MIDLOTHIAN COUNCIL DEPOT BLAZE

Fire at Council Depot

Householders in some areas of Midlothian are being warned to expect limited disruption to bin collections today following a late night blaze at a council depot.

Garden waste (brown bins) collections for today (Thursday, 28th October) for areas of Penicuik, Loanhead, Lasswade and Bonnyrigg have been suspended as a result of the damage caused to a number of vehicles.

Fire brigade investigations are underway into the fire.  No-one was injured and the cause is unknown at this stage.

A Midlothian Council spokesman said: "We are co-operating with the relevant authorities and have hired in  vehicles to replace those damaged in this incident to minimise disruption for residents.  While we've been able to continue residual refuse collection (grey bins), we've had to suspend brown bin collection today for some areas. We would ask householders in the areas affected to take their brown bins back from the kerbside.  We will collect these brown bins at the next scheduled pick up point, which will be in two week's time. Further information will be provided when available." 

A special waste collection information line - 0131 561 5284 - has been set up for Midlothian residents.

Bulletin issued at 10:15, Thursday, 28th October, 2010

Scotland and the CSR

This weeks comprehensive spending review has caused a great deal of debate.  Was it fair?  Were the cuts to fast?  What was the actual cut in Scotland?

Starting with the facts, the UK Treasury have claimed that the cut to the Scottish Budget has been £900m.  This proposition has been pushed by Tory whipping boys, the Lib Dems.  Unfortunately for Mr Clegg and his Lib Dem sell outs, it’s a fairly simple calculation to show the actual cut in Scotland next year is £1.3bn, a real terms cut of £1.8bn!

These cuts would be bad enough standing alone but matters are made worse when you consider that Scotland has been subsidising the UK for at least the last 5 years.

This position was helpfully clarified by Professor Andrew Hughes Hallett of St Andrews and George Mason (Virginia) Universities.  In an interview on BBC Scotland (23^rd Oct) Professor Hallett confirmed that Scotland would “definitely be better off in terms of revenue” and when asked directly, “Economically, does John Swinney have a case when saying Scotland can’t afford the Union?” Professor Hallett answered “well I would have thought he has a case, I mean you would probably think the same if it was your private income because at the moment on the current account there is a subsidy going to London”

These are facts which the Unionist parties will not like to hear and many south of the border would be well advised to pay heed to them, particularly journalists like Simon Heffer who, when writing in the Telegraph (24^th October) made a serious of simply ignorant comments such as;

“The spending review may have cut deep but we continue to bankroll Third World despots and Scotland”

“Not only would it be fair for the Scots to take the same degree of pain as the English, it would be good for them”

“Instead of its [Scotland] continually having to hold out the begging bowl to the English taxpayer”

Comments like these show the complete and utter lack of understanding that exists in large sections of the UK media, although some of it is wilful and deliberate in perpetuating the myth that we are too small and too poor to be Independent.  It’s a case of if you say something often enough, people eventually start to believe it, regardless of the facts.

Setting aside oil revenues (of which there is a vast fortune on a one way trip to the treasury) there are various sources of income generation from Scotland, such as Crown Estates incomes, paid directly to the UK treasury, foreign exchange revenues, tax revenues and the built in surplus in contributions to reserved areas.  An example of this is defence spending, appropriate given this weeks strategic defence review.  Currently Scotland contributes around £2.8bn to the UK towards defence, yet only £2.0bn is returned to Scotland through defence spending.

As John Swinney said in his address to the SNP conference in Perth, “we can no longer afford to be part of the Union”

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

This years SNP Confrence in Perth witnessed a mass invasion of members from the Bonnyrigg, Loanhead and District Branch.  In total 14 members of the branch attended conference as Stewards, Delegates and visitors over the course of the weekend.  All those who did attend thoroughly enjoyed with the highlight being Alex Salmonds magnificent speech on Sunday Afternoon.




Some members of the Bonnyrigg, Loanhead and District contingent at Conference


I, like many in the hall felt that Alex Salmond's speech really set the tone for the coming election perfectly.  If Scotland is going to sail the bumpy waters of the current financial climate, the only way we can be sure action is taken in the Scottish interest is by making those decision for ourselves.  Never has the case for Independence been stronger.

This was summed up perfectly by Alex in his speech,

 "I fight not for flags and anthems, but fairness and compassion. I fight for a generation that is not burdened by the mistakes of this one."

This sentiment and tone had been picked up earlier in the Conference by John Swinney as he outlined to the assembled delegates why Scotland can no longer afford to remain a part of the Union.  For years now the Scottish economy has been in surplus, yet the UK remains in deficit;

"Over the summer the latest statistics on Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland showed that for the fourth year in a row Scotland has been in surplus. In fact at a time when the UK is cutting our budget Scotland was in surplus to the tune of well over a billion pounds compared to a UK deficit of almost £50 billion.

Delegates the stark truth is that we can no longer afford the Union."  

Conference is also a time for branches and members to submit resolutions and this year the array was wide.  Starting with a motion on Independence and covering a number of issues from establishing Nuclear Weapons Free Zones across our communities, to ideas to tackle poverty and many many more (if you want to read about some of these, check our the Bonnyrigg Press Room)

I was particularly pleased to see the attention given to the Crown Estate, first through a motion from the Highland Council SNP Group (unfortunately my card wasn't in early enough to speak on that one), then in the address to Conference by Richard Lochhead and ultimately in Alex Salmonds speech.  The pressure is really mounting now on the Lib Dems to make good on their calls of the last number of years, and use their position in Government to devolve the functions of the Crown Estate to the Scottish Government... including revenues!

The Bonnyrigg, Loanhead and District branch did have an amendment to a motion in the agenda this year, the first time for a while.  Cllr Owen Thompson moved the amendment highlighting the importance of allotments and green spaces on the psychological well-being of individuals in a motion welcoming the Scottish Governments efforts to support individuals and communities who wish to grow some of their own food.

As we move into yet another election campaign (when is there not one), it's always of great excitement to us political anoraks.  From the 'Let's stick together' theme to the be part of better campaign this election is on new ground for us all, this is a campaign where we are the sitting Government.

Now the work reallys starts, efforts re-doubled.... in Alex Salmond we have a First Minister of experience and international recognition.  In the opposition... well that's just a scary thought.

New New Labour, New Old Labour... all the same Labour in the end

This week has seen much debate in the build up to, announcement of, and fallout from the Labour Leadership contest.


In the end the eventual winner by the narrowest of margins we 'Red' Ed Miliband. This being the portrayal of this Miliband brother through the press, which i'm sure many Labour members, certainly in Midlothian, would hope to be true. Courting the Unions vote as he did many could be forgiven for thinking that yes, this could be a potential Labour leader who is in fact a Socialist, something far removed from the New Labour approach of Tony Blair, most of whose policies seemed somewhere to the right of the Iron Lady herself.


After all this great build up it was then something of a surprise to hear 'Red' Ed proclaim in his speech that he is focussed on regaining Middle England.... hang on a minute... wasn't that the approach of Mr Blair... so not quite so red after all. As the week has gone on and we hear more from the new leader of the opposition in Westminster it has become clearer that, while he may be just slightly to the Left of his brother, there is little chance of any shift in the Labour Party under Ed the not so red.


After the contest results were announced the Labour Party have of course been incredibly helpful in publishing the full breakdown by constituency of how their members voted. Since it was there I did decide to take a look. Somewhat surprisingly Midlothian only has 196 Labour Party members. Clearly not the powerhouse of the area used to be. It is telling though that the clear winner in Midlothian was Ed himself (71) with brother David receiving (33)


Below is the outcome of the Midlothian Labour Party votes for their party
leader.


Diane Abbot 4
Ed Balls 15
Andy Burnham 6
David Miliband 33
Ed Miliband 71
Spoilt 1


Votes Cast 130


So while the knifes are sharpened and the inquiry begins into how the Labour Party have a Leader who was second overall in the votes of Members and MP's, at least we know Ed will have a save place to come to in Midlothian.... if he can find it!


For anybody interested this link shows the breakdown in each constituency area.


http://www2.labour.org.uk/leadership-clps