NO REST FOR THE
WICKED
Just when you all
thought you had escaped me for three weeks, here I am back again!
The reason is
straightforward; Ian Goldie is in Portugal on holiday, so we swapped
over. This is the advantage of having four individuals, as we cover
for each other; Allison campaigns for the SNP and gets tied up as a
member of the SNP National Executive, Richard goes on cruises to
play the fiddle, campaigns for the SNP, is a sufferer in the Tartan
Army (Where does he get his energy?), while Ian is still active
within the Party and has family abroad, forbye. I like to go
holidays too, so we all have some room for manouevre.
BUDGET DAY
At
the time of writing, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown,
has presented his Budget; as usual there is a lot of build up, you
know the sort of thing "Despite there being snow in the Cairngorms,
your Government compared that with the beaches of sunny California"
or other such window dressing.
As far as I am
aware, cigarettes are up 8p a pack, beer 1p a pint, wine 4p a
bottle, petrol 1.9p a litre, Inheritance Tax threshold raise to
£263,000, we’re not going to cut the Defence Budget, or the Health
Budget, we’re going to merge the Inland Revenue and Customs and
Excise and sack 20,000 civil servants, and transfer another 20,000
out of London. That should be worth a vote or two, perhaps not from
the civil servants and their families.
These are the only
things that impinged on me; the quango that runs the Inland Revenue,
known as the Treasury, is still embarrassed about flogging off all
the Income Tax building to a property company called Mapeley Steps.
They reckoned that they had done a good deal, but somehow overlooked
the fact that Mapeley Steps was registered in Bermuda, a tax haven.
That means the rent paid by the taxman is tax free; Mr Brown was
apparently not amused, but it happened on his watch, and the
Treasury is his baby. Perhaps we’ll now find out that Customs
inspection is to be contracted out to the Mafia; who knows as New
Labour out-Tories the Tories? I haven’t seen their Budget reply, but
they can hardly disagree, can they?
The above is merely a
taste, first impressions if you like, because the Chancellor is a
past master of the smoke and mirrors routine; and when the smoke
clears you see in the mirror a mug! It will take a few weeks to spot
all the cunning little ploys. Mind you they do not always work; he
made some adjustments to corporation tax last time to help smaller
businesses and a lot of taxi drivers caught on and incorporated. I
can’t remember the exact scenario, but it was cited as an another
example of the law of unintended consequences, and he was expected
to close whatever loophole he left. He can make mistakes.
One thing which he
did do; against the wishes of many Scottish MPs, and the whisky
industry, he is pressing on with strip stamps. MPs of all parties
tried to dissuade him, the whisky industry, who will bear the brunt
of the changes, tied to dissuade him, so we do not know who is so
convinced that it will work? The Treasury (Mapeley Steps), Customs
and Excise, sacked after giving him bad advice, the Inland Revenue,
failing to tax wealthy individuals? Belatedly, he is introducing
plans to have tax avoidance schemes registered, which happens in
America, and which the Tories won’t like.
JUST A
THOUGHT
I
came across this item in the Observer which doesn’t quite fit with
anything but which I felt was too good to pass up!
Archbishop Desmond
Tutu: "When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and
we had the land. They said "Let us pray". We closed our eyes. When
we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
SPANISH
ELECTIONS
The
late Harold MacMillan was asked what he feared most in politics, and
his response was "Events, dear boy, events." This must now be the
view of Mr Aznar, Spanish Prime Minister until Sunday 14th March
2004; in the run-up to the Spanish General Election, the opinion
polls had indicated a comfortable win for his PopularParty
(Obviously the name of the party, not a description thereof.)
What happened
then was the mass bombing of Madrid commuter trains, resulting in
the violent death of 201 innocent civilians, and the maiming of 1500
others; the attacks were designed to create as much carnage as
possible. Mr Aznar blamed the attacks on the Basque separatists,
ETA, and said they were meant to disrupt the election; no evidence
was produced against ETA, who denied involvement, and while some
evidence was produced to point to al Qaeda, Mr Aznar ignored that
for three days and persisted in naming ETA. By Sunday, it seemed
fairly obvious that the Basques were not involved, and the voters
rejected the party which had tried to make political capital out of
the atrocity.
While it is being
said that this is the first time a terrorist attack has affected an
election result, I think this requires some clarification; there was
a higher turnout for the election than for the previous one, so
people had determined that they would not be intimidated into
staying at home. One point here; in Scotland, the Tories always do
better in a low poll, because their voters generally are older and
turn out, so perhaps the same was true in Spain? Also, what
infuriated the people was, as I said above, that they felt that the
Government had tried to make political capital from the tragedy, and
reacted accordingly.
How much effect the
sending of Spanish troops to Iraq had on the result is unclear;
apparently an al Qaeda video found said that the attack was a
reprisal for Spain helping Britain and America. However, as noted in
the opening paragraph, opinion polls were indicating a comfortable
win for the Popular Party, so no sign of mass disaffection there.
However, al Qaeda has also mounted attacks in France and Germany,
which refused to back the invasion of Iraq; for whatever reason, if
al Qaeda is now mounting attacks in mainland Europe, the terrorist
threat has entered a new and more dangerous phase. This is not about
bargaining and threatening "Do this or else", but killing and
maiming for an evil purpose; I am quite sure the Koran does not
sanction the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent men women and
children, and fellow Muslims. As to retaliation for Iraq, al Qaeda
bombed New York and Bali long before the invasion of Iraq.
The new Spanish Prime
Minister has now said that the Spanish troops will be taken out of
Iraq by 30th June; it is hard to see how this will help Iraq to
return to stability, but it will certainly hand a victory to al
Qaeda, who could then claim that their bombing got results. I doubt
very much if this was the intention of the Spanish voters. As to the
effect in Britain? Well, the SNP was in the forefront of the
anti-war protests last year, and come the Scottish elections, the
pro-war parties, Labour, Liberal and Tories all did a lot better
than we did. This June we have the European Elections,(and I note a
rash of pro-fishermen declarations from the Tories, who sold them
out in the first place) but the main British opposition, the Tories,
wholeheartedly backed the war, so no protest there, and a low poll
is expected, which gives the Tories an advantage. Next year will be
a Westminster Election, and while the Tories seem to be a bit
livelier at the moment, they cannot use Iraq as a reason for change,
because they approved.
PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION
There
is a Presidential Election in America this year, and it looks as if
Senator John Kerry of the Democrats will give George Bush a run for
his money. Most political commentators admit that Bush did not win
the last Presidential Election, but then Al Gore did not win it
either, and it was a lacklustre affair. There was more excitement
created by the Florida count and the judges’ decision than by the
campaign itself.
Since then there has
been the Twin Towers, the invasion of Afghanistan, with United
Nations backing, and the invasion of Iraq, without United Nations
backing. There is a school of thought that says they wrecked
Afghanistan (what the Taleban had left of it), promised to rebuild
and rehabilitate, then marched off to Iraq before the job was
complete, leaving the Taleban and al Queda to regroup, while Bush
attended to Daddy’s unfinished business in Iraq, and left the
current Bush’s unfinished business in Afghanistan And attempts to
introduce some sort of peace into Iraq are being frustrated by the
very same people they invaded Afghanistan to capture; proof indeed
of the old adage "A job ill done is a job twice done."
A lot more factors
will come into play, the economy, tax breaks for the rich and
powerful, Bush’s "war record" as a member of the National Guard,
while Kerry slogged it out on the front line, and if Kerry also has
retired General John Wesley Clark as his running mate, they would be
a formidable team. It looks as if this will be a fascinating
election. In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair is in an invidious
position; when Bill Clinton was President, and in the last
Presidential Election, New Labour apparatchiks flooded across the
Atlantic to add their help to the American "Left", ie the Democrats.
Now that Blair and Bush are seen as close political allies, standing
together against the United Nations and the European Community, as
well as Iraq, Blair cannot now send anyone to help out his
ideological friends fight his politically expedient friends. We wait
with bated breath to see how he squares the circle.
HARDY AND
INTREPID
I
suppose I am carrying on the debate started by a letter from Margery
Fee a few weeks back, when she said that the Government was not
worried about sending troops into Iraq without biological protection
because they knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in the
first place.
However rather
than the Iraq issue going away, it seems to be rumbling on and on;
we are hearing yet again that the troops, the Black Watch in
particular (I declare an interest - as I did my National Service in
the Black Watch 50 years ago) were sent in without proper equipment
for chemical and biological warfare. These allegations made by the
Commanding Officer and the Regimental Sergeant Major in January this
year, have been borne out by the report of the Select Defence
Committee of the Westminster Parliament called "Lessons of Iraq"
published this week. The fault did not lie with the battlefield
commanders, but with the Ministry of Defence, who spend vast sums on
concepts that are becoming increasingly unnecessary, like Trident,
and neglecting to see that soldiers have boots. At the same time,
the MOD were also writing to the battalion commanders asking for
lists of soldiers they could make redundant; all this, when the
British Army is stretched as it has not been for years, and they are
busy calling up Territorials to fill in the gaps.
With regard to the
redundancy factor, we know that the Army is 196 senior officers
over-established, and it has been alleged that the foot soldiers are
being made redundant so that the wages of the high heid yins
can be paid. Adam Ingram, minister of state for the armed forces,
Ministry of Defence, denies that this is the case; he said they need
to cover "tri-service rotational posts (Don’t know what that means
but it sounds painful) and international appointments, for example
to Nato." To paraphrase "Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?"
A cynic might think
that the Ministry of Defence, with cost savings in mind, would
perhaps be quoting to themselves from General Wolfe; speaking of his
Highlanders at the battle for the Heights of Abraham in Quebec in
1759, he said "They are hardy and intrepid, and ‘tis no great
mischief if they fall." (He himself was killed in that battle
- but his words lived on.)
NO SMOKE
When
I visited the library last week, it was a cold and blustery day, and
outside the library were two of the staff, having a cup of tea,
sheltering from the wind, and having a cigarette; any time I visit a
hospital, which is reasonably frequently, I see patients in dressing
gowns, standing outside in all weathers, smoking cigarettes.
Obviously the hospital authorities are concerned about the dangers
of smoking, so they sentence smoking patients to pneunomia instead.
It might be cheaper to treat the latter.
I do not smoke; I
used to smoke but gave it up 21 years ago (18th December 1982 at 9
am - if you want to know.) and I accept that smoking is bad for you;
I am also glad that I no longer smoke. However, a few little
thoughts; alcohol abuse costs the National Health Service in Britain
£1.7 billion every year, and there are 150,000 alcohol related
admissions to hospital each year. In addition to this, between 30
and 60 per cent of child protection cases involve alcohol.
However, while the 150,000 statistic applies to England and Wales,
here in Scotland, 66,000 were hospitalised through alcohol in 2001.
According to Health
Scotland , the number of admissions is split between those on a
binge who had made themselves ill or had an accident, and those
whose body was packing up after years of drinking; nowhere can I
find any figures to say how many are put in hospital through assault
due to alcohol. The problem has become steadily worse and the number
admitted to hospital increased by 90% between 1991 and 2001.
Responding to the report First Minister Jack MacConnell said the
figures were out of date, and that he was "absolutely sure" that the
position had improved in recent years due to the action taken by
local and national government.
So what can we do
about drink? (I do drink, by the way.) Well, Happy Hours usually end
up as Unhappy Hours for many victims, and are a misnomer, so they
should be illegal. The whole culture of seriously taking drink but
not taking drink seriously needs to change, like "When I get a
couple of drinks on a Saturday Glasgow belongs to me." and the whole
concept that getting drunk is manly ( and much more women are doing
this too) and "cool", when in fact it is degrading. If you drive, it
is also criminal and often fatal.
It is against this
background that I am irritated by the politically correct
anti-smoking lobby because I feel that the campaign is over the top
when we consider the damage done by alcohol; smoking is bad for you,
but I’m also sure that no Sheriff has ever heard "I’m sorry, your
honour, but I battered my wife senseless because I was under the
influence of a 20 pack of Capstan Full Strength." Similarly, I also
recall a programme on drugs I saw a year or two back where the
interviewer asked a 10 year old boy whether he had been warned about
drugs at school. "Naw" he replied "But we get telt aboot the fags."
So I cannot raise sympathy with the demands that smoking should be
banned in pubs; brutally it is drinking that should be banned in
pubs, and we might create a better country.
OBJECTIVITY
The
Fraser Inquiry into the Parliament Building scandal proceeds apace,
and every week something else comes up to which the observers say
"Cor lumme" or the Scottish equivalent; the whole thing was
conceived in London so it is quite appropriate to use a cockney
phrase.
I was most
impressed by the evidence given by Fergus Ewing SNP MSP,
particularly over the case of Flour City UK; Fergus has been
pursuing this particular aspect for a long time, in fact when I was
in Fort Lauderdale in January last year on holiday I tried to find
one of the complexes for which the Flour City parent had lost the
contract, without success. The Presiding Officer, Lord Steel of
Aikwood(Just call me Sir David) was very annoyed at Fergus taking
such a close interest in this particular mess-up, and referred to
him as "That bastard Ewing", but as Fergus pointed out to the
Inquiry "I paid £4.50 for a credit report which found that the
company had a share capital of £2.00, no directors, no work record,
and had a bad credit record."
Fergus was saying
that the Parliament should sue Bovis, and in fact got quite a big
headline in the Scotsman "Sue Bovis for Holyrood’s lost millions,
demands MSP"; pity the Scotsman showed a picture of Jamie Stone, a
Liberal MSP, who was saying that the money hadn’t been spent quickly
enough! The day before the Scotsman headline was "Fraser Inquiry
adding to the costs, says MSP"; that particular line was taken by
John Home Robertson, Labour MSP, who was Convener of the Progress
Group, but was accompanied by a BIG picture of Linda Fabiani,
SNP MSP, who had actually been saying that Lord Steel had hidden the
cost of abandoning the project from the Parliament!
Yes, every picture
tells a story - perhaps not always the right one.
THE HEART
BLEEDS - HENRY
Strangely
enough, the heart does bleed a bit for Henry McLeish, whose book,
Scotland First - Truth and Consequences, has been systematically
rubbished by the establishment.
A lot of claims
are being made about how poor a seller it is, but it is early days;
I almost bought it myself, but was unable to escape from my wife
long enough to achieve this. (I am a bit of a menace when left alone
in a bookshop.) I believe it is worth reading: I believe it lifts
the lid on the vicious underhand world of the Scottish Labour Party,
and as such I want to read it. The fact that it is being dismissed
so off-handedly by New Labour and its press acolytes is a tactic
adopted by those who do not want it read, because they have
something to hide.
In my opinion, Henry
McLeish was not a wonderful chap or a particularly astute
politician, but then neither did he act like the Lord Provost of
Scotlandshire a role exclusive to the current First Minister. Henry
dared to tell London that he was going to call the Scottish
Executive the Scottish Government, he dared to put in free care for
the elderly, he was welcomed in Washington by the President of the
United States, and he did proceed with a solo bid for Euro 2008
which would have put Scotland on the world map. The Lord Provost
knocked that one on the head by setting up a joint bid with Ireland,
which was bound to fail, but from which he would take no blame! His
cunning plan was based on the fact that Ireland could not get the
correct number of football stadia in place by the time required, and
that the selectors would tumble to the fact that spectators would
have to get boats or planes to follow the matches; anyway, he was
successful - the joint bid was kicked out right away, but it was not
the Provost’s fault.
McLeish was not
crooked, although McLetchie of the Tories kept saying he was;
imagine the Tories, the party of Jeffrey Archer and Jonathan Aitken,
grandstanding about crooked politicians? My own opinion, and I could
be totally wrong, as I do not know the true facts, is that McLeish
did not know anything about any of the lets. I sometimes wonder if
his first wife, Margaret, who died so tragically of cancer, was his
Constituency Secretary, and would have made all the agreements,
probably without telling him? I do not suppose we will ever know.
I also
came across an interesting article, "who shot henry?" (unattributed)
in the Scottish Left Review Nov-Dec 2002 ; it contrasted the
treatment afforded Henry McLeish in his troubles with the treatment
of Dr John Reid MP , who was officially censured by the Standards
Commissioner of the House of Commons for attempting to cover up,
intimidate and bully to prevent her fairly investigating serious
allegations against him. Henry is disgraced, while Reid is promoted.
The writer thought that Henry’s problem was that he was ambitious
for Scotland, a charge that could never be levied against the
current Lord Provost. Thinking that one over, an unbiased reading of
the Scottish Parliament Standards Committee into the Observer sting
on Beattie Media ( coincidentally involving John Reid’s son) gives a
reasonable assessment of who would be more trustworthy. The article
points out that the only worthwhile things that the Parliament had
done were related to Henry.
POLICY
POSTCARDS
We
continue our publication of the SNP Policy Postcards; we will
publish a new one every week, each one dealing with a different
aspect of SNP policy. The full list can be seen on the SNP website
under "Vision" and "Policy".
An independent
Scotland in Europe
The SNP is committed
to the goal of Scottish Independence in Europe, allowing us to
achieve sustainable prosperity and equality with our neighbours.
The SNP supports the
EU as a confederation that collectively exercises certain sovereign
rights pooled by states, but in which each state retains its own
residual sovereignty in respect of constitutional, fiscal and other
matters of national importance. On this understanding, the SNP
supports the development of a European constitution, while flatly
rejecting any idea of a centralised European super-state.
In today's
interdependent world there are many issues that are best dealt
with collectively, across state boundaries, as well as many
issues best dealt with at national level.
This means that
nations must decide how to use their sovereignty—when to pool it
and when to retain it. The most successful nations in the 21st
century will be the ones who make the right decisions.
In order to get
the most out of Europe, Scotland must be able to make those
decisions on our own behalf, rather than letting London decide
for us. We must be free to pursue our national interests, just
as the other nations of Europe pursue theirs. That is what
Independence in Europe is all about.
FOOT IN THE
MOUTH NOTES
According to the
latest rich list, "Scotland’s" richest man is the Earl of Cadogan,
who owns 2000 acres of Perthshire; I have looked at maps of
Scotland, but can’t find any place called Cadogan of which he might
be the Earl.
In a London
directory there are any number of places called Cadogan - Gate,
Street, Square, Gardens, and there seems to be a hotel chain called
Cadogan; he does own rather a lot of property in London, but I don’t
know if that’s why he’s an earl. Can’t see how it makes him Scottish
though.
And
speaking of rich "Scotsmen", the Inland Revenue has entered into a
long term forward tax agreement with Mohammed al Fayed, owner of
Harrods; Mr Fayed, who is as Scottish as the Earl of Cadogan, has
been consistently refused a British passport.
At one point,
according to the Observer, Mr Fayed, who is estimated to be worth
£500 million, paid less than £40,000 a year in personal taxes.
All quite legal too.
According to
Michael Howard, the leader of the British Tories, the leader of the
Scottish Tories in the Scottish Parliament would have a non-voting
seat in any future Tory Westminster Cabinet.
They
haven’t learned very much, have they?
Headline
last week in the Scotsman: "Queen Mother’s great nephew and wife
battle in divorce courts for Glamis Castle."
Well, maybe his
title, 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne doesn’t carry quite the
same cachet.
It would seem
that the break-up of marriages and other relationships is at an all
time high, and the most frequent cause is said to be a lack of
communication; everywhere we go, streets, supermarkets, buses, and
in cars, we see people talking or texting on mobile phones, but
certainly communicating.
They must be
communicating with the wrong people.
One
of the decommissioned Concordes is being taken to the Museum of
Flight at East Fortune in East Lothian; the 202 foot long plane will
be taken by road from Heathrow to the coast . It will then be loaded
on to a barge, to make a 450 mile journey to a jetty at Torness
Power Station near Dunbar. It will then be put on to a trailer with
a police escort to take it 20 miles to its final home; the journey
will take a week.
In the summer of
2003, Concorde landed at Edinburgh Airport on its farewell flight;
it’s a wonder nobody thought of just leaving it there, less than 30
miles from East Fortune.
Ian Hudghton SNP MEP,
told us that he is the Treasurer of the Parliamentary Group of the
Greens/European Free Alliance.
We can identify
with his official title; it is Pennymeister.
A
Highland farmer was fined £1000 earlier this month for attempting to
put an over-age cow in to be slaughtered and thus enter the food
chain; this is because animals over 30 months carry a greater risk
of developing BSE, and are not allowed to be sold for human
consumption. He was caught because a vet said the cow had more teeth
than a 30 months animal.
The offence of
falsifying a cow’s age is colloquially known as "cow clocking."
SYNOPSIS
Discerning readers,
and that must be nearly all of you, would have noticed last week
that there was a further change to our coverage of the SNP press
releases; up to 1st May last year, we used excerpts from the SNP
Daily News, which were edited at SNP Headquarters. This service
ceased after the cutbacks, and we then used some press releases in
their entirety , which was not terribly satisfactory. Press releases
are designed for newspapers, not for the Web.
As we evolved
into a four weekly rota, I edited all the press releases, but
usually with an axe, just chopping lumps out, and left the compilers
to take what they wanted; again this was not very satisfactory. Then
a week or so ago I came across a better wheeze in the March issue of
the Bridge of Allan & Logie newsletter; they just used a brief
statement, almost but not quite a sound bite, with the issue, and
the name of the spokesperson. Hey presto! An idea I can steal! With
thanks to the newsletter editor, Helen Graham, we can now get in
more statements. Also this week it is a relief, as I only have to
select the ones I will use and not the hale jing-bang!
Speaking
after the Executive refused to take a view on the McInnes report on
abolishing District Courts andinstead put it out to consultation,
Shadow Deputy Justice Minister Mr Michael Matheson MSP said:
"The most pressing question is why abolish the District Courts
at all? A case has yet to be made for this move and it is difficult
to avoid the simple conclusion that if it ain't broke, don't fix
it."
The
announcement by the Home Office that Dungavel Detention Centre is to
be expanded is a slap in the face for Scottish public opinion and
reveals the powerlessness of the Scottish Executive, Shadow Health
and Social Justice Minister Ms Shona Robison MSP said .
Speaking after the
plans to build a new 43 bed unit at the centre were announced, she
commented: "Dungavel is a stain on the good name of Scotland. The
imprisonment of asylum seekers and particularly of their children is
completely alien to our culture yet is being forced on Scotland by
London."
Alex
Salmond MP speaking after the news that the North East Producer's
Organisation (PO) has joined the POs in Orkney and Fife in running
out of its haddock quota outside the cod restricted area, and abourt
raising it in the Commons:
"We now have the
reality of fish discards in the North Sea, and that is totally
unnecessary with a record stock of haddock. The crazy combination of
European Commission rulings and the bungling incompetence of
ministers mean that thousands of tonnes of haddock will be dumped
dead into the sea while we wait for revisions to the December deal.
This slaughter is totally unnecessary."
Speaking
as a poll for Ernst and Young and Scotland on Sunday showed
forty-six percent of businesses back Financial Independence versus
just twenty-eight percent against, John Swinney MSP unveiled plans
to allow councils to keep the receipts from business rates and
reduce the level to promote growth.
Under the system, a
national business rate will continue to be set by the Scottish
Executive. This will act as a ceiling on the level of rates with
councils able only to vary the level downwards. Commenting he said:
"At the moment, any
increase in the proceeds from business tax due to growth in a local
economy disappears into the coffers of the Scottish Executive. We
need to turn that system on its head and give councils a direct
interest in promoting growth."
Shadow
Economy and Enterprise Minister Mr Jim Mather MSP welcomed the
findings of the Ernst and Young poll saying:
"Business is on board
for Financial Independence because they recognise that the status
quo is holding the economy back. They can see the power of the
argument and are increasingly frustrated at an Executive that talks
a good game but doesn’t deliver.
"A bandwagon effect
is forming in favour of change. From Wendy Alexander to Lord Steel
and Robert Crawford, a consensus is emerging. Financial Independence
is on the move."
As
it was reported that Whitehall wants to convene a special cross
border committee to try to force Wales and Scotland to accede to the
decision to allow GM crops, Roseanna Cunningham MSP announced that
the SNP will stage a Parliamentary debate on the issue this
Thursday.
"It’s time to put a
bit of backbone into the Scottish Executive. Last week’s GM
announcement was met with outright opposition from Welsh Ministers;
here in Scotland, the response was feeble.. The public is
overwhelmingly opposed to GM, yet Scottish Ministers refused to use
their powers to block it.
"Now we learn that
Whitehall is planning to try to compel Scotland and Wales to accept
Downing Street’s pro-GM agenda. The Parliament has to now step in a
make clear that Ministers must not capitulate in the face of
pressure from London."
SNP
Euro-MP Ian Hudghton MEP has reacted with anger after Scottish
Labour and the United Kingdom Independence Party joined forces in
the European Parliament to vote down an SNP call for fisheries
management to be returned to national governments in the future. Mr
Hudghton commented:
"Scottish Labour and the UKIP may have very different policies
in a number of matters but they are united in their contempt for the
Scottish fishing industry. Their joint decision to vote down the SNP
proposal for national control of fisheries betrays London's
indifference to our coastal communities. It is this indifference
which has brought the fishing industry into a state of crisis."
· The SNP proposal to the EU Fisheries Committee supported moves
"towards fisheries management being carried out at some future date
both at national and regional levels". This call would allow for
Scotland to manage fisheries within wider regions such as the North
Sea.
· The proposal was defeated by 10 votes to 8, with Labour MEP
Catherine Stihler and UKIP MEP Nigel Farage voting against.
