December Column

Written by Malcolm Bruce MP on Wed 3rd Dec 2008

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Budget costly missed opportunity

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The ironically named pre-budget report last week I believe fails to give the real stimulus the country needs and will lead to unfair tax increases on low and middle income groups.

Alistair Darling's packages amounts to a budget by itself rather than preliminary announcements for next March's budget.

The real economy is clearly tipping into recession and I had hoped that the Chancelllor would have provided real help to people struggling to pay bills by putting money back in their pockets.

Instead he did the familiar Labour thing of producing a series of measures so complicated that few people will be aware of all of them and even the Chancellor clearly didn't know exactly what he was doing.

A temporary 2.5 per cent cut in VAT is unlikely to encourage people to spend when prices in the shops are falling more sharply than that anyway and, of course, it doesn't affect those things that are the highest priority for the lowest earners - food, children's clothes and fuel bills.

Yet this very expensive measure (in terms of lost revenue) will have to be paid for in terms of higher insurance charges which will hit everybody earning more than £19000 a year. The new 45p higher rate on earnings over £150,000 will provide almost no revenue and is just a political distraction.

It is the Liberal Democrats' view that cuts in tax cuts for lower and middle income earners should have been provided by closing tax loopholes on the very rich and redirecting some environmental taxes. This could have provided a permanent and fair cut of 4pence in the basic rate of income tax providing real help to those struggling with household bills.

The £12 billion borrowing the Chancellor has put into the VAT cut could then have been focussed on investment in social housing and essential infrastructure projects helping the construction industry facing layoffs as the housing market grinds to a halt.

The November budget looks like an expensive missed opportunity.

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Nick's visit capped 25 year celebration

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I was delighted to welcome my party leader Nick Clegg to Aberdeen last week. He promised me shortly after he was elected to the party leadership that he would come and speak at a dinner to mark my 25 years as MP for Gordon.

The event was held at the Marriott Hotel, Dyce in the city part of the Gordon seat. It might be clearer if the constituency was called Gordon and Aberdeen North as that is essentially what it is, for almost one third of the entire electorate is located within the city boundary comprising most of the Bridge of Don, Danestone, Dyce and half of Bucksburn.

For me it was an enjoyable and nostalgic event with people who had been with me from the start of my campaign to win the seat in the mid 1970s and others who had joined along the way.

I would like to thank them all for their continued support, generous remarks and kind gifts to mark the occasion.

Nick spoke the next morning at a packed business breakfast in the City where his comments on the economy and assurances of support for the oil and gas industry were clearly appreciated.

He rounded off his time in the North East with a visit to the airport (also in my constituency) where Bristows Helicopters are making a major investment in its training facility and the airport is pushing hard for approval to go ahead with a new multi storey car park and much needed runway extension.

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Time for cuts in heating oil price

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No doubt many people in the North East, while apprehensive at how the reduced oil price might effect activity in the offshore industry, are enjoying the temporary respite at the pumps with the lowest prices now below 90p per litre (not enjoyed across the whole area I know).

Nevertheless many of us are looking to the Government which has promised in response to an earlier intervention from me to examine why domestic heating oil prices are not falling as fast as other fuel prices.

For many people living in rural areas oil is the only practical central heating fuel available and gas is not an option.

I look forward to the day when a range of renewable fuel options - ranging from air sourced heat pumps, bio fuels, wind solar and combinations of these and others - give a realistic, affordable possibility of greener and more reliable fuel options free from the violent fluctuations in oil and gas prices.

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Tory arrest challenge to Parliamentary freedom

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The arrest of Conservative immigration spokesman Damian Green has sent shock waves through Westminster. As Nick Clegg put it, it is a Mayday call for our democracy when opposition politicians can be arrested effectively for doing their job.

Of course, we don't yet know the full extent of police investigations but there is something sinister about an MP being arrested and detained for nine hours and then having his office searched and papers removed by the police.

Questions are also being asked of the House of Commons authorities as to why they allowed the police into Mr Green's office.

Of course, were he accused of a common law crime, that would be different but the investigation seems to centre on information he has gained from public sources as part of his work as an oppositions spokesman.

Some people have even compared it with interference in Parliamentary privilege that led up to the civil war. That may be extreme but these privileges have been hard won and should not be set aside lightly.

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Nick offers help for Lib Dems to lead city out of crisis

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While Nick was in Aberdeen he understandably took time to meet with Liberal Democrat city councillors to discuss the financial crisis facing the city. I am pleased he did so. As a city MP I share his concern at the problems the city faces and the responsibilities that lie with the Liberal Democrats.

Liberal Democrats have a proud record of running cities throughout the UK including taking some of them through similar crises and the experience of other Liberal Democrat councillors in the UK will be available to Kate Dean and her colleagues.

Any fair minded person must acknowledge that the origins of the present problems do not just lie at the door of Liberal Democrats or the last few years. They date back to reorganisation, years of Labour rule, the period when the Conservatives were happy to share the administration and the fact that councillors of all parties failed to see the problems coming.

The present administration is clearly determined to put the council on a good financial footing and provide a vision for a successful future. This puts a responsibility on opposition councillors to acknowledge that within the current finances some painful cuts are necessary. Simply to oppose them all while offering no responsible alternative is putting party politics above the interests of the city.

At the same time all political parties and all citizens and businesses should unite to demand help from Scottish Ministers to get through the crisis and also to put the city finances on a fairer footing.

To say that there were Liberal Democrats Ministers in the previous administration has very little political mileage. The city never had to implement £50 million of cuts under the previous Scottish Government. Nor were they locked in the straitjacket of a council tax freeze which limited their options.

The indisputable facts are that the city sends millions of pounds in business taxes to Edinburgh most of which are diverted elsewhere than the city. If Aberdeen got the same basis of a settlement as Dundee it would get £100 million a year more and compared with Glasgow it would get £150 million more. These figures dwarf the shortfall the city faces.

I hope that Liberal Democrat councillors reinforced by the support and advice offered through Nick Clegg's office will feel bolstered not just to take the tough decisions they are taking but to provide assertive leadership in taking the city where it deserves to be - a beacon of reinvigorated confidence with restored civic pride. It can be done if others will respond to the challenge too.

ENDS