish economy. "Gordon Brown may sit for a Scottish constituency but as a London Chancellor he has totally ignored the Scottish economy," the MP said. "The only time he takes an interest is at Scottish election time - when big brother Brown comes back to Scotland to lecture Scottish Labour on what to think." He claimed Mr Brown was responsible for the Scottish economy being "all bust and no boom". "Brown's economic record in Scotland has been one of sustained and unmitigated failure," said Mr Salmond. "Given his record of failure he is the last person qualified to lecture Scotland on how to take our economy forward. In terms of his economic record in Scotland, Brown is a busted flush." SNP leader John Swinney went on to accuse the Chancellor of making up figures for party political gain and highlighted his record of getting his numbers spectacularly wrong. He said: "Today's fictitious figures come from the man who got his Budget sums wrong by a an astonishing 48 billion pounds; who in 1999 predicted that oil would remain at 10 dollars a barrel; and that the Scottish parliament would cost 40 million pounds." And shadow economy minister Andrew Wilson rubbished Mr Brown's claims over Corporation Tax. He said: "Gordon Brown is plucking figures from the air again. Until we have the competitive tools other nations routinely use, we will not be able to tackle our faltering economy. It's time to move on."

The election spotlight today fell on Faslane, when SNP leader John Swinney joined hundreds of anti-nuclear demonstrators attempting to block access to the naval base. Mr Swinney said the Trident-armed submarines at the base were an "obscenity" and claimed: "Scotland doesn't need nuclear weapons and doesn't want them." Mr Swinney pledged that an SNP government would rid Scotland of weapons of mass destruction by seeking the negotiated removal of Trident submarines from their bases on the Clyde. SNP candidate for Dumbarton Dr Iain Docherty added: "Labour is privatising our public services and destroying Scottish jobs, an SNP government will bring real employment to the people of Dunbartonshire by investing in public services and releasing our potential - so that Scottish businesses can compete on the world stage."

SNP shadow transport minister Kenny MacAskill today called for full control of the railway network to be transferred to the Scottish Parliament. Making the call during a campaign visit to the Borders, the SNP frontbencher said the restoration of the Borders rail link was vital for economic regeneration. Mr MacAskill said: "Only the SNP is committed to ending the fragmentation of transport policy and ensuring that the Scottish Parliament takes full control of all issues relating to the railway network. This is the only way to deliver Scottish priorities like the Waverley Line." Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale SNP candidate Christine Grahame added: "The Lib Dems have failed to get these proposals implanted, despite being in power with Labour for the last four years. We cannot afford to let this opportunity to pass us by. Only by having full control over transport strategy can we invest in the infrastructure needed for the regeneration of the area."  

The SNP today highlighted the death toll from hospital-acquired infections (HAI) as they sought to pressurise Labour over the health service. SNP leader John Swinney said if elected, his party would bring all hospital cleaning contracts back in-house within the NHS, and accused Labour of buck-passing on the issue. The SNP claimed HAIs contribute to the deaths of 36 patients a week, with the number of MRSA superbug cases standing at 895 for the whole of 2002, up from 830 for the period April 2001 to March 2002. Mr Swinney said his party would tackle the spread of potentially life-threatening bugs by ending the privatisation of cleaning services, reversing cuts in the number of beds and tackling staff shortages. "Too many of our hospitals don't meet acceptable hygiene standards and too many patients pick up life-threatening infections while in hospital," said Mr Swinney. "Cleaning services have been privatised, staff shortages are rife and health workers are under intense pressure. In the face of all this, NHS staff are working miracles every day just to keep the health service afloat. He went on: "With the SNP, patients will come before profits. We will bring all hospital cleaning contracts back in-house to the NHS. We will end the bed cuts, and establish a review of acute capacity. And we will tackle the shortage of nurses by delivering and 11% pay rise above the UK rate and give Scotland a competitive edge in the market for nursing staff."

SNP Shadow Gaelic Minister, Michael Russell, today pledged that an SNP Government would deliver secure status for the Gaelic language, in stark contrast to Labour's dismal record of opposing parliamentary efforts to assist the language. "I am happy to say today that if elected the SNP will immediately reintroduce my Bill, this time as an Executive measure, and ensure its speedy passage. But that will only be the start. Working with Bord Gaidhlig na h-Alba we will develop the future of Gaelic, which will include the legal right to Gaelic Medium Education for school pupils and adults plus other initiatives which aim to increase the number of Gaelic speakers over the next decade". Mr Russell made the commitment as he joined SNP Western Isles candidate, Alasdair Nicholson, on visits to Comataidh Craolaidh Gaidhig and Lews Castle College in Stornoway and added, "Despite having been in power for six years Labour have not yet delivered the many vital changes required to secure the future of Gaelic – despite what they said in opposition. In addition the Labour party destroyed my Gaelic Language Bill when it would only have required one hour of Parliamentary time to achieve secure status for the language. This damages the Parliament and the need to be seen to work co-operatively together to give Gaelic the future it deserves". Mr Nicholson added, "Only the SNP has backed promises with action on Gaelic. Today, 90% of the world's languages are in danger of extinction. With the number of Gaelic speakers falling by 11% over the past ten years, we need action now to ensure that Gaelic does not join this list. We can't wait any longer for Labour to deliver for Gaelic. The choice is to stand still with Labour or move forward with the SNP."

Brown announces enterprise zones announced for fourth time
Thu 17 Apr 03

Shadow Economy Minister Andrew Wilson today slammed Gordon Brown for attempting a "crude manipulation of the electorate" by re-hashing an announcement he has already made on three previous occasions. Commenting, Mr Wilson said, "This is a blatant attempt at the crude manipulation of the electorate. Gordon Brown has so little to offer Scotland; has so little to say about the appallingly low growth Labour's policies have delivered, that he is reduced to re-announcing measures first outlined over a year ago. This isn't even the first time he has tried this trick. It's the fourth time this scheme has been announced. On Wednesday, Gordon Brown was trying to claim there wasn't a problem with the Scottish economy. Now he is he is trying to spin that he has solutions to a problem he doesn't even accept exists. He is all over the place. We simply can't wait any longer for Labour to get their act together. It is time to move on. By taking control of our economy we can release our potential. We can use the competitive tools every other country has, to earn our way to a more prosperous future and end the economic dependency culture fostered by Labour."

SNP Leader John Swinney today highlighted an astonishing admission from Jack McConnell in which the Labour leader warns Westminster will withdraw funding for Scottish public services if turnout on the first of May falls below 50%. The admission came in the Alf Young Conversations, published in the Herald yesterday when Mr McConnell compared turnout here with that for the London Assembly and said London Labour's reaction would be to cut Scottish funding. "This is an unbelievable statement which exposes the massive cost of handing control of the Scottish economy and Scottish public finances to London," said Mr Swinney. "We can't wait any longer for Labour – because we now know – from Mr McConnell's own words – that Labour in London are looking for any excuse to cut spending on health, education and the fight against crime. We must move on with the SNP. We can't stand still under Labour – that means dependence on London, low growth and now cuts to public services. Of course we must all encourage the highest possible voter turn-out but Jack McConnell has turned the Scottish elections into a national votes-for-money contest. If it wasn't so serious, it would be laughable."