In the middle of a global
economic crisis and a
Scottish banking crisis last
week, we thought we had a
degree of consensus across
the political spectrum – a
common platform to fight for
jobs in Scotland as well as
a campaign to retain the HQ
decision-making functions of
the Bank of Scotland.
It didn’t last long – Labour
MSPs have decided to ignore
the common cause for the
sake of some petty party
political point-scoring.
Andy Kerr and Iain Gray have
both been less than helpful,
Labour leader Iain Gray in
particular. Today Gray
accused Alex Salmond of
standing idly by while
Scottish jobs were lost and
then, quite astonishingly,
sought to blame Local Income
Tax for the loss of business
headquarters from Scotland.
That’ll be the Local Income
Tax that isn’t actually in
place yet.
It’s sad that Labour members
cannot bring themselves to
decency even when there is
an important national issue
to be considered and fought
for. At least we can be
certain that the SNP
Government will continue to
work hard for the people of
Scotland and will continue
to look for solutions to
Scotland’s problems. There
may be trouble ahead but,
with the SNP on the side of
the Scottish people, someone
is facing the music and
seeking a better Scotland.
There was some good news
during the week. The UK
Government has finally
agreed to sign the United
Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child – 17
years after it should have
been signed, but at least it
is being done. I submitted
a motion to Parliament to
welcome the news:
S3M-02576 Christina McKelvie
(Central Scotland) (Scottish
National Party): Dungavel
and the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child—
That the Parliament welcomes
the UK Government’s
opting-in to the UN
Convention on the Rights of
the Child and the fact that
this will mean the end of
the practice of
incarcerating asylum seeker
children and child migrants
without judicial scrutiny;
further welcomes the fact
that Dungavel Immigration
Removal Centre will no
longer hold children in
close proximity to
potentially dangerous
adults; encourages the UK
Government and the National
Asylum Support Service to
implement the convention now
instead of waiting until
domestic legislation is
aligned with the convention,
and congratulates all those
who have campaigned to end
child detention at Dungavel
on the success of their
campaign at last.
Supported by:
Bob Doris, Rob Gibson, Dr
Alasdair Allan, Robin
Harper, Bill Kidd, Mike
Pringle, Stuart McMillan,
Keith Brown, Patrick Harvie,
Hugh O'Donnell, Dr Bill
Wilson, Kenneth Gibson,
Angela Constance, Sandra
White, Dr Christopher Harvie,
Robert Brown, Liam McArthur,
Alex Neil, Aileen Campbell,
Joe FitzPatrick,
Shirley-Anne Somerville,
Jamie Hepburn, Dr Ian McKee
Lodged on
Friday, September 19, 2008;
Current
It’s interesting to note
that not one Labour MSP has
supported this motion so
far. That almost leads me
to think that perhaps Gordon
Brown’s Government is not
about to sign up to the
whole of the Convention and
that some children will
remain outwith the
protections that should be
afforded to all children
wherever they are and
whoever they are.
I’ll carry on driving this
issue, though, I think it’s
vitally important to make
sure that asylum seeker
children are treated with
some dignity and some
respect. I think these
children have suffered
enough and our welcome
should represent a safe
haven rather than another
nightmare for them.
In the week that a new
Gaelic TV station was
launched (BBC Alba), we took
evidence from the chair of
Scotland’s Broadcasting
Commission, Blair Jenkins.
He was reporting back on the
findings of the Commission
which moved in the right
direction in terms of
calling for more powers
(although it isn’t there
yet) but under questioning
from me he assured us that
we were heading towards the
place where control tips in
favour of Scotland. It
can’t come soon enough.
What Scotland gets back in
terms of programming and
development work is
miniscule compared to what
we pay out for television
licences. Further
expenditure from Scotland on
TV is Linda Fabiani’s
department spending £12
million on the new Gaelic
Channel but control remains
in London – for now.
All of it will be changing
soon – I hope.
We won the Baillieston
election, by the way, and
here’s a picture of me with
new councillor David Turner.
