The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP

March-April column

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Brown's budget spin fools no-one

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Once again we have been subjected to a Gordon Brown Budget - almost certainly his last.

Presented as a tax cutting budget it didn't fool many of us for a minute. "Abolition of the 10p rate" is actually a doubling of income tax for lower earners.

The 2p cut in the standard rate is recovered by increasing the national insurance threshold. Overall Mr Brown's red book reveals a £31.5 billion increase in income tax and national insurance receipts over the next three years - hardly a tax cut.

When I was shadowing Gordon Brown on behalf of the Liberal Democrats I identified a £5 billion 'black hole' in his budget calculations. Funny that he then clawed back £5 billion in tax relief on pension funds contributing to the pensions crisis we face today which is laid at Mr Brown's door.

Many people in Gordon have suffered directly or indirectly from the default in some pension funds and the under-funding of most.

Personally I blame Mr Brown and his predecessor Tory chancellors who encouraged pension holidays and allowed so called "orphan funds" to be distributed when both would have provided a cushion for the stormy days that accompanied the collapse of the stock market.

Simple, transparent and long term ought to be the watchwords of a prudent chancellor. The best thing that Gordon Brown did was to make the Bank of England independent and take interest rates out of control of day to day politics.

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Slave trade's legacy continues today

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I am the Liberal Democrat representative on the Deputy Prime Minister's committee for commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. (That's about as busy as Mr Prescott's office gets these days!)

Accordingly I spoke in the Parliamentary debate for the event and was pleased to attend services in Aberdeen and at Westminster Abbey.

Having been born within 5 miles of Liverpool's pier head - one of the key triangulation points of the trade - then lived in a flat in a tobacco baron's house in Glasgow and now representing the North East whence some of the biggest plantation owners hailed I was able to map my own journey through this heinous trade.

As the protest at the Westminster Abbey service in front of the Queen demonstrated the whole issue is fraught with guilt, resentment and misunderstanding.

I am clear in my own mind that we should apologise not least because we are still living with the legacy of racism. There are those who argue that slavery has occurred throughout the ages, that the Greek and Roman civilisations depended on it and that it was a feature of Arab and Muslim expansionism, and that Africans sold their fellow Africans.

This is, of course, true but the difference of the European slave trade is that it specifically targeted Africans - not just the spoils of war - and that any account of the conditions on the slave ships and on the plantations showed that slaves were treated as less than human - quite definitely inferior.

This still affects relations between different communities lowering expectations amongst some and sowing seething resentment in others.

For me commemoration is not about direct reparations. That is an impossible and endless pursuit. It is about recognising the evils of the trade and its legacy and treating all people as having equal worth and equal potential and giving them the chance to realise it.

It is about respect and self-respect. In today's world we should concentrate on helping to eliminate poverty in those states where slaves were traded from, giving them a fair trade deal and the means to exploit it through education, public health and infrastructure.

We should also take more positive action to tackle modern day slavery that exists even here in the north east with evidence of exploited migrant workers (a tiny minority I stress) and women trafficked for sex.

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Fair Trade gathers momentum in Gordon

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That there is a huge reservoir of goodwill towards the poor people of the world among the people of the UK is beyond question. This was amply borne out by the campaign for millennium debt relief and Make Poverty History.

More recently the growth of the Fair Trade movement has been phenomenal. I am delighted that the City of Aberdeen is Scotland's first Fair Trade City and that Ellon has become a Fair Trade Town.

Now the movement is spreading to neighbouring areas. I was pleased to attend at Pitmedden Church, along with Nora Radcliffe and local councillor Paul Johnston, a preliminary meeting to look at setting up fair trade across South Formartine, incorporating Pitmedden, Tarves, Potterton, Balmedie and Oldmeldrum.

The International Development Committee of the House of Commons of which I am chairman is currently carrying out an enquiry into the fair trade movement.

What has impressed us so far is the speed at which it is spreading and the leading role played by the UK. Leading supermarkets and retailers such as Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer are vying to expand their Fair Trade at an amazing rate.

Manufacturers like Nestle are unwilling to be left out and Tesco, as the leading supermarket chain is fighting off criticism and determined to compete in this area where customers are clearly shopping for fair trade products.

Starbucks has been forced to apologise to the Ethiopian Government for blocking their attempts to get premium brand Ethiopian coffees to acquire registered trade marks. Indeed, Starbuck's told the committee that this issue was damaging their hard won reputation as a company with close and positive links with coffee producers.

I am confident when the South Formartine Fair Trade Group gets going they will find a ready response among local traders such as retailers, pubs, hotels, bed and breakfast and other organisations who want to be in touch with customer demand and not lagging behind the big retailers.

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We can harmonise climate change and development

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Climate change and sustainable development are bound to provoke continuing controversy as politicians try to come up with policies that will actually deliver results and find acceptability among people who want to do something but are sceptical about, for example, environmental taxes or too much regulation.

Locally, despite some operational problems, Aberdeenshire Council has raised the recycling rate to one of the best in Scotland. Aberdeen City has made similar impressive progress.

We have a number of projects in our area that are leading the way - a very successful windfarm in the Glens of Foudland, Wood Recyclability in Udny, renewable energy technology at Kintore and Aboyne and others in the design stage.

What we need to address is ways of reducing the emissions from our homes - especially ensuring we can retrofit existing houses as well as raising the environmental standard for new houses.

If we could reduce emissions from our homes by a third this could be the equivalent of taking every vehicle off the road and would be popular as it would create jobs and reduce fuel bills.

The growth that has taken place in recent years requires upgrading of our infrastructure including the Western Peripheral Route and more dualling of the A90 and the A96 and an extra Don crossing.

However, we must also address public transport and rail freight options to enable us to make valid choices. We have to balance development with sustainability - not proceed regardless of the environment nor make the environmental imperatives an insuperable obstacle to development as some would have it.

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Celebrity no cover for substance

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It is claimed that more people vote on Big Brother or celebrity Come Dancing than vote in Parliamentary elections. Well, I am not against celebrity programmes - watching Big Brother for me most of the time is like watching paint dry but my children love the dancing shows.

What bothers me is how the cult of celebrity is taking over from an evaluation of merit, worth and real contribution.

During my career in Parliament my profile has changed according to what role I am playing. When my profile is high people say "You must be very busy" but actually how busy I am does not relate to media appearances.

Many people do judge politicians by how often they appear on TV. I have faith however that many voters do take an interest in what politicians do and what they set out to do next and how credible and deliverable it is or has been.

I have a riposte to those who say either "I am not really interested in politics" or "It makes no difference who I vote for. You're all the same."

To the former I say, "so you don't care about playgroups, nurseries, schools or universities for your children; or clinics, hospitals and dentists or transport improvements or police, vandalism and crime." Of course most people say, "Of course I do," In that case you are interested in politics.

To the latter I point out that for example the expansion of nursery education across Gordon was a direct result of a change of administration - and the way people voted. So were the abolition of student tuition fees, free bus travel for older people, free personal care, eye and dental check-ups.

So, I conclude, it is worth looking out for what political parties and their candidates are saying and judging what will be best for you, your family and the country. There'll be plenty of opportunity in the next few weeks!