Scots secretary post significant, says Danny Alexander

Danny Alexander said the Scottish secretary post was significant

Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander has described his post as “significant” in the UK government, despite his party’s election pledge to scrap it.

The Lib Dem MP said the role was needed to maintain the spirit of co-operation between Scottish and UK ministers.

Mr Alexander also moved away from claims the Lib Dems may suffer at next year’s Holyrood elections after the party’s coalition deal with the Tories.

He said the new UK government would deliver benefits for Scotland.

The Scottish secretary’s comments came after Prime Minister David Cameron visited Holyrood this week to call for a “fresh start” in relations between the Scottish and UK governments.

‘Direct benefits’

Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Politics Show from Birmingham, where the Lib Dems are holding a special conference, Mr Alexander was asked if he would be the last secretary of state for Scotland.

“That’s a good question – I doubt it very much,” he said.

“What we think the importance of this role is, is to ensure that we are able to maintain the spirit of co-operation between the UK government and the Scottish government and the Scottish Parliament too.

“That’s what I intend to devote all of my time to as Scottish secretary and that’s why we think this is an important and significant job to carry on with.”

Mr Alexander said he did not share anxieties about electoral consequences for the Lib Dems at the Scottish Parliament polls next year after their deal with the Tories.

Party ‘misgivings’

He argued the new government was poised to deliver reforms in areas such as tax, civil liberties and the environment.

The MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey added: “Those are things that are going to have a direct benefit for people all over Scotland and I think, when people see those benefits coming through, they will see the benefits of the arrangement that was entered into.”

And commenting on former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy’s admission that he refused to back the coalition deal, Mr Alexander said: “I think it reflects the fact that there are, of course, some people in our party who have maybe a few misgivings about the direction in which we are going.”

Mr Alexander added that Mr Kennedy had also talked about the benefits of a coalition agreement.

Meanwhile, Strathclyde University’s Prof John Curtice pointed out the Tories have just one Scottish MP, while the Lib Dem vote in Scotland fell back on election night.

“The Liberal Democrats clearly must be concerned about the possible consequences of this deal for the party north of the border,” he said.

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Scots voters threaten Holyrood backlash after Lib Dems back Tories

May 16 2010 Mark Aitken, Sunday Mail

DAVID STEEL yesterday admitted the Liberal Democrats fear a huge loss of support after the party agreed to back the Tories to form a government.

The Lib Dem elder statesman admitted there was a “nervousness” among supporters about the impact of the coalition deal.

He spoke out as Labour claimed 12,000 members have joined the party in the days since the election as disillusioned Lib Dem voters desert them.

Lord Steel, who led the Liberals for more than a decade and was the first presiding officer of the Scottish parliament, said: “They share my anxieties about collaboration with the Tories.

“I have been fighting the Tories ever since my by-election in 1965, so naturally it is a bit uncomfortable to make this change.

“But it has to be done in the national interest. We now have to show the clear influence we are having on the processes of government.

“I’m not saying it will be easy. I think it is going to be tough but we will face up to it and we have a year to go before the Scottish elections.”

He spoke out as experts warn the Lib Dems face a massive backlash from voters, with polling experts estimating they could lose a quarter of their seats in the Holyrood election next year.

Supporters sickened by the sight of David Cameron and Nick Clegg cosying up to each other in Number 10 are quitting the party and senior figures admit they face tough times ahead.

Labour will today write to 100,000 Lib Dem voters in target seats urging them to change their vote at the Scottish parliament election.

The Lib Dems meet at a special conference in Birmingham today to endorse the coalition.

Leader Nick Clegg, who rejected a deal with Gordon Brown in favour of one with Cameron, has already secured the support of the party’s MPs and federal executive.

The coalition is also expected to be approved by the conference but it could have a devastating impact on the party’s fortunes in Scotland, where the Tories are loathed and have just one MP.

Polling expert John Curtice believes the Lib Dems could lose a quarter of their seats at the Holyrood election. The party, led by Tavish Scott, could see their MSPs drop from 16 to 12.

Casualties could include finance spokesman Jeremy Purvis, who won Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale in 2007 with a majority of 598.

Jim Tolson, deputy transport and local government spokesman, could also see his majority of 476 in Dunfermline West wiped out.

Andrew Arbuckle, a Lib Dem councillor for more than 20 years and a former MSP, said: “I can accept people having difficulty with the coalition. If you spend your life opposing a party, it is difficult to link up with them. But it is for the greater good.

“I wasn’t an immediate convert to it but we have an opportunity to make a change and break the mould in politics.

“There is a tremendous weight on those MPs in the Cabinet to make sure it works.

“I’m sure the electorate is mature enough to realise we couldn’t continue in the state we have been in.”

But Scottish science-fiction writer Michael Cobley has written on his blog: “As an LD party member, I feel as if I’m witnessing the ritual killing of my own party’s principles, live on TV, stage by stage, as they’re fed bit by bit into the maw of the Tory machine.

“Next up, elections to the Scottish parliament in 2011, in which we see the Liberal Democrat vote collapse.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray will attempt to win over 100,000 people in Scotland who voted Lib Dem at the last election.

Letters will be sent to people who were canvassed at the last Holyrood election and said they intended to vote Lib Dem. The letters will be targeted in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Fife and the Highlands.

Gray writes in the letter: “Since David Cameron walked into 10 Downing Street, hundreds of people who voted for the Liberal Democrats have contacted Scottish Labour to tell us how upset they are.

“In Scotland, many people voted Lib Dem because they wanted to be part of a forward-looking, progressive movement. The last thing they thought was that Nick Clegg would prop up a Tory government.

“People feel angry, betrayed and, in some cases, bewildered.

“I can understand that. As a minister in a previous Scottish government, I worked with Liberal Democrat coalition colleagues and found it a rewarding experience.

“But now they have thrown their lot in with David Cameron. The coalition is bringing forward Tory plans, which will hit families and threaten the economic recovery.”

Dan still man in Aviemore?

New Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander was one of the Lib Dem negotiators who sealed the deal with David Cameron’s Tories. Here, we speak to voters in Aviemore, in the heart of his Highland constituency, to find out if they back the coalition.

Sandra Taylor, 66, retired

I am not so sure about the coalition. I would like to think it would work but I have my misgivings. We’ll have to wait and see. Danny Alexander is good for this area. I know he wanted the post of Scottish Secretary abolished and now he’s got that job but I suppose under the circumstances it is understandable.

Michael Stephenson, 27, shop manager

It is true to say that the Liberal Democrats – who I voted for – and the Tories are strange bedfellows.

There will be scepticism but they have got to prove that this can work. Danny Alexander, I’m quite sure, will do a really good job as Scottish Secretary.

Jo Caird, 29, cafe worker

I voted Lib Dem but I would not have done so if I had known there was going to be a coalition with the Tories. Now it’s been done I suppose they will just have to get on with it and try to make the best of it.

Danny Alexander should do well as Scottish Secretary. He is a hard working Member of Parliament.

George Scott, 52, butcher

I am not sure I would have voted Lib Dem if I had known they would make a pact with the Tories. We will have to wait and see how it will work out. I voted for Danny Alexander because he was the only one who sent out a personal letter. He will make a good Scottish Secretary and will fight Scotland’s corner in the coalition.

Rhona McClure, hotel receptionist

I voted for Danny Alexander. Both the Lib Dems and the Tories will have to work hard to make this coalition work. Let’s hope, for the good of the country, they can do it. Our MP is a lovely man. He has no airs and graces. I’m sure he will make a good Scottish Secretary.

Will voters bite back in ballot?

John Curtice is Professor of Politics, Strathclyde University

When Nick Clegg shook David Cameron’s hand in Downing Street last week, his Holyrood colleagues must have been wondering what the coalition deal would mean for them. Liberal Democrat MSPs will have t o face the v oters in just 12 months time.

They will have to explain why their party allowed back into power a Tory party that, yet again, was decisively rejected by the voters of Scotland.

They must be fearful voters will vent their anger and disappointment in the Holyrood ballot boxes. Fortunately for them, many Liberal Democrat MSP have what appear to be relatively safe seats – though next year’s election will be fought on new constituency boundaries, so every MSP’s prospects will be more uncertain.

Three Liberal Democrat MSPs have quite marginal seats – Mike Pringle in Edinburgh South, Jeremy Purvis in Tweeddale, and Jim Tolson in Dunfermline West. Overall, the party could conceivably lose four seats – leaving it with a rump of just 12. But there might be one reason why this will not happen. The party did so badly in 2007, it only secured 11 per cent of the list vote. So perhaps the Liberal Democrats just simply cannot fall much further – which is probably just as well.

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Budget Date Fuels Election Speculation

5:46pm UK, Wednesday March 10, 2010

Ruth Barnett, Sky News Online
Gordon Brown has confirmed there will be a budget in two weeks’ time, adding weight to speculation there will be an election on May 6.

In a written statement, Chancellor Alistair Darling announced it would be held on March 24.

The date makes it likely there will be a General Election on the same day as the local polls.

Mr Brown made the announcement in a speech on the economy.

Earlier, Treasury officials declined to comment on the date but said it would be released in a written ministerial statement to MPs.

Sky’s political correspondent Joey Jones said it is likely to be a “nakedly political” budget, “dripping with electoral menace”.

You can’t tell us ‘my policies are working, stick with me,’ when quite patently they’re not.

George Osborne attacks the Government’s record

It may lack substance as Mr Darling has already set out some of Labour’s plans for the economy and may not want to reveal more detail before the campaign begins, Jones added.

Both major parties are under pressure to set out how and when they will tackle the deficit.

The annual rate of borrowing is expected to reach about £178bn this year – an all-time high.

Mr Darling has said he will more than halve the deficit in four years.

But Tory leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne insist the Government is putting growth and interest rates at risk by not making cuts immediately.

Mr Osborne told Sky News he feared there would be “nothing new of substance to really reassure the business community,” in the budget.

The Government cannot “have it both ways, you can’t tell us ‘my policies are working, stick with me,’ when quite patently they’re not,” he added.

Mr Brown has been pinning his hopes, at least in part, on the economy bouncing back strongly from the recession in the early months of 2010.

He has warned that severe cuts, introduced too soon, would put the “fragile” recovery at risk.

Crucial GDP figures are expected in late April

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Frosty Welcome For UK Electronic Borders Plan

8:39am UK, Thursday March 11, 2010

Mark White, Sky News home affairs correspondent
Government claims over the roll-out of its new electronic border controls are “not credible”, according to opposition parties and some travel operators.

Ministers have said the e-Borders system will monitor 95% of passenger movements by the end of this year, but Eurostar and the ferry companies have told Sky News they have not even reached agreement with the UK Border Agency over a system of electronic checks which would be workable.

For the Government, e-Borders is the front line in the battle to keep the UK safe from terrorism, criminality and illegal immigration.

It works by electronically storing and checking the details of passengers against official watch lists.

Since going live in May 2009, more than 2,000 wanted people have been arrested at UK airports – 10 murder suspects were detained and almost 40 people arrested on suspicion of serious sexual assaults or rapes.

About half of all passenger movements are monitored by e-Borders now

It is terrorism watch lists which are a top priority for e-Borders and the government says there have been “significant counter-terror interventions” since the system went live.

But currently, only half of all passenger movements are monitored by e-Borders.

The Government has stated that all passenger traffic will be monitored under the system by 2014, with 95% monitored by the end of this year.

Tim Reardon, from the Chamber of Shipping, represents the ferry companies – who carry more than 20 million passengers in and out of UK ports each year.

He told Sky the current system would cause enormous disruption for ferry passengers: “The e-Borders system as the Government has proposed it offers the nasty prospect of extra hassle and extra cost to passengers, for no benefit whatsoever.”

Of the programme for implementation, Mr Reardon said: “There’s no prospect at all of that happening within the timescale that the Government has suggested. They have suggested that it will happen by the end of this year. It won’t.”

The e-Borders programme has also run into legal difficulties, with the European Commission ruling late last year that passengers within the EU cannot be forced to give advance details and any such scheme within EU borders would have to be done on a voluntary basis.

Conservative shadow immigration minister Damien Green said: “I think the e-Borders programme has proved an expensive fiasco. Britain desperately needs a proper way of counting people in and out of the country.

“We’ve had four years of the e-Borders programme and we’ve only hit 45% coverage and the Government is claiming that by the end of this year we will have hit about 95%. I think that claim is just not credible.”

But despite the difficulties, the government is pushing ahead with the scheme.

Home secretary Alan Johnson is to open a new control hub in Manchester that will collect, store and process millions of passenger details each month, checking them against official watch lists.

Ministers insist it is a system which has played, and will continue to play, a significant role in securing the UK’s borders.

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The SNP once again naively thinks the EU will be the saviour of Scotland.
£34M whilst welcome, it is a very small amount of money.

Monies have been allocated to Glasgow Works, StARTworks, programmes in Dundee and Renfrewshire and 43 projects in the Highlands and Islands. Which projects in the Highlands & Islands I wonder?
Another Job creation scheme which fails in the long term.
New employment must be sustainable and this is where the Scottish Government has failed miserably.

Euro funds will ‘safeguard jobs’

More than £34m in European Commission grants is to be shared among projects in Scotland.

The money has been allocated to Glasgow Works, StARTworks, programmes in Dundee and Renfrewshire and 43 projects in the Highlands and Islands.

First Minister Alex Salmond said the funding would safeguard and create jobs, helping 28,000 people across Scotland to find or keep jobs.

The funding was announced at the National Job Summit in Glasgow.

The money has been allocated from the European Regional Development and European Social funds.

Mr Salmond said: “This announcement of more than £34m European funding will deliver vital support such as training opportunities to communities across Scotland, helping 28,000 individuals find fresh employment while assisting business growth, urban regeneration and rural development.”

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I question yet again if we can trust the Government and the relevant authorities, when they say Nuclear Power and the dumping of the waste is safe!!!   The have the audactity to tell us it is,  and that our health would not be affected.
Lies, lies and damned lies.

A duty of care lies with them to protect our children and they don’t care  – it’s all about money!

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