The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP

Column (June)

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Euro protest will come at a cost

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I suppose it is easy for people to ignore the European elections or use their vote for fringe parties if they believe the European Parliament is remote and irrelevant to their everyday concerns.

The trouble is that the European Parliament has an increasingly important role in shaping European rules and regulations and registering a protest vote on one day will have consequences for the next five years.

Most parties are affiliated to groups that operate together in shaping legislation. The largest blocks are the Socialist group followed by the European People's Party which currently includes the British Conservative followed by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe - often the group whose support determines the outcome.

Other smaller groups include the Greens, some far left groups and the Independence/Democracy group of UKIP one of whose MEPs was convicted of benefit fraud and another was charged with false accounting and money laundering.

The Conservatives are set to leave the EPP and put themselves on the very fringes of Europe which may raise cheers from rabid Euro sceptics but will be deeply damaging to Britain's interests in Europe if the Tories were to form a future government.

We will know the result on Sunday but I will be disappointed if parties who only have a wrecking agenda have undue influence. Scotland and Britain actually does need conscientious MEPs who will take their job seriously and help shape legislation in our best interests, which does include working with like minded politicians of other nationalities.

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North East pupils stand up for poor children

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At this time of year I often find myself receiving school visits in Westminster as well as visiting a number of schools across the constituency.

This week I was scheduled to present to Number 10 Downing Street the work of the pupils of Kellands School, Inverurie as the culmination of their Send my Friend to School 2009 campaign.

The pupils had made cards modelled on the door of Number 10 Downing Street and written in their own words the case for finding the money to enable the 75 million children in the world denied education to receive at least primary education.

This is a cause I strongly support and I have been delighted over the past few years to carry strong messages on behalf of school children from all over Gordon to our Government.

Going to school isn't just about education but is also about addressing poverty. In too many countries it is not school buildings that are the problem but the lack of clean water and sanitation and the shortage of qualified teachers.

Books and jotters are also in short supply and that is where local charity Books Abroad plays such a valuable role.

Our part of Scotland has shown itself aware and supportive of the needs of disadvantage poor children in developing countries.

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Now not the time to cut back on international development

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This week the International Development Select Committee published two reports - on Aid Under Pressure and Sustainable Development. Both of these relate very directly to the effects of the economic downturn and climate change on developing countries.

As the world has tipped into recession it is estimated that 90 million people have fallen back into abject poverty. 400,000 more children are likely to die as a result. This has come about for a variety of reasons including deteriorating trade, rising food prices and reduced aid.

At the same time the UK's aid and development budget while it is increasing in real terms is falling in terms of its buying power because of the decline in the value of the pound.

This is not time to reduce the UK's development budget. All parties are committed to maintaining it and indeed increasing it to meet our commitment to give 0.7% of GDP by 2013.

This will be hard to achieve but we cannot lead by example if we fall back.

In order to maintain public support for development assistance we think it is important that the Department has a more British identity. What matters most is that our money really does deliver reductions in poverty but both the poor people in recipient countries and taxpayers at home should have some idea of how the UK compares with others - especially as it is usually a good story.

So changing the department to UK DFID or British International Development would be a good idea.

At the same time we have to make sure that tax havens in British Dependent Territories are fully transparent and no longer provide cover for massive tax avoidance which deprives poor people in poor countries of the vital revenues they need to help make poverty history.

Developing countries need the long promised trade deal so far denied them. At the Climate Change summit in Copenhagen in December developing countries that contribute little and suffer the most form climate change need to no that agreement on emissions caps does not inhibiting their development and the costs of adapting to the impact of climate change are fully met.

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Have your say in the local development plan

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Public consultation over the new local development plan for Aberdeenshire is currently in full swing. Public meetings are being held throughout the area and full details of the plan are on the council's website www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

This really is the time to study the proposals and the effect they could have on local communities - positive or negative. Consultations close at 10a.m. on

6 July.

I really do believe Aberdeenshire Council is trying to secure as much feedback as possible so that development can accommodate local preferences but that requires input now.

I have no doubt that many people will be concerned to ensure that if development is to take place the necessary public investment to match it will be forthcoming.

So called planning gain cannot and should not be the prime source of that (especially not if it leads to favour for larger developers at the expense of the smaller ones).

The Scottish administration at Holyrood really has to play its part in re-establishing capital investment given the failure of the Scottish Futures Trust to live up to its promise.

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MPs need staff, offices, travel and London accommodation

• but it must be independent and transparent.

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The furore over MPs expenses has clearly shown some MPs abusing the system but the reason for having the system of allowances in the first place has been somewhat overlooked.

MPs from outside London and certainly those representing the North East of Scotland clearly need provision for accommodation for the nights they have to spend away from home in London.

They also need to be able to travel between the constituency and London on a weekly basis and because of the poor rail service from the North East, flying is the most practical option.

MPs do need to maintain an office away from London to serve the needs of their constituents and the resources to run it - although when I was first elected this was not really provided for. It was subsidised by me and my local party.

MPs do need staff to help them do the job - dealing with casework, organising a busy diary, arranging and following up meetings and helping with Parliamentary research when all these other activities are taking place.

What is required is that all these arrangements should be independently set and audited and be published. I have consistently voted for this but too often have been on the losing side as the larger parties have voted to maintain a flawed system that has now been exposed as such.

1 June 2009