The Labour Leadership

Jeremy Corbyn, until recently unknown to me, is now leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.  This is an unusual situation for a virtually unheard of backbencher to be elected to lead one of the two main political parties at Westminster.

In recent weeks I have researched Jeremy Corbyn, he is a consistent, honourable and principled man who stands up for what he believes in and does not pander to what is popular, only to what he firmly believes in.  He is not your stereotypical party leader, I don't think that the PR people at Labour HQ are going to get an easy life, he won't change to suit their agenda.  Additionally, he is 66 years old.  I don't personally believe that age is an issue, you could argue that he has more experience however, of late there has been a swing towards younger party leaders, not older ones.  Everything about Jeremy Corbyn appears to go against the grain.

Many in the Conservative party see his election as leader to be a great own goal for labour, with suggestions that Labour may remain in opposition for at least two more terms.  Time will tell, Mr corbyn has a huge challenge ahead.  He needs to bring the parliamentary party together, unite them and take them all in one direction.  This is an uphill struggle.  A quick look at Mr Corbyn's voting record and we note that he regularly voted against his own party in office and in opposition, why should others now vote with him.  Rosie Winterton has a great challenge continuing as Chief Whip.

Good democracy requires checks and balances, typically at Westminster we have essentially witnessed a two party parliament, during the last term with the Lib Dems in coalition, their numbers being so high we appeared to be heading towards a three party system, May 2015 reverted Westminster back to type.  For a government to be effective it needs a majority, it also needs a strong opposition to hold it to account and to ensure that all new bills are carefully considered and appropriately challenged.  The government does not have a strong majority and the opposition may or may not be strong.  So much is reliant on Mr Corbyn's leadership to ensure that there is a strong and effective opposition.

Time will tell us if the populist choice of the new college of electors has delivered the right result for the party and more importantly for the country.  I for one, wait to see what happens next.  I do hope that common sense prevails and we can have an effective parliament, representative of the people delivering for the majority.

Extreme Pressure

The Newcastle Sunday Sun front page reported that the police and crime commissioners for Northumbria, Cleveland and Durham police forces are concerned at the high number of police resources being used to prop up the ambulance service.  After reading the article two things struck me; first of all the fact that the ambulance service is not only receiving support from the police, both the red cross and St John Ambulance are providing support too; secondly, the ambulance service Chief Executive, Yvonne Ormston, acknowledged the problem and informed the reporter that the ambulance service had declared and maintained a status of 'extreme pressure'.  Additionally, considerable mileage was made over the handover times at hospitals.  This further demonstrates that the whole health economy is suffering 'extreme pressure'.

What exactly is a status of 'extreme pressure'?  More importantly how does the ambulance service respond to such a status?  I wonder if they bring in additional staff on overtime shifts, use senior staff and others from an operational background to help deliver the service?  I imagine from the way it was reported that it is more of a Corporal Jones 'don't panic' situation.  I acknowledge that it is not easy to respond to growing demand when finances are tight, it is easy to say that the government has provided an extra so many million pounds to help.  Quite simply, Yvonne Ormston cannot sit at home on an evening and knit a few paramedics.  Additional funding needs to be programmed into the system to enable organisations to respond, otherwise all we will hear of is a declaration of 'extreme pressure'.


the fundamental question for all political parties to consider is this:  How do we respond to increasing demand for health and social care services with a growing elderly population?   I don't blame the elderly for living longer, hopefully I will be one of their number soon.  This really is the most important question to be answered as we head towards a general election in May.  Whoever wins they will have to deal with 'extreme pressure'.

Post Referendum Blues

It has been a long while since my last blog.  Many things have changed, I am now living in the North East of England.  Rush has a new friend, an Italian Greyhound puppy called Agnes - aka Mrs Brown - I am not sure how Brendan O'Carroll will feel about this.

The referendum campaign went on for over two years, many referred to it as the neverendum.  As I am sure you can imagine I was very much on the side of the Better Together campaign, hoping that the United kingdom would remain intact.  Fortunately this was the result.  There was some passionate campaigning from both sides.  I have a huge amount of respect for anyone and everyone that engages in political debate, no matter what side they are on.  In particular I greatly respect Alex Salmond and his Deputy Nicola Sturgeon, indeed I had the privilege of working in Ms Sturgeon's department when she was Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing.  In the main I found myself supportive of many of the initiatives in Health policy in Scotland, my only real disagreement with Nicola's position was on independence.  Alistair Darling was a consistent safe pair of hands leading the Better Together campaign, I admire his tenacity throughout the campaign.

Alex Salmond has decided to stand down as party leader and First Minister.  I agree with his assessment that it is for the next generation to take the independence issue forward in due course.  I also agree with commentators that this is not the last we will see of Mr Salmond.  He is a shrewd political operator and has much to offer in the future.  I really enjoy listening to him speak, although I don't always agree with what he is saying, he is one of the best orators I have heard in Scottish politics.  I wish him and his family well for the future.

The final weeks of campaigning brought out Gordon Brown and the three leaders of the main Westminster parties.  There was a worry that things were getting too close and that the Yes campaign might win.  The opinion polls became 'too close to call'.  A timetable was produced for implementing the new powers for Holyrood, which all three parties were signed up to, that in itself is quite an achievement.  The final poll, the poll of all polls took place on 18th September and Scotland voted No.  The political establishment now has to deliver.  I wrote that exact phrase on Twitter on Friday morning and one person responded with the following comment, 'Politicians can't even deliver a pint of milk'.  Well, on this occasion they have to deliver otherwise the people of Scotland will, quite rightly, never forgive Westminster if they feel they have been duped.  Many questions arise on what this means for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  This is the main point of this blog.

If Scotland is given more powers (it should be given them, on the basis of the promises made in the referendum campaign) what needs to be done to ensure equity in the rest of the UK?  Wales nad Northern Ireland already have an Assembly each.  These assemblies need to be given more powers, to ensure equity with Scotland.  England does not have an equivalent body (except for the London Assembly).  There are some options for England, they all have pros and cons.  I am listing some of them below:

• Create Regional Assemblies in England
• Restrict voting at Westminster on England only matters to English MPs
• Create an English Parliament

Create Regional Assemblies: This will create nine or ten separate bodies all with building, administration and other costs, this in my opinion is clearly not affordable or desirable.  it would cause too much divergence across England and put a much greater financial burden on the taxpayer.

Restrict voting on England only matter to English MPs:  This will be problematic for a number of reasons.  first of all, it would create two classes of Westminster MP, one with full voting rights and another with limited voting rights.  You could argue that they should be paid differently for different rights/responsibilities, I dread to think of the long term consequences.  Secondly, this is not solely about English only matters.  Currently Scotland has more devolved powers than Wales and Northern Ireland, therefore some matters at Westminster only affect England and Wales, do we then only permit English and Welsh MPs to vote, with a similar situation for Northern Ireland.  What happens when there is a vote on a matter that only affects Northern Ireland, is this restricted to Northern Ireland only MPs?  We would end up with a chaotic situation and the party in power might only truly have a majority when debating and voting on reserved matters.

Create an English Parliament:  This will create one additional body in the UK.  It will need to have the same devolved powers as the Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies.  The most problematic question will be what to call its members we already have MEPs sitting in the European Parlaiment - this is only a minor distraction.  Reserved matters will remain with Westminster, covering defence, foreign affairs, security/intelligence, international development etc.  The number of Westminster MPs could be significantly reduced.  A new English Parliament could be created in another city, say Birmingham, Leeds or Manchester.  A considerable amount of real estate could be sold off in London to fund this, we won't need Whitehall offices for health, education, justice, environment etc.  The scope for releasing capital is huge and it would benefit another city enormously, re-distributing wealth and civil service jobs.

The creation of a federal UK is not something that I ever imagined, however the devolution process we have witnessed since the mid nineties has taken us in this direction.  It really is time to grasp the nettle and take this forward as a matter of urgency.  Acknowledging that a timetable was promised to Scotland, it really does need to be honoured.  The next steps for the rest of the UK need to be addressed urgently, but not rushed through for the sake of it, do it right and do it once!

A new Post

Sorry, its been two months since you last heard from me. I have a poor excuse, I have been busy with other things, hopefully I can build up some momentum over the summer months.

Today, the Coalition government will deliver its 'Emergency Budget', we really are in a financial mess just now and the situation is replicated across Europe. I know that we will all be affected by some of the things announced today. I know the public sector will take a big hit, but not as big as in Ireland where many public sector workers have experienced pay cuts of around 15%. We are all aware of the situation in Greece, Spain and Portugal. I am so pleased that we are not one of the countries using the Euro as I fear the Eurozone may suffer much more than us.

The house is like a hotel just now, with so many comings and goings. It is so nice to see people and that they want to come to Edinburgh. Sorry, this post is rather short, I may get back tomorrow to comment on the Budget.

We got Change!

Well dear people, after a very exciting few days we now have a new government. The last few days have highlighted the best and the worst of our current political system. I must first of all pay tribute to the negotiators for both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems who have worked so hard to arrive at the situation we now have. This change has the potential to reshape the British political landscape forever.

Five days seemed like an eternity, however it was better to get it right in a timely manner, as they say 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread'. Monday was a particularly difficult day with Messrs Mandelson and Campbell trying to scupper thigs by encouraging Gordon Brown to resign, hoping that would instigate a Lib - Lab pact. Clinging on to power at any cost was not what Britain needed and thank goodness it is not what we got. Gordon Brown, in his resignation speech, came across more statesman like than at any other time I heard him speak. Perhaps as the pressure was lifted he was more able to relax and be himself.

The next 48 hours should be time enough for us to see who will fill the Cabinet and ministerial ranks. I was delighted to hear the announcement of Osborne as Chancellor and Hague as Foreign Secretary, filling two of the three great offices of state within minutes of taking office should assure the City that things are under control.

I look forward, with great interest, to the next few days. I will hopefully update you with my views as things develop.

Election Fever

Now dear reader, we are in the final two days before the inhabitants of this sceptred isle chooses it political leaders for the next parliamentary term (however long that term will be is anyone's guess). During the last three weeks I have spent much of my spare time poiunding the streets of Edinburgh delivering leaflets, talking on the doorstep and attended many hustings. One thing I do know is that the public has an appetite for change. The opinion polls have spent much of the time predicting a hung parliament. As the day gets nearr we are seeing the polls starting to predict the possibility of an overall winner.

I firmly believe that we need an outcome that gives a political party a strong mandate to deal with the situation this country is in. I am convinced that a hung parliament is bad for Britain, particularly at this time. We need a decisive team running the country and we need a fresh team. The current administration is tired and has run out of ideas. The only recommendation I can give to anyone in these last days is this, 'Go out and vote on Thursday 6th May!'

Thank you dear reader, and please do vote. Hopefully, I will get back to you on Friday when we can discuss the result.

Deluded Nationalist Parties

Well dear people two posts in two days. There is nothing like a general election campaign to light my fire.

I listened to a Welsh man earlier today, Ieuan Wyn Jones, the Leader of Plaid Cymru telling Radio 4 that if his party can get sufficient MPs elected, with the SNP they will hold the balance of power in Westminster and negotiate on a vote by vote basis with the majority to get more money out of Westminster for Wales and Scotland respectively.

Now, I thought to myself, we have one of the worst financial situations ever, money is short and we can expect cuts everywhere. This leads me to believe that both party leaders are seriously deluded if they really do see any truth in these statements. I cannot imagine either Gordon Brown or David Cameron agreeing to one single extra penny leaving Westminster for Scotland or Wales in the next five years.

Now, I am not saying that MPs from these parties will not be best to represent the interests of their respective countries and constituents but they certainly will not extract more money from Westminster. I say put this issue aside and look at the real issues affecting not just Scotland and Wales but the whole of Great Britain.

I hope a SNP parliamentary candidate knocks on my door to pour forth this theory, I will certainly enjoy the debate.

When I lived in Newcastle we used the expression 'I will show my backside in Fenwicks window if that happens' (Fenwick Ltd is Newcastle's equivalent to Jenners). Perhaps I need to ask the question, What time does Jenners open on 7th May? (Just in case I have got it all wrong).

Till the next time dear reader.