Tag Archives: Scottish Labour

Jamie McGrigor MSP predicts public anger at loss of Government budget and Councillor Mulvaney tallies consequences for local government

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Commenting on yesterday’s vote in the Scottish Parliament where Labour, Lib Dem and Green MSPs combined to vote down the Scottish Government’s budget, Highlands & Islands Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor has said: ‘The public in the Highlands and Islands will rightly be very angry with and frustrated at those parties that voted against the Scottish budget.

‘At a time of economic recession, MSPs should have been able to act constructively – as the Scottish Conservatives did- and negotiate to allow the budget to be passed and therefore money passed to our public services timeously. (Editor: now here’s a word rarely seen and a fun addition to the vocabulary: means ‘in good time’)

‘This is an extremely serious situation and, as my leader Annabel Goldie said, Labour’s and the Lib Dems’ actions are grossly irresponsible and frankly pathetic- it is political posturing of the worst kind which could cost Scotland £1.8 billion and will only increase uncertainty during Labour’s recession.

‘As Communities Spokesman myself, I had backed strongly our policy to spend £60 million on the regeneration of town centres; that would have been very valuable to places like Oban, Campbeltown, Dunoon, Rothesay in  my native Argyll and scores of other towns across my region of the Highlands & Islands’.

Mr McGrigor’s comments are among many expressions of outrage sent to for Argyll from all corners.

His colleague in local government, Councilor Gary Mulvaney, Conservative Group Leader on Argyll & Bute council and parliamentary candidate said: ‘Labour and the Liberal Democrats have delivered a massive tax bombshell to local government finance.

‘By voting the budget down, they have saddled Scottish councils with a cut of £660m. This means a £359 increase on Band D Council Tax average for those in Argyll & Bute, leading to an annual Band D record high of £1537.

‘All this comes on top of the 60% increase in Council Tax that we had to cope with when the Lib Dem’s and Labour were running Scotland, and one year after progress was made when Scottish Conservatives voted for the Scottish Government’s Council Tax freeze’.

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EDITORIAL: Labour and Liberal Democrats betray Scotland in childish ‘victory’ downing the Government’s budget

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John SwinneyThe Scottish Government’s budget was lost at Holyrood today (28th January). This has cast an unforgiving light on the lack of maturity and sense of responsibility of the Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrat groups at the Parliament. It has left the Green Party looking like two – yes two – shrill jilted lovers complaining that they weren’t offered a deal early enough. Continue reading →

Holyrood and Westminster square up over appointment of Head of Gaelic Media Service

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A dispute – of interest to Argyll’s Gaelic community – between Scottish and UK Government Ministers shows no sign of going away. Former Holyrood Minister for Enterprise, Lifelong Learning and Gaelic, Alasdair Morrison, the former Labour MSP for the Western Isles who lost his seat in the last Holyrood election, was appointed as Chair of MG Alba by the Westminster Labour administration, against the express wishes of Scottish Culture Minister, Linda Fabiani. Given that Mr Morrison had constantly attacked the SNP when Scottish Labour were in power in Holyrood, Ms Fabiani is angry at his imposition in the post itself and at what she sees as a blatantly partisan appointment.

Freedom of Information procedures have shown that when it was known that Westminster Scottish Secretary, Des Browne, intended to appoint Mr Morrison, Ms Fabiani made a formal objection. She also feels that scant time was given to the Scottish Government to comment on the matter. She has told Mr Browne’s junion minister in the Scottish Office, David Cairns: “You appear oblivious to the prospect of eroding public confidence by the selection of a former member of the Scottish Parliament and previous minister as chairman of a public service broadcasting organisation.”

In response, Mr Cairns said he profoundly disagreed with the Scottish Culture Minister’s claim that the Scottish Government had the right to have a “significant influence” over the appointment since the new Gaelic media service, MG Alba, had been established with £12million in Scottish taxpayers’ money. Mr Cairns refused to accept this, saying – with no apparent sense of irony: “I do not believe any government should exercise such influence. … I believe strongly in the independence of the media, which is why this government ended the practice of previous Conservative ministers appointing their cronies to chair the BBC”. In turn, Ms Fabiani has formally written to Sir Christopher Kelly, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, drawing the matter to his attention.

For posts on political and other opinions, see Yakking For Argyll