Category Archives: Labour Party

Local Labour party demands MP and MSP help CalMac staff over pay cut threat

Posted on by
8

The islands’ MP and MSP must intervene in the dispute over a planned massive cut in earnings to CalMac shore staff. That is the view of the isles’ Labour party which today said it deplored the threatened pay cuts.

In its statement, Western Isles Constituency Labour Party said that, if implemented, it would mean both longer working hours and pay-cuts in the region of 25% to the CalMac staff who are often employed in peripheral and economically disadvantaged areas throughout the west coast of Scotland.

“The vast majority of these are women; a number of which are the sole providers for families. This will clearly have a devastating effect on their household income.”

Labour said that as the ferry firm’s annual accounts showed a £4.5 million profit, with another £5.8 million being returned to the Scottish Government, the Western Isles branch saw no need for these “draconian” measures.

The Labour statement also said: “The Western Isles Constituency Labour Party calls on the Western Isles MP, Angus B MacNeil and his Holyrood counterpart, Dr Alasdair Allan, to perform their primary role as representatives of the people of this constituency, intervening in this dispute and urging the company to withdraw proposals that will affect people throughout the islands. Those employed in our ferry service deserve no less.”

Dr Allan has said he was in touch with CalMac to get clarification of their intentions and he expressed the hope that a solution can be found that respects the situation of staff.

He said: “It would not be helpful for me to speculate about this while talks are ongoing.”

Meanwhile, the first round of talks over the controversial pay cut plan between the main union, the Transport and Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), and CalMac are due to kick off on Tuesday.

 

A plea from Lochie

Posted on by
2

Will you all please stop bothering me on the telephone line and realise that I am now slightly too devoid of the stamina required to become the MP although I do accept that I am the most experienced but I am not sure my stomach and my knees could stand all the rich food and young women that go with the job as secretaries of course just because the present fellow from Barra is not bothered about doing anything which of course is what most of us want him to do to get us our freedom and nothing else.

I hear he is to be replaced which is a pity because then you might get somebody who will do something about fuel which is not what we want for a Free Scotland balance of payments and GDP. But however I hear your pleas and I suggest you find someone who looks and not necessary speaks like Donald because I could soon teach that and the very man is that troublemaker fuel fellow Callum Iain Macmillan who follows a fine lineage with his uncle an MP on the wrong side before Donald, and his grandfather the Prime Minister Harold (Macmillan NOT Wilson) on the right side all he needs is to change his name and get grey now that he has developed pluicean suitable for the job and also he is from Stornoway like Donald but not a mill owner.

Alex is still not speaking to me this week, still in a rage because I suggested he step aside on the grounds that Nicola is much more popular and you cannot have two people with fishy names in charge after 2014 its coming yet for all that and he already has too many people with funny names in his cupboard Paul Wheelbarrow and Ricky Blockhead who sounds like a pop singer.

We need more people like Neil Alex who is doing so well at health messing up the figures but I have given up my ambition that Big Alex would win the 100 meters next year because he will insist on four square meals a day and long lingering lunches and cozy suppers at Bute House which some very uncivil servants are calling “Brute House” very funny until I catch them although they gave a good blow for freedom this week when they put the Raasay crofters in their place and gave people from south of the border the right to shoot them.

Meanwhile I see from the Hebrew News that the MSP is willing to do anything for anyone in Eriskay so come here and turf my peats I cannot trust him to cut them because he sent me a picture last year where he was holding the wrong end of the tarisgeir and shoes.

Lochie

Iain Macdonald on Dr David Wilson and a yeti

Posted on by

I’m obliged to Iain X for allowing me the use of his popular website to publish a letter I wrote last July. It was written in response to correspondence from Dr David Wilson (Labour’s privatisation of the NHS - Hebrides-News.com) – a letter to which I was denied a reply for reasons known only to the editor’s chair.
I’ve reopened the letter because it’s contents are still relevant in light of Dr Wilson once again using the local press to deploy his bullying tactics against anyone who dares criticise any aspect of SNP policy. To put the letter below into proper context, I would recommend readers first view Dr Wilson’s aforementioned correspondence – Iain M Macdonald

Miavaig Uig
Isle of Lewis

Dear Editor

I was relieved to see Dr David Wilson’s name grace the pages of Hebrides News once more (letters July 2). We last heard from the frequent Heb News correspondent over two months ago when he boldly set forth for the Himalayas intent on climbing Mount Everest

There followed a lengthy ominous silence prompting fevered speculation about Dr Wilson’s fate. Had he suffered some dreadful mishap? Perhaps he’d been badly mauled by a renegade yak; been carried away by a hungry, or worse still…..amorous Himalayan yeti?

Our concerns were unfounded. Contact has now been restored with Dr Wilson who’s made it safely back to his Western Isles home. Dr Wilson deserves credit for his brave attempt to climb Everest, shaming many younger couch potatoes.
But the doctor of economics returns from his Himalayan adventure not to spellbind us with tales of rockface heroics but to present us with an impressive portfolio of what he claims to be the troubled financial affairs of an inferior privatised English NHS. All very interesting, but of limited relevance to Western Isles residents. We have plenty problems with our own island NHS who in recent years required a £3 million taxpayer funded bailout from the Scottish government to keep it afloat

The financial information supplied by Dr Wilson is his attempt to conclusively prove the NHS is being privatised by the Labour Party. But what the doctor of economics presents to us as financial facts is purely his own opinion. We could get another ten economists to interpret the same data and each one would propose a different conclusion to that arrived at by Dr Wilson.

Economics is not an exact science Dr Wilson can produce statistics to his heart’s content but they can’t prove anything until we’re all agreed on the correct definition of a privatised NHS. Furthermore, how can Labour be privatising the NHS when they are no longer in power? Dr Wilson should address his concerns to the Tory/LibDem coalition who have the authority to revoke or amend current policy.

But what right have I to pass judgement on such worldly matters? And me just a rustic rural maw who, according to Dr Wilson, has never ventured further than the village boundary.

Hopefully, my lowly status and retarded disposition doesn’t disqualify me from endorsing Dr Wilson’s stated concerns about the unhealthily close relationship between politicians and wealthy financiers. Political parties, in common with many other organisations,need to raise funds to pay for their everyday running costs. However, I agree with Dr Wilson that a better way could be devised than relying on the patronage of wealthy donors, often of dubious reputation.

My preferred solution to end this ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ culture would involve funding our political parties.from the public purse. But what does a peasant like me know about such things? The learned and cultured Dr Wilson will doubtless propose a superior plan to address a problem which is equally prevalent north of the border.

The SNP have regularly been the recipient of generous monetary gifts from a godly, church-going benefactor held in great reverence by all true Scottish Nationalists. In return for his generosity, the millionaire transport tycoon Sir Brian Souter will expect the SNP to refrain from enacting any legislation detrimental to his business interests. This is the unspoken agreement implicit in all such donations, regardless of political party. Although all parties are guilty of such practices, by far the worst offenders are the Tories and their City of London donors.

Dr Wilson won’t thank me for providing the above examples and muddying the waters in his relentless crusade to cast Labour as the sole villains in every story, ignoring any contradictory evidence and blaming the party for all manner of ills even though they no longer govern in Scotland or the UK. Quite obviously Dr Wilson harbours a growing personal grudge against a Labour Party whom he once actively supported and represented.

Standing unsuccessfully in South Lochs/Harris as a council SNP candidate in May 2012, Dr Wilson’s political aspirations were thwarted by another yokel like myself; a taxi driving Labour Party member from Siabost (Councillor D J Macrae). It’s easy to understand why this recent blow delivered by his former party has left a rather bitter taste lingering in the mouth of our Western Isles economist.

Yours Faithfully

Iain M Macdonald

Summing up the election – Labour

Posted on by
36

Dear Sir

With the council election results in and the places at the top tables all now sorted, I would like to thank all the candidates for their efforts and give the elected Councillors my best regards – they will have some hard choices to make in the next five years and will need to pull together.

I welcome the fact that so many Councillors have pledged their support for the Outer Hebrides Transport Group but note the absence of SNP councillors. I hope that now the election is over they will put party loyalties to one side on this issue and join their fellow councillors in supporting the people of the Western Isles in getting lower priced transport of goods to the islands.

The SNP group, while they have increased their number of people standing under their banner, have actually managed to reduce their power in the Comhairle….  a tricky one for Alasdair Allan MSP to explain to his Leader in Edinburgh after all his own hard work and time spent on the campaign!

Yours faithfully

Matt Bruce
Chairman – Western Isles Labour Party

Honest words on the doorstep

Posted on by
1

So what’s happening on the local election front? I don’t think I’ve heard anything much this week. Oh, there was something. I wish I could remember what it was. No, it’s gone.

Anyway, I’ve been having a wee frank catch-up in the last day or so with canvassers of all parties, and none.  One of the most interesting tidbits is that a former stalwart of the SNP is having nothing to do with the party’s current campaign. Why is that, I wonder.

In fact, he seems to have endorsed an independent candidate – a Free Church buddy. This is an incredible turnaround. The buzz is that he also advised one of the SNP candidates to take the logos off his leaflets. Unfortunately, there are no “Printed by” or “Promoted by” notices either so the leaflet is illegal under electoral law and the legal advisers are getting panicky about the prospect of an official complaint. Oops.

Over in the Labour camp, these poor truaghans say they are still getting flak on the doorsteps from previously loyal supporters who were sickened by the outrageous, arrogant and discriminatory comments of previous parliamentary candidates and a particular former member. The canvassers tell me they fear the blunt views of voters means the local party’s recovery may take longer than they thought. Told you, guys, but it is good to see so many of them trying to put the recent past behind them.

It can be a bit brutal but thought-provoking when ordinary people tell candidates asking for their vote what they really think – as both these parties are finding out this week.

Statement from Western Isles Labour

Posted on by
1

The announcement today that 3 candidates in the elections this week actually owe money to the comhairle is of great concern.  If elected, they will be prevented from taking part in many financial decision-making processes. It is important that electors have a clear understanding of all candidates’ abilities to represent them, during the next four years, so they can make valid choices on Thursday.

The Western Isles Constituency Labour Party wishes to make it clear to the electorate in all wards, that none of its 4 candidates :  Archie K Campbell,  Ronnie MacKinnon, Donald J MacRae and Kevin Paterson,  owe any money to the comhairle.  We would hope that other candidates will now come forward and indicate whether they owe money to CnES.  The electorate deserve nothing less.

Matt Bruce
Chair, WICLP

Fury erupts in Point as SNP candidate tries to “smear” D J Macsween

Posted on by
6

This election is now getting interesting. Dire warnings were flying around today after a Point candidate had a letter published on Hebrides News in which he made staggering comments about another candidate including asking him to disassociate himself from unsavoury comments on a social networking site that he and members of his party subscribe to. There was no connection between him and the person making the stupid remarks.

The comments by John Orica Macdonald, a Point SNP candidate, were about Donald John Macsween, a former Labour parliamentary candidate now standing as an independent. After strong words were put forward by Mr Macsween alleging unsubstantiated smears, Orica’s comments were hastily taken down by Hebrides News.

For a while today, it seemed the row was heading for the Court of Session until some of the people concerned decided their bowels weren’t really up to it.

Meanwhile, I shall soon have an exclusive story revealing that three candidates will be banned from taking part in setting the council budgets – even if they are elected. This is because of their own personal debts – including failing to pay council tax.

And another candidate has also left a trail of debts around the country after closing down some of his companies. His former customers have been getting in touch to confirm he owes them thousands of pounds. Another customer thought he was covered when the SNP candidate closed the company last year but has failed to even get any compensation.

More incredible tales soon about the people who think they should rule over us.

Do we really want SNP robots trying to run the comhairle? – press release

Posted on by
33

When the SNP Government imposed the first 50% increase on commercial ferry traffic earlier this month – Alasdair Allan MSP declared that it represented “major progress”. Island businesses and families have come to a somewhat different conclusion, knowing that another 50% increase is planned for next year!

The nonsense uttered by Mr Allan was compounded this week by the SNP candidate Kenny MacLeod, who’s seeking election on the West Side and Ness. He decreed that the increase in fares isn’t “really a big issue on the west side of Lewis”.

A remarkable feature of SNP election literature is the absence of any mention of what they used to describe as their flagship policy – RET.

Mr Macleod’s statement and silence from other SNP candidates shows the worrying control being imposed from SNP headquarters in Edinburgh. None of their candidates has dared to criticise the imposition of a haulage and household tax on island families and businesses.  

Do we really want Edinburgh controlled nationalist robots trying to run Comhairle nan Eilean Siar?

Yours faithfully

Matt Bruce
Chairman – Western Isles Labour Party