Tele Postbag: Politics needs new blood, not more of the same

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Isn’t life in the UK rather worrying these days?

It seems like the entire political landscape is failing  every aspect of our lives. Once again it seems the Scotland Greens are back in force and urging the SNP to become the dog on the end of their lead once again.

All this political ducking and diving in their quest to get a budget through without any consideration about what the voter wants or needs. Absolutely barking mad on the end of a lead.

So many promises over the years and yet we are left living in a country that resembles a third world. We pay the highest tax in the UK and yet none of us are on high wages.

I had been a qualified nurse for more 25 years and still did not make the £20 an hour bracket.  The NHS continues to be in peril and instead of ploughing more money in, it needs real reform and a change of management from the top which cascades down the ranks, to then rid ourselves of bullying and intimidation.

Our health is our wealth, and yet many staff and patients have been put at risk due to poor leadership and more cover ups. It’s just not good enough. We deserve and need so much better. Policies need to be more than simply a paper exercise.

I also note that the Greens are back in force with their never-ending quest for more taxes and poorer roads and infrastructure, which equals far more decline. I don’t, however, hear them shouting about the winter fuel payment, but notably more about free travel for asylum seekers. 

Whilst the SNP admitted they could pay the full amount to pensioners in this country, they have chosen not to. That makes them no better than Mr Two Tier in his donated gear. 

Yet again, however, the SNP have agreed to the free travel for asylum seekers and ignored those who are most vulnerable. Is this progressive? Does this work in line with the 2010 Equality Act? Or does the law not really matter in Scotland given that the Lord Advocate sits as part of the government under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998, Sections 44 and 48?

I also note that the Gupta scandal appears to be coming back at speed. Here was a £5 deal agreed by Sturgeon and Swinney to allow Gupta to buy a smelting business in Lochaber. We now find that the company is allegedly being prosecuted by Companies House for failing to file accounts for more than 70 companies  listed in the UK. 

Apparently we have provided a taxpayer-backed 25 year guarantee of £586 million.  When did the tax payers agree to that? When you delve more into the Gupta deal, the ferry deal pales in comparison.

Millions and millions of our money given away or spent recklessly by a government led by Green extremist who push and push for more reckless policies such as the bottle deposit return scheme and the gender reform scheme. 

All from a political party who are allegedly  involved in a scandal about fake companies, political finances, high end cars, pots and pans and campervans.

We need new blood, and not more of the same.

Lesley Roberts, Greenock

(Letter to Claire Baker MSP, convener of the Scottish Parliament’s economy and fair work committee)

Our campaign wishes to contribute to your committee’s understanding of the City Region Deals, their implementation and effectiveness, contribution to local issues and if the public fund investment has contributed to inclusive growth for thebenefit of local communities such as Inverclyde.

Unfortunately, Inverclyde has seen little or no benefit from the City Deal investment.

Our campaign group formed in December 2017 following the destruction of the Inchgreen dry dock cranes in July of that year. We were very active from the start and received initial support from Inverclyde Council.

In 2020 we were approached by the council’s director of the environment and regeneration asking us to support their application to Clyde Mission for investment to refurbish Inchgreen Dry Dock platers’ fabrication shed as PED Ships were moving into the shed to build steel hulled yachts. They received £1.6m but the company disappeared.

However, Inverclyde Council never approached or consulted us regarding their application for City Deal funding for the refurbishment of our national asset, Inchgreen Dry Dock. We found that strange after our successful collaboration on funding for the platers’ fabrication shed.

Inverclyde Council’s business case for City Deal funding was treated as highly confidential by the council’s leadership team and councillors and us were kept in the dark until informed that the council leadership team had agreed a joint venture with Peel Ports. 

There was little discussion on this JV strategy by Inverclyde Council’s environment and regeneration committee; it was a ‘fait accompli’. No scrutiny of the council strategy or measurable outcomes were properly discussed, only a bun fight on who would sit on the JV board.

It was pushed through and rubber stamped by the full Inverclyde Council. The confidential strategy was used by the leadership team to keep everything secret until they needed councillors’ agreement: a failure by Inverclyde councillors to scrutinise the strategy is coming back to bite them as no jobs have been created to date.

The campaign agreed with Katy Clark MSP (supported by Paul Sweeney MSP) to create a Scottish Parliament petition and submit it to the Citizen Participation and Public Petition Committee, but it was killed off by the Scottish Government at the committee meeting on September 11, despite concerns being raised by CalMac, North Ayrshire Council, Ferguson Marine trade union representatives, Professor Alf Baird and both Ms Clark and Mr Sweeney.

We spent 18 months compiling information, encouraging additional submissions from other sources and provided information on our three submissions, but the petition was still killed off without any opportunity to provide evidence to the committee. So much for public participation! 

We believe the petition submissions would be a viable source of information for your committee as it highlights the use/misuse of public funds by the Clyde Statutory Harbour Authority, Peel Ports, who have received millions from the public purse since their arrival on the Clyde in 2003.

We believe our submissions will assist your committee’s enquiry. Inviting Ms Clark and Mr Sweeney to give oral evidence would provide you with a bigger picture about the river and the neglect of our critical industrial marine facilities on the Clyde.

Robert Buirds (Secretary, Campaign to Save Inchgreen Dry Dock)