The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP

May-June Column

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Blair's legacy of disappointment

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So, Tony Blair finally ended months of speculation and announced the date he will step down as Prime Minister. With Gordon Brown waiting to be crowned he has embarked on a farewell tour of the globe.

No doubt he hopes to nail his legacy to the mast of the ship of state but it seems it will look tattered.

His visit to Iraq merely underlined the disastrous errors of his foreign policy. He followed the Bush administration blindly into a misjudged war when he might have used his influence to secure an internationally agreed solution.

He turned his back on the early promise of reform to create a pluralist and decentralised system of government in favour of over centralised micro management that wasted billions of pounds and saw millions of experienced people leave health and education necessitating massive costs of training, recruiting and retraining replacement staff.

He has systematically attacked civil liberties while protecting top British companies from prosecution for corruption and offering cash for peerages.

This was a Prime Minister who arrived with so much hope and goodwill. He has a natural engagement and is a good communicator but too often he has proved shallow.

He has, of course, uniquely led the Labour party to three successive election victories but he has passed on a Government to his successor which will struggle to re-engage the British public.

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Backing for school resources

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I fully endorse Aberdeenshire Council's director of education, Bruce Robertson's call for more funding for our schools. Over the past few years we have achieved improvements with new schools and improvements to existing schools.

However, there are many schools - primaries and academies - crying out for improvements or replacement and the progress must continue to ensure schools fit for purposed and the recruitment of the teachers we need to reduce class sizes and provide the whole range of subjects.

There is also a need for improved recreation facilities in the shape of swimming pools, games halls and playing fields. I know the council is keen to provide these and has done a lot but is constrained for future developments by lack of funding.

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Dubious case for Scottish Olympic team

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Talking of recreation, I see Mr Salmond has raised the issue of a Scottish Olympic team. This seems to me an unnecessary distraction that is unlikely to have the support of the majority of Scotland's aspiring Olympic hopefuls.

For a start some of them are part of British teams - e.g. for relays in swimming and athletics or in rowing, sailing, equestrian etc. For others being part of the support of British Olympics is a clear attraction. That was very visible at the Commonwealth Games where the relationship between Scottish and English swimmers was clearly mutually supportive knowing they would be together for the Olympics.

What would-be Olympic competitors in the North of Scotland do require is suitable local facilities in which they can train. I hope therefore the Scottish Executive will give financial backing to the proposed fifty metre pool in Aberdeen and go one better by supporting a gymnastics hall as well.

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Contrasting visits to Asia

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As Chairman of the International Development I have responsibility for monitoring how the Department for International Development spend almost £5 billion of taxpayers' money on reducing poverty in poor countries.

The committee has just returned from a visit to Asia focusing on two completely different situations.

First we visited Vietnam where the UK is providing £50 million a year in aid. As a child of the sixties I was conditioned by the backdrop of the Vietnam war. Thirty years after the US admitted defeat united, one party, communist Vietnam is emerging as one of Asia's most dynamic economies.

The country is growing at between 9 and 10 per cent per year and the number of people living in poverty is falling sharply. At this rate of progress Vietnam will be a middle income country in a very few years and aid will be scaled down.

It appears that UK aid is being effectively spent in tackling HIV/AIDs providing access roads to remote mountain communes and helping new livelihood opportunities to develop.

Vietnam also enjoys a trade surplus with the UK and rising UK investment. It looks like a success story in which our money is really helping to make a difference.

In sharp contrast we then went to the Thai-Burmese border to see and hear the plight of Burmese people forced off their lands by probably the most repressive regime in the world after North Korea and Zimbabwe.

Ironically, people living in camps in Thailand are better off than those on the Burmese side forced to hide in the jungle dependent on erratic aid being smuggled across the border and otherwise living off their wits in constant fear of harassment, rape and murder at the hands of the Burmese Army or insurgent groups.

Elsewhere in Burma where the regime is in control people are living in abject poverty with minimal education and healthy support. DFID has a programme trying to reach communities from Rangoon delivering health programmes to tackle diseases such as Malaria and TB and also supporting some basic education.

The dilemma is always how do you provide survival support to desperate communities without giving succour to a brutal regime and hindering the movement towards democracy.

All I can say is everyone we met wanted DFID to continue its work inside Burma while supporting refugees and those trapped across the border.

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New leadership of our councils

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The dust is beginning to settle after the local council elections with Liberal Democrat led administration continuing in both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire - in the city with the SNP and in the shire with the Conservatives.

That is the nature of proportional election systems. As the political mix of the administrations has changed there may be some changes in approach but I trust that existing commitments to improved transport links such as the Crossrail commuter service the third Don crossing and upgrading of the A90 will be honoured as well as finding a solution to the bottleneck of the Inveramsay Bridge.

The change in the political balance across Scotland also means that the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities will no longer be under the thumb of Labour led central belt authorities and therefore the formula for sharing out resources might shift a little towards authorities such as ours. Let's hope so.