The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP

March Column

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Plane Stupid - is what they are

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The invasion of Aberdeen Airport by protesters from Plane Stupid (all but one of whom were from outside our area) was dangerous, irresponsible and totally unjustified.

The airport authorities and police reacted as soon as they knew the perimeter had been breached and minimised the disruption. Nevertheless, the incident raises concerns about security which I have no doubt will be reviewed.

As the airport is within my constituency I have regular contact with the authorities and recently visited with the airport police who told me this was exactly the kind of incident they were trained to deal with.

Disruption of this kind is deeply damaging to the North east economy for which the airport is absolutely crucial. It is absurd for the protesters to link the airport's expansion to the Trump application.

The North East is the hub of a global economy with tens of thousands of jobs depending on good communications. The proposed expansion of the airport is essential to that.

Opponents of airport expansion are entitled to their views but their efforts would be better directed to developing adequate alternatives such as high speed rail.

Already airport traffic is down as businesses use more electronic communications and reduce the number of meetings. Nevertheless, travel is still essential for planning and technical support.

In any case the runway extension will allow more fuel efficient planes to use Aberdeen and reduce the number of changes by allowing for more direct flights. Both these will benefit the environment.

I have asked the authorities to keep me informed of the security review and in particular what lessons can be learned as to how to deal with a potentially more malicious breach.

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Fair Trade - good going but a big challenge ahead

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I have been delighted to take part in a number of events both locally and nationally to promote Fair Trade Fortnight. As chair of the International Development Committee I have had close involvement with the movement since the committee produced a report two years ago.

This year I chaired a session of a seminar led by the foundation's patron George Aligiah to look at how to scale up Fair Trade to reach millions more poor people. This will involve engagement with large purchasers of fair trade ingredients. Nestle, Starbucks and Cadbury's are already signed up.

I was also very pleased to attend two fair trade events addressed by Towera Jalakasi, a fair trade business consultant from Malawi - at Inverurie - hosted by Nora Radcliffe and in Pitmedden hosted by Paul Johnston.

Towera gave graphic accounts of how fair trade can literally be a matter of life and death - the difference between money for food and starvation. It can also boost education and health care and access to clean water.

What the national picture shows is that brilliantly successful as Fair Trade has been in recent years - with sales in the UK topping £1 billion and benefits reaching 7 million people in poor countries, more than one billion people are living in abject poverty.

We therefore need to involve the big global corporate enterprises and change the terms of trade away from the highly protectionist American and European markets. Fair Trade points the way as to how aid for trade really could work.

Meanwhile Towera was accompanied on her travels by Betsy Reed, co-ordinator of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, which is working to make Scotland a Fair Trade Nation (Wales already is).

I am always happy to promote the benefits of Fair Trade and how it fits into the overall development picture.

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Government takeover of Lloyds underlines its mistake

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The revelation that the Government have effectively taken a 75% stake in the Lloyds TSB banking group shows how badly flawed the Government's handling of the banking crisis has been.

I opposed Lloyds' takeover of HBOS from the outset not because of the Scottish dimension (that part was sold when Halifax took over Bank of Scotland) but because it involved suspending competition rules. Had that not happened, the parlous state of the HBOS balance sheet would have been revealed and Lloyds TSB shareholders and customers would have been spared the invidious position in which they now find themselves.

It would have been better in the circumstances for the Government to have blocked the takeover and nationalised HBOS. This would have enabled a rescue package to be constructed in the national interest - with the toxic debt isolated and HBOS continuing to offer a normal banking model.

Lloyds TSB could have remained independent and had some chance of restoring its own business plan to a responsible framework. Customers would still have had the choice of two banks.

I spoke to one ex-employee of Lloyds TSB who left some time ago because they objected to being given targets to issue credit to people they knew were not credit worthy. Nevertheless, Lloyds' problems pale into insignificance when compared with HBOS.

Unfortunately, customers of the Bank of Scotland are finding themselves squeezed in a number of different directions as their credit is limited and charges are increased. This will, of course, force more businesses into bankruptcy and compound the country's economic problems.

I remain convinced that the Government abandoned prudence and have made a bad problem worse.

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Calman should recommend Scottish borrowing powers

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I welcome the fact that the SNP have agreed to the Liberal Democrats' request to engage with the Calman Commission to argue the case for borrowing powers for the Scottish Parliament and I will certainly back up these representations.

It was absurd that the (albeit inflated) cost of the Scottish Parliament building had to be paid for out of current income rather than financed over a number of years as most buildings are.

Of course, it is right that any borrowing powers provided for Scotland should be within parameters set by the Treasury as these would help determine the UK's international credit rating.

Nevertheless, borrowing powers would enable the Scottish administration to plan capital expenditure over a number of years rather than be faced with the current problem of having to replace the Forth Bridge out of current rather than capital spending to the detriment of all other major projects.

I therefore hope that North East MSPs will back this move but also insist that a fair share of the resultant borrowing that may flow from an agreement is dedicated to our area to facilitate the much needed investment in schools, health centres and hospitals and public transport, for example.

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Post Office out reach isn't working

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As I and local people predicted, the reduction of post office opening hours and the introduction of an outreach centre from Huntly has not stood the test of need or a North East winter.

When I was first elected the closure of the post office in Clatt was a cause celebre. However, although we lost the office in Clatt we gained a full time service in Kennethmont which ran for 25 years until last year.

This time while the reduction in hours for Kennethmont was understood both Lumsden and Rhynie were unhappy with the reduced hours and said it would not work.

They were right. I understand that in the recent snowy whether the outreach service did not reach out and some people were left without pension payments.

I am sure others had difficulty reaching their local post office from remote locations.

I am collating the evidence of shortcomings and will take them to Royal Mail to challenge them to review these arrangements in the light of the local community's unsatisfactory experience.