Adventures in Glasgow East

Nominations are now closed for the Glasgow East by-election and apparently there are nine candidates in all. I'm not going to list them all, after all why would I offer publicity to anyone other than the excellent SNP candidate John Mason (pictured), but it is pretty clear that this contest is all about the SNP and the Labour Party which has represented the area since the 1920s. None of the others have a look in.

This by-election has generated much comment in the blogosphere, some of which has suggested that we shouldn't write off the other parties, the Liberal Democrats in particular. However, having been in Glasgow East quite a bit since the by-election was announced, I am able to say fairly confidently that the Liberals shouldn't be expending too much effort on this contest. I have found little evidence to suggest that they are going to attract very much support, and to be frank have identified more Tories in my canvassing efforts than I have Liberal Democrat supporters. I don't imagine I need to state the obvious about Tories themselves being thin on the ground in Glasgow East, so this tells a story in itself about what the Lib-Dem vote is likely to be on 24th July.

It has been a pleasure to campaign for John Mason in this campaign. I have known John for many years and he is a thoroughly decent individual. This has been often remarked upon by many people in the constituency, particularly in that part that John has represented for a decade on Glasgow City Council. That speaks for itself as to John's character.

I have found plenty of people who are going to come out and support the SNP for the first time in this by-election. The reasons have been a combination of three things. Firstly, they like John Mason for the reasons I outlined above, combined with the fact that he has a track record of standing up for people in the east end. Secondly, they are thoroughly scunnered with Labour, with many people having invested their political hopes in that party for their lifetimes, to see this loyalty rewarded with nothing in return. Thirdly, and most crucially, they have been impressed by the SNP in government. They have seen that the worst predictions of the unionists and their standard bearers in certain segments of the media that the sky would fall in if the SNP should ever come to power are utter nonsense. And more than that, they have seen an SNP government freeze the council tax and move to replace it with a fairer form of local taxation; lower prescription charges and move to abolish them; retain the accident and emergency department at Monklands Hospital; and move to get 1000 more police officers on the streets of Scotland.

In short they see an SNP government doing the types of things that they thought the Labour Party might, were they not a pale imitation of the force for social justice that they were founded to be.

This all adds up to making this the most interesting and exciting by-election I have ever campaigned in, and I am increasingly confident that John Mason and the SNP activists working for him and our party can deliver a historic victory on 24th July.

By the way, for those who are interested I am pictured with my pal Anne McLaughlin outside John's campaign headquarters on Baillieston Road after a shift campaigning in Glasgow East!

BBC News Shows SNP Success

The two headline stories on the BBC Ten O'clock News this evening made for interesting viewing.

First up we had news that Council Tax bills in England are set to rise by around 4% in the coming year. This news was of course reported whilst simultaneously pointing out that in Scotland a freeze in the level of Council Tax is very much on the table.

This was followed by news of disgruntled cops have taken to the streets of London to protest the failure of the London Labour government to fully see through their independently agreed pay rise. And this news was also supplemented by pointing out that the pay rise has been fully awarded in Scotland.

Aside from meaning that people in England may soon be asking if the SNP can form their next government, this news will probably have the Daily Mail screaming about how we in Scotland live in a land that is a type of paradise at the expense of all those who live within the area bounded by the M25.

This avoids pointing out some hard truths such as Gordon Brown having relied on Scottish oil revenue to plug the gap in his government's budget over the last number of years, and whilst things are definitely improving in Scotland under the SNP government, I think it would be stretching it to say that we live in a Caledonian paradise.

What the pieces run on the news indicate though is how great a job the SNP is doing, particularly in comparison to the Labour government in London. It is appropriate to point out on the day that the SNP saw through its first ever budget bill at stage one in the Scottish Parliament that this was achieved against the backdrop of the tightest financial settlement ever received by a devolved administration in Scotland.

Just imagine what we could achieve in Scotland if we had full control over all government expenditure and were able to draw upon all of Scotland's resources rather than having to throw a huge slice of this at the illegal war in Iraq, new nuclear weapons or a pointless phony ID card scheme.

For Auld Lang Syne and A' That!

Best of this festive season to anyone out there reading this. As clichéd as it may be, given this is Hogmanay (or Mahogany as my little sister used to call it when she was wee), it seems apt that I should reflect on the year just past.

It has been a monumental experience for me personally, and I think, for our country as a whole.

Not only did this year see my first wedding anniversary, but the months of hard work during the election period in the first few months of 2007 (and several months of 2006 as well) saw me elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament. This has obviously resulted in a few changes to my life, not least amongst them that I find myself considerably busier than I was before but still thoroughly enjoying the experience.

It has been an honour to serve in the Scottish Parliament with a SNP government led by the first ever SNP First Minister, and to have been able to actually cast a vote to elect Alex Salmond to that post.

However, of greater significance is that first ever SNP government.

There were of course worries that governing from a minority position would prove hugely difficult, but all the signs thus far are that the SNP is doing a far better job with a minority of members of the Scottish Parliament than the Labour-Liberal administration ever did from a majority position.

I think that in part this comes down to different mindsets. Many scoffed when the SNP made the conscious decision to change the term "Scottish Executive" to "Scottish Government". However, I don't think that the significance of this should be underestimated.

Firstly, it made sense as too many people did not relate to the term "Executive" but can more readily identify with what a government is. That alone made the change worthwhile.

It also speaks volumes about different attitudes to governance in devolved Scotland. Whilst the Labour-Liberal administration was content to act as a mere executor of British rule in Scotland, the SNP has set out its stall as a true government for Scotland. This in part reflects the "cooncil" mentality that many Labour ministers in particular brought to their administration, and clearly with devolution there are certain limits on what the SNP government can achieve. And we of course retain our perspective that independence is the best constitutional option for our country, allowing any Scottish government to be able to achieve even more. However, even within the confines of devolution the SNP is acting more like a government than our predecessors ever did before.

As I was able to state in a piece I wrote for the blog of Plaid Cymru Assembly Member, Bethan Jenkins, in government the SNP is already pursuing its distinctive social democratic agenda, designed to bring about a more prosperous, fair and socially just Scotland.

Consider just some of the achievements of the SNP government in what should be remembered has been just a short seven month period:

Moves have been made to being about the abolition of tuition fees for university students in the shame of the Graduate Endowment, and a return to the principle of free education.

Plans to follow the Welsh example and abolish prescription charges for all Scottish citizens by 2011.

One of the most ambitious targets for carbon reduction by the middle of this century of any country on the planet - an 80% reduction in carbon emissions.

A review of the right to buy policy in council housing, with proposals to scrap it entirely for newly built homes.

A decision that no more private prisons will be built in Scotland and work begun on creating a viable alternative to New Labour’s PFI madness.

Scrapping the tolls for the Forth and Tay road bridges, which remained an anomaly following the removal of tolls from other bridges across the country, with a further announcement on a new crossing for the Forth to replace the outdated road bridge there.

The most ambitious programme of railway infrastructure improvements for decades with electrification of the main line between our two biggest cities long overdue.

A decision to allow asylum seekers the same rights in higher education as the rest of Scotland’s people, underlining the SNP's internationalist and progressive credentials.

The freezing of the unfair council tax with plans to replace it with a fairer local income tax based on the ability to pay and the signing of a historic agreement with the representatives of local government to create a new more equal relationship between central government and local councils.

A summit held to discuss nuclear disarmament – the first ever government organised summit in the UK to discuss such.

These are just some of the achievements of the SNP in office, reflecting the progress made in Scotland in just a short space of time.

This year has been politically momentous for Scotland. It has ushered in the first ever democratic government distinctively for Scotland, and moved us on from the first eight years of devolution which were marked by that "cooncil" mentality I mentioned before.

The year has been momentous in other ways too. For Gordon Brown it might just have been the year when he lost the next general election whenever it may be, when he might just have won it if it had been held this year. His dithering has been well commented upon elsewhere, but he may just rue the day that he didn't decide to go for it in November.

No one really knows what made him change his mind. For me, he is an instinctively cautious politician and he was exercising that caution. Of course, the performance of Cameron at the Tory conference and the innate conservative English media moving closer to the Tories after their love in with New Labour over the last decade played a huge role, but I don't think we can discount Brown's alarm that the SNP would make huge gains played a part in his calculations.

Anyway, the history books of the future will tell us whether he called it the right way or not, but I think we can safely say that those same history books will also state that 2007 was a huge year for the development of Scotland and that the SNP in government performed marvellously well.

All that remains are my New Year's resolutions.

One, to blog a little bit more often, and two, to play what ever part I can in ensuring that 2008 and beyond are as good if not better for the SNP than 2007 has even been.

Blogging for Bethan

I was recently asked by Bethan Jenkins (pictured), the youngest member of the Welsh Assembly, and a Plaid Cymru representative for South West Wales, to write a piece for her blog. Because I am being lazy I am going to just reproduce it here, but if you want to read it at her site then you can get it at:

http://bethanjenkins.blogspot.com/2007/10/bethans-guest-bloggers-1-jamie-hepburn.html

Anyway, it is a piece about where Scotland is going with the SNP government and is perhaps quite timely following the weekend's SNP conference in Aviemore.

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Anyone who knows their Shakespeare will be aware of the question posed in Macbeth; “stands Scotland where it did?”

If someone had fallen asleep before the Scottish Parliament election this year and awoke today and posed that same question, the answer would have to be a resounding no. You would need to have been asleep not to have noticed the changes taking place in Scotland.

The Scottish writer and artist Alasdair Gray once wrote “work as if you were in the early days of a better nation”, and our hypothetical Rip Van Winkle would be able to wake from their slumber to find that by virtue of the election of an SNP government these are the early days of a better nation.

The SNP is already pursuing its distinctive social democratic agenda, designed to bring about a more prosperous, fair and socially just Scotland. For my part it is a huge honour to serve in the Scottish Parliament at a time when we have the first ever SNP government. Indeed, not only is this the first ever SNP government, I would contend that it is the first ever Scottish government. Our predecessors in the shape of the Labour-Liberal pact which was in place for eight years could be accused of many things, but acting as a government is not really one of them. Their local council mentality would only ever allow them to be described as an administration at best.

However, since Alex Salmond and his cabinet were put in place we have seen a series of announcements that are impressive in their intent and reach. In just five months announcements have been made that will see the abolition of tuition fees for university students, and a return to the principle of free education; plans to follow the Welsh example and abolish prescription charges for all Scottish citizens; one of the most ambitious targets for carbon reduction by the middle of this century of any country on the planet; the creation of a new entrants scheme for Scottish farming; a review of the right to buy policy in council housing, with the suggestion that this will be scrapped entirely for newly built homes; two local accident and emergency departments earmarked for closure have been saved; a decision that no more private prisons will be built in Scotland; work begun on creating a viable alternative to New Labour’s PFI madness; the most ambitious programme of railway infrastructure improvements for decades; a decision to allow asylum seekers the same rights in higher education as the rest of Scotland’s people; the freezing of the unfair council tax with a view to replacing it with a fairer local income tax based on the ability to pay; and a summit held to discuss nuclear disarmament – the first ever government organised summit in the UK to discuss such.

This indicates a government that is progressive and outward looking. It reflects a programme of a real government rather than that of an administration following orders from London.

This is not to say that we do not face difficulties. The SNP are a minority government, with 47 members of the Scottish Parliament out of a total of 129. The maths clearly indicates that it will be difficult to pursue some of our agenda. That will mean that, on occasion, we will have to build loose alliances with other parties on a one off, policy by policy basis.

Furthermore, the comprehensive spending review conducted at Westminster has announced that the SNP government can expect to get the lowest annual increase to the Scottish block grant since the advent of devolution, with a miserly 0.5% increase.

This makes things financially tight for the SNP government, but in John Swinney MSP, we have a Cabinet Secretary for Finance who is equipped with all the abilities that his predecessors have lacked necessary for the task at hand, and I remain confident that the government will be able to cope with this financial settlement.

So, things are going well just now. I remain confident that they will remain to go that way so long as the SNP remains in power. The challenge for the SNP is to ensure that after four years we win the next Scottish Parliament election in 2011.

My hope is that when we do so, it will be the first elections to a Scottish Parliament in an independent Scotland. The SNP government has launched a “national conversation” which it wants all citizens and all of civic society to engage in about the future constitutional direction of our country. We will clearly set out our belief that Scotland can be a hugely better country to live in with independence, and I think we can convince the people of the merits of that case.

The plan is to hold a referendum in 2010, where we will provide the Scottish people with the chance to move to independence. If we can hold that referendum, then my hopes that the SNP election victory in 2011 is in the context of Scottish independence stand a very real chance of being fulfilled.

Dusting off the Cobwebs

I was out and about in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth earlier today distributing some community surveys and finding out some views of local people about their area and on Scottish politics in general.

This will doubtless be the first of many "workdays" for me as we build towards the expected Westminster general election - possibly this Autumn, but more likely a bit further down the line I suspect. It was good to get out and about after what has been a busy Summer in the office and to hear a few views being expressed from more than a few local people.

Anyway, as I say, there will be more of this type of activity in the not too distant future, so if you are interested in coming and giving us a helping hand then just drop me an e-mail and let me know.

A Real Government for Scotland

Today has seen a huge stride forward for the SNP. Yesterday was of course a monumental occasion, with us seeing - and I being fortunate enough to be in the privileged position of being able to actually vote for - the first ever SNP First Minister of Scotland. However, today was arguably even more important, for we now have the various ministerial posts filled, and we have the first ever SNP government in Scotland.

Indeed, I would contend we have our first ever Scottish government.

Whilst the previous Scottish Executive was basically content to administer Scotland in a fairly basic manner, we now have a set of people who are actually willing to make big decisions about our country's future as well as stand up for Scotland and demand that more responsibilities be given to our elected representatives. First up will be calling for the return of £23million of money withdrawn from Scotland's pensioners by Westminster when free personal care for the elderly was introduced. Then we will see demands for Scotland to be given a share of its oil revenues.

Much has been made by Labour that this amounts to picking a fight with the UK government. I happen to think this is basically part of their scaremongering campaign against the SNP that they started during the election campaign. However, even if they genuinely believe it, then they are grossly mistaken.

And it would be an easy mistake to make from their limited perspective I suppose. Their style of "leadership" for Scotland has been to faithfully administer London rule north of the border. What they fundamentally fail to understand is that the SNP will of course never do this. We will govern, and that means actually standing up for the national interest.

I look forward to playing my part supporting my SNP colleagues who have the honour of that task of government for Scotland.

A Programme for Real Scottish Government

Today saw the launch of the SNP manifesto for the election. I didn't make the event held to launch it at Napier University this morning as I was busy campaigning in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth today, but all accounts I have heard of it indicate that it went very well.

The event has garnered much interest, and even the BBC's network news was reporting on it tonight. This indicates the depth of interest in the SNP and the Scottish Parliament election, although Nick Robinson (the BBC political editor) still managed to get the blood boiling with his throw away comment that there doesn't seem to be much appetite for independence. I presume he hasn't spoken to as many people as we have in this campaign and I have to disagree with that point of view. Independence is increasingly supported by people I have spoken to over the last few months.

Anyway, I digress. The manifesto has now been launched and contains all the proposals that can make a real difference in Scotland. It has been quite aptly styled a programme for real Scottish government. Our commitments include proposals to put more police on the streets; the creation of a fairer type of local taxation in the form of a local income tax; the dumping of student debt; fairer rates for small businesses; and of course, a referendum on independence.

Take a look at the manifesto for yourself at http://paddington.snp.org/jthomas/manifesto/

The poor confused Scottish media

The news that the SNP has published its plans for the first one hundred days of government (incidentally, this can be accessed at http://www.snp.org/policies/government-communities/the-first-100-days-of-an-snp-government) has provoked a number of interesting responses. The Daily Record came away with the all too predictable nonsense headline "SNP Plot 'Chaos and Turmoil' for the UK" (http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_headline=snp-plot--chaos-and-turmoil--for-the-uk--&method=full&objectid=18779565&siteid=66633-name_page.html). Indeed, much of the media seemed to concentrate on the idea that the SNP intends a head long collision with the London based Labour government should we win the election. The Scotsman even erroneously stated, "the document made it clear that an SNP-led administration would pick fights with Westminster from day one". (http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=430882007)

They have spun the priorities set out in the plan for the first 100 days as a deliberate attempt at creating tensions with the British state rather than focus on the merits of the proposals set out in the document. Instead the press have made out that they are nothing more than some form of nationalist trickery.

Incidentally these proposals would see an SNP led Scottish Executive demand control of Scotland's share of North Sea oil; would stand firm against the placing of a new generation of nuclear weapons in Scottish territory; stand against new generations of nuclear power stations; the transfer of powers over gun control to Scotland; taking a greater role in dealing with the EU; and the creation of a distinct Scottish Olympics team. That is just to mention a few of the policies set out by the SNP for the early days of government.

Brian Taylor bizarrely described this as a form of "Trotskyite impossibilism" on his new blog at the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/election07/). It seems Brian also thinks this is nothing more than a ploy to "make demands that the state can't possibly concede - then demand the overthrow of the state when it refuses".

What Brian Taylor and the massed ranks of the Scottish press corps seem to not realise is that the plans laid out in the document and spelt out above are actually what a real government of a real nation would do. They demand the best possible conditions for the people of their country.

In fairness to them we have never had this in the past in Scotland, instead having only politicians prepared to administer Scotland on the say so of their London "betters" and masters, so it is perhaps a little difficult for our media people to understand what a real Scottish government would look like. Hopefully after 3rd May they will get some experience of that under the SNP.

The Campaign Goes On

It has been a busy few days since my last post here. On Saturday I started the morning by meeting up with one of the local council candidates and the SNP team to continue our survey work in the Blackwood area of Cumbernauld. An hour or so later after having chapped several hundred doors between us all, my wife Julie and I took our scuffed knuckles onto the train to Glasgow heading for the Science Centre where the SNP was having its campaign conference.

We arrived in time to squeeze in the back of a very packed auditorium to hear Nicola Sturgeon give an excellent speech that set out much of the party's plans and priorities for if and when we form the next administration. It was particularly heartening to listen to her underline the fact that the independence referendum is a line in the sand issue for us in any potential coalition deal should such be necessary.

Then after having joined my family for my uncle's 60th birthday bash in Troon on Saturday night it was back to the Science Centre on Sunday. After catching up with a number of old friends who are dotted across the country it was back into the packed auditorium (although this time I thankfully managed to grab a seat) to listen to Alex Salmond's keynote speech.

This was a performance par excellence from my party leader. From the moment he started with the words, "I'm Alex Salmond, and I'm running for First Minister", to the very last word it was an assured, measured, commanding and statesman like address. It is clear why he remains by far the most popular candidate to become First Minister of Scotland this May.

All in all, the conference left me, and seemingly all those who were there, in very buoyant mood indeed. This was just the inspiration needed to start off my Monday where I and a large number of SNP activists were waiting to meet Ian Hudghton MEP, the SNP President, at Croy Train Station, to set off and undertake more survey work in the Blackwood and Smithstone areas, delivering hundreds of them to local people to find out their views on the matters of the day. Ian then went off to pay a visit to Eastfield Primary School whilst the rest of us carried on a bit more survey work then resting up in preparation of tonight's Annual General Meeting of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth SNP.

Tonight's meeting saw everyone in great heart and a growing realisation that as every day passes the SNP campaign gathers momentum and more and more people are being convinced by our arguments.

60 days to go!

I should start off by saying that the title of this post is slightly misleading. There are actually less than 60 days left till polling now - 57 to be precise! I had intended on posting with 60 days to go, but seem to be finding time to work on my blog hard to come by at the moment, as the campaign intensifies even further.

It is quite astonishing to think that we are only just under two months away from the Scottish Parliament election. I was selected to contest the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency for the SNP around a year ago, yet the day where my selection was confirmed seems much more recent in my mind. However, we are now in the "home stretch" and the day itself will soon enough be upon us.

In some ways I am glad it is almost over, in others it doesn't seem like enough time! However, we enter this period in good heart, secure in the knowledge that more people are coming over to support independence and the SNP each and every day. The opinion polls have made for excellent reading. Never this close to an election have we been polling so strongly and on such a consistent basis. However that is not to become complacent. I shall continue to work hard between now and 3rd May to try and secure that all important SNP victory in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth.

The poverty that shames our country

Poverty has been a consistent problem in our country. However, what many people probably don't realise is that the level of poverty in Scotland today is some four times the level that existed in 1968. In the last forty years we have seen a quadrupling in poverty levels. And they call this progress?

The growth in poverty seems to have been spurred by the drive towards neo-liberalism in the 1980s. In 1979, when Margaret Thatcher's Tory government was first elected, child poverty stood at one in ten. By 1997 when the Conservative's left office to be replaced by the new Tories of New Labour the levels were one in three. It is true that child poverty has come down under Labour, but only to one in four. After a decade in power, New Labour has barely shifted the levels of child poverty from 33% to 25%.

However far from being shame faced about presiding over such levels of child poverty, Jack McConnell was actually on Radio Scotland crawing about this "achievement". He then went on to utter some mundanities about how his "founding principle" was to deal with the inequalities that exist in society. Given the one in four kids in poverty in Scotland today - not to mention the one in five pensioners in poverty as well - it seems pretty clear that Jack is able to put his founding principles on the backburner.

He then went on to utter some nonsense about how with Labour you get a party that is committed to combatting inequality whilst with the SNP you get a party that is committed to constitutional change ahead of this aim. Well I have news for Mr McConnell. Independence and fighting poverty are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, I would say that it is the fight against inequality that drives me most in politics. Scottish independence is not about changing flags. Nor is it an end in itself. Certainly I will be delighted the day we celebrate independence, but for me it is because that it empowers us to tackle the inequalities that exist in our country that motivate me to seek to end the union.

Consider this - Scotland is the only country in the world to have discovered oil and seen poverty actually increase amongst its people, other than Iraq (which had very unique circumstances, such as a decade of sanctions imposed against them). Do we actually think that would have been the case with independence?

Only with independence will we ever be able to start making real inroads into the poverty that blights Scotland and end the ludicrous nature of a resource rich country with such obscene levels of poverty in our midst.

A Scottish Voice?

Today's papers are full of reports about a new political party in Scotland. Archie Stirling, "famous" for having once been married to Diana Rigg, has established Scottish Voice as a new right wing party. I say they are right wing because this has how they have been popularly ascribed in the mainstream press, but as today's reports so succinctly describe, Mr Stirling has been rather quiet on detailing any form of policy for his new party (see http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1223456.0.0.php.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1223456.0.0.php). His reticence means that Scottish Voice are rather short on details as to what policies they will put before the electorate, making it quite difficult to accurately place them anywhere on the political spectrum. I suspect that the press have tagged this new party as being right of centre given Mr Stirling's history of donating to the Conservatives, which he equates with donations he has given to "save the whale" (a quite unfair comparison Archie, saving the whale is a noble cause, the Tories less so).

I had to laugh though at the reported comments of Archie Stirling who was reported in the Herald as saying, "I believe there is a genuine dissatisfaction with Holyrood and people seem to react favourably to the idea that a group of people, if elected, would hold them to account." Doesn't Mr Stirling realise that if he and his cohorts were elected as Scottish Voice candidates (admittedly this is a highly unlikely prospect, of which more later) then they would become part of "Holyrood"? Who would hold them to account for holding the others to account.

Mr Stirling seems to be tapping into what is a perceived dissatisfaction with the existing political parties. I cannot deny that such exists, although I think this is exacerbated by 24/7 media that perpetuates itself in being cynical about all people who involve themselves in politics. However, the answer is not blithe and anodyne comments - for that is all that Mr Stirling has offered us. The answer is to actually empower the Scottish Parliament so that it can make real differences to the people of Scotland. The only way to really achieve this is with independence, but apparently the raison d'être of the founding of Scottish Voice is to oppose constitutional change.

It is pretty ironic then that this party has chosen the name Scottish Voice given they seek to deny any form of distinctive voice for Scotland in the international community.

At any rate, I rather suspect that Scottish Voice will gather more headlines than votes. They remind me all too much of the Scottish People's Alliance that contested the Scottish Parliament election in 2003, which beyond providing a platform for a couple of Tory MSPs who had slipped down their party's rankings achieved next to hee haw. I firmly predict a similar outcome for Mr Stirling's new party.

If you fancy a gawp at the website of this new "force" in Scottish politics (and it won't take you long as there is precious little there to read) then go to http://www.scottishvoice.net/

Meanwhile, in the real world, today's Scotsman reports continued strong polling for the SNP in their latest ICM opinion poll (http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=311452007) which all indicates to a fantastic election night for my party. I won't be resting on my laurels though. Still plenty of campaigning to be done in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth in the remaining 64 days till polling.

Confederation of British Unionism

Sometimes the cliche can be the best way for describing a situation. So the old phrase "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you" seems an appropriate way to describe things at the moment.

Today's papers are full of reports about the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) demanding answers to eleven questions from the SNP about independence. (Take a look at http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1204270.0.0.php) This story gets my blood boiling in various ways.

Firstly, there is the fact that the SNP have already answered these questions. The CBI's query had already reached the SNP and they did the organisation the courtesy of responding outlining their position in relation to each question posed. So for the CBI to then release a story to the press that they are demanding answers to these same questions strikes me as more than a little bit snide.

Secondly, the CBI are claiming that they are seeking a meeting with Alex Salmond, with more than a hint in their spin on this "story" that he is being uncooperative in arranging this meeting. It is my understanding that in actual fact Alex Salmond offered to meet with the CBI in the SNP's response to them. Again, this is just a snide claim by the CBI.

The CBI are quite entitled to participate in the body politic by seeking to represent the interests of their members. However it seems to becoming quite the habit for the CBI to focus their energies on attacking Scottish independence and less on making any form of positive case for business interests.

In this way they are becoming less an organisation equipped to fight for those business interests in Scotland and more a fully feldged arm of the unionist body. And the irony is that they are doing business a great disservice in doing so.

The SNP has repeatedly set out its business credentials - not because we want to become in thrall of the business community, but because we recognise their role in ensuring a revitalised Scottish economy that can go some way to lifting people out of poverty and getting the unemployed off the dole and into work. In other words because we see not only the economic need in being pro-business but the social need as well.

The party has made clear commitments to abolishing business rates for the 120,000 smallest businesses in Scotland and for reducing rates for a further 30,000. Whilst this might not directly benefit many of the members of the CBI themselves, the SNP pledge to reduce corporation tax from 30% to 20% certainly would. These policies, along with many others put forward by the SNP would allow business to much more readily flourish in an independent Scotland than in devolved Scotland. So in attacking independence - as this story was undoubtedly designed to do - they are doing business absolutely no favours.

Its seems then that the CBI is less the Confederation of British Industry and more the Confederation of Bristish Unionism. This is nothing new though. This is the same CBI Scotland that in 1997 opposed devolution (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/politics97/news/09/0908/scotland.shtml) and this is the same CBI Scotland that has for the past few months done nothing but pour scorn on the independence movement.

Iain McMillan, the Chief Executive of CBI Scotland, has been busy in the last few months in an exchange of opinions in the various letters pages of our media with both Alex Neil MSP and Jim Mather MSP. For some reason he seems to think it is his business to be an ardent unionist despite there being a weight of evidence that independence can benefit the business community in Scotland. Doutbless there is an MBE or some other bauble in the post for him. But he and his organisation, by their strident opposition to independence are doing the people they claim to represent - the business community - absolutely no favours. They are doing our country none either.

The Nice Guys of Politics?

Before I come to deal with the idiocy of Jamie Stone let me firstly say that today I spent a very productive day campaigning in Cumbernauld Town Centre to publicise the SNP campaign for smaller class sizes and then continuing the work of surveying the residents of Balloch on their opinions on the important matters of the day. I then returned home to catch a rerun bit of Nicol Stephen's leader's speech to the Liberal Democrats Scottish conference. For the bit I managed to stay awake to listen to I managed to catch some banalities about how negative Labour have been in the campaign (in all fairness to Nicol this is quite true) and how negative the SNP has been (not true) and how wonderfully positive his Scottish Lib Dems have been.

No surprises there then. As you might expect from a leader of a party, he talked up his own party and talked down the others. All in all, Nicol Stephen was trying to perpetuate that greatest myth of the body politic - that the Lib Dems are basically decent nice guys. However, just as he was making his claims of Liberal Democrat positivity one of his colleagues was making perhaps the most negative attacks of the campaign thus far - even nastier than anything thus far claimed by the Labour Party.

Jamie Stone MSP apparently claimed in an interview on television that the SNP are a party fuelled by "xenophobia". This outrageous remark sits in stark contrast to any claims by Nicol Stephen of a positive campaign and even Brian Taylor doing the interview clearly thought it was ludicrous. It also happens to be fundamentally untrue.

Xenophobia of course means the hatred of foreigners. Any reasonable person analysing the SNP's position will of course realise that this is far from the party's motivation for any of its priorities. Just because we seek independence for this country does not mean we hate people from other countries.

Indeed one of the strengths of the SNP is the breadth of people who are in it and who support it. I know of a number of people who moved to Scotland from elsewhere, choosing to make it their home who have come to realise the need for independence for the country. Many of them have in fact joined the SNP - some will be candidates for the party this May.

If we were a xenophobic movement would these people support us? Would they join us?

Would the gentleman who I spoke to today in Cumbernauld Town Centre who moved to Scotland from England nine years ago be a staunch SNP supporter and a firm believer in independence?

Hopefully people will see that Jamie Stone is talking through the proverbial hole in his heid. Hopefully they will also just see that the Liberal Democrats aren't quite the cuddly toy or nice guys they so love to make themselves out to be too.

Bonfire of the Fiefdoms

Last night I attended an SNP event in Glasgow to launch the campaign for the council elections that will coincide with the Scottish Parliament election on 3rd May. A fantastic turnout of well over a hundred people was there to see all the council candidates introduced by Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Sandra White MSP and Councillor John Mason, the current leader of the SNP group in Glasgow.

Many of my friends are standing for the SNP in these elections and I look forward to seeing them elected. At the last council elections in Glasgow (when I was actually a candidate there) the SNP managed to get around 20% plus of the vote, but only 3 out of 79 councillors, roughly 4% of the total.

This democratic defecit will now come to an end. At long last proportional representation, in the shape of the Single Transferable Vote, has been introduced for local government elections and this will mean that the days of single party rule in the Scottish central belt are over. This is a tremendous step forward for local democracy. When one party can totally dominate local political control then this rapidly turns into political fiefdoms with complacent leadership. This won't happen in the future and that can only be a good thing for our local councils.

Lies, Damned Lies and the Daily Record

You can tell the election is nearing when the Daily Record ratchets up the level of vitriol it has for the SNP. The normal snide remarks are beefed up to a full assault, and the facts of the matter are usually the first casualty in their style of reporting. This is especially the case when the SNP are doing well in the opinion polls - as we are just now.

The edition of the paper from 8th February carried a full two page article with the alarmist headline "SNP's £8billion Spree". Of course the paper is entitled to print what it likes, but this particular report had me more than a little cheesed off. Firstly, it was the way that the paper has carried this claim, made by Labour, as fact, rather than as an allegation made by the Labour Party. They proceeded to reel off a list of SNP spending promises, with Labour's price tag attached without any analysis by their reporters to see if these prices are in fact correct.

In this way the paper is acting as little more than a mouthpiece for the Labour Party as we enter the business end of the Scottish Parliamentary election campaign. What they failed to do was investigate these claims. What they also failed to do, was offer any form of balance what so ever. For instance, where was the critique of the Labour Party's support for the renewal of Trident nuclear weapons? It has been estimated that this will cost the taxpayer some £75billion over the long term, of which I imagine we can reasonably estimate that at least £7billion would be Scottish revenue. Where was it reported by the Daily Record that the Labour Party supports the introduction of ID cards which may cost up to £19billion over 10 years according to some experts? Where was it reported that the Labour Party supports the creation of a new generation of nuclear power stations - which would cost billions to construct themselves - when the Nuclear Decommissiong Authority has estimated that clean up costs from the current generation of power stations may cost us £70billion?

The answer is, of course, that the Daily Record mentioned none of these things. They would rather just blithely accept whatever dross spoon fed them by the Labour Party and accept it as fact. The reality is that of course, the commitments made by the SNP will have a price tag attached to them. Indeed, some of the prices quoted in the Record are not that far off the mark, but some are rather wild indeed. Take for example the suggestion by Labour (quoted in full by the Record of course) that our plans to abolish the graduate endowment and to replace student loans with grants will cost over £2billion over four years. This is utter nonsense. The SNP has rigourously costed this proposal which will cost £100million a year. The Labour Party has inflated the price fivefold in an attempt to confuse and scare the electorate.

This is a silly game to play.

Politics should be about presenting a vision to the electorate. The SNP has established a coherent set of policies for this campaign that when implemented will transform the social fabric and the economic performance of our country. The Labour Party wishes to present only negative attacks on independence and scaremongering about the cost of our platform. They offer no vision what so ever as they are unable to come up with any fresh ideas for Scotland after a decade in power.

The fact of the matter is that Scotland is well able to afford the proposals that the SNP sets out. Indeed the real question should be, can Scotland afford not to implement these proposals, which represent a chance for Scotland to radically improve itself.

Sadly I predict more negativity and scaremongering from the Labour Party over the next few months, and even more sadly I predict they will be all too eagerly aided in that by the Daily Record.

Still, I will continue to push forward a positive message in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth. I know people are fed up with the negativity that is all too common in modern politics, so you won't be getting that from me!

85 days and 520 votes to go

Hello and welcome to my blog site. I will try and keep this site as up to date as possible between now and election time. Although I can't promise to post every day, particularly once it gets closer to election day itself on 3rd May. And that day is going to come around remarkably soon.

There are only 85 days to the Scottish Parliament election, less than three months to go! The team of SNP activists in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth have been working hard to try and get the SNP message across to people in the area. We are presently engaged in a big survey of people's opinions about matters of national and local importance. The response we have been getting has been great, with many people telling us that they are fed up after seven and a half years of New Labour-Liberal rule and that it's time for a change, and that it's time for independence. There are only 520 votes between the SNP and Labour in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, so every vote counts!

Please look out for our survey in your area. We should be calling soon if we haven't been already.