SNP should ‘Claim EU money to pay for the big clean up’

The SNP seem to be content sitting twiddling their thumbs whilst Scottish businesses begin counting the cost of the worst snowfall in 60 years.

The Scottish Government should be claiming millions in EU cash to help cover the costs of clearing up after the snow and ice chaos that has befallen the country over the last week.

Scotland would be eligible for money from the Solidarity Fund as the severe weather would qualify as an “extraordinary regional disaster” affecting the major part of the population with serious repercussions on the economic stability of the region.

The funding can be put towards costs related to transport, clean up and other necessary work to important infrastructure that has been damaged by the disaster.

Millions of pounds can be made available through the fund. Ireland has claimed over 13 million euro to cover costs in relation to severe flooding in November 2009.

A special pot of EU money is put aside by the European Commission to help cover the cost of extraordinary events that affect the economic stability of a specific region.

The Holyrood administration must ask the Treasury to apply for the emergency funding to help cover the cost of getting the country’s transport infrastructure up and running again. Only Member State national governments can apply for the fund, so any application would have to come from Westminster on the request of the Scottish government.

With temperatures as low as -18°C, this has been an extraordinary week for Scotland. The EU Solidarity Fund was set up to deal with exactly this sort of event, so the Scottish government should be putting in a claim.

The last week of disruption is costing the country dear; ministers should be doing anything that could help soften the blow as the clear-up bills start coming in.

With businesses unable to function and school closures keeping parents away from work, the weather is estimated to be costing the Scottish economy £15 million every day.

On top of that there are massive costs involved in reopening the country’s roads and getting public transport up and running again. EU funding has been claimed by countries like France, Spain and Ireland after severe weather events. Now is the time for Scotland to claim a share.

Why won’t the SNP government get of its backside and do something?

Are Refs a law unto themselves?

Scotland’s premier league matches for next weekend have been thrown into doubt after the country’s grade one referees voted to take strike action.

At the heart of their dispute is anger over the criticism they have been receiving of late. Granted, senior referees and the SFA have been under intense scrutiny.

It started with a row over a disputed penalty in the Dundee United v Celtic match at Tannadice last month. That was the kind of disagreement which is common place at grounds across the country.

The reason it has escalated into a crisis which has damaged the integrity of referees’ and risked the cancellation of premier league games is because it has been so badly handled.

Referee Dougie McDonald was found by the SFA to have lied about the process of his reaching a decision to cancel a penalty awarded to Celtic but seems to see no reason why he should apologise. Assistant referee Steven Craven resigned over the issue, claiming bullying and harassment within the SFA. Yet Mr McDonald was backed by the SFA’s Head of Referee development Hugh Dalles.

Meanwhile, Mr Dallas is currently under investigation by the SFA over allegations he sent an e mail which featured a tasteless joke about the Pope and child abuse on the day of the Pope’s visit to Scotland.

Scotland’s referees should be able to conduct their role without fear of victimisation. They deserve to be treated with respect but they in turn also need to treat others with the same respect and abide by the rules by which the rest of us live.

In any other walk of life most professionals caught lying about an important decision would expect to face harsh consequences and would certainly understand that an apology would be in order.

Others sending such offensive e mails have lost their jobs.

If the SFA wants to protect the integrity of the game they need take action when faced with wrongdoing. Mr McDonald should have been forced to stand down and Mr Dallas should also be told to go if the allegations against him are proven.

If our footballing authorities get their own house in order they will have a stronger case to make in telling the clubs and managers to back off.

As things stand the only people suffering this damaging standoff are the fans.

Blame the victim!

Don’t fall for the old Tory Con/Dem trick – they haven’t!

On returning from election monitoring in Tanzania I read that the UK Chancellor has been under attack from Andrew Tyrie MP, the Tory chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, for ‘misleading the public’ with his claim that the UK was near bankruptcy in the weeks after the Con/Dems took power.

Mr Osborne was further accused of ‘using inflammatory language’ to justify massive public spending cuts which will impact more severely on the poor in UK society. The claim that Britain was ‘on the brink of bankruptcy’ was ‘a bit over the top’.

This is borne out by the figures we have from Europe and further afield. How could Britain be on the ‘verge of bankruptcy’ when other major economies such as France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US have higher debts? The UK has the lowest debt as proportion of GDP amongst the G7 countries.

Furthermore the UK is in a better position to deal with the aftermath of the banker’s crisis than many EU member states. The vast majority of UK Government debt (70-80%) is held within the UK whereas in countries like Greece the vast majority of debt is external. Debt maturity for Greece, Ireland and Portugal etc is between 6-8 years on average whereas the UK’s is well over 12 years. The UK is less vulnerable to short term speculation than many of our partners.

As for the need to reduce public spending to pay for bankers mistakes, public spending in the UK, as a proportion of our economy, is lower than France, Italy, Austria, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries.

If we look at debt historically, we will see that the current level of UK debt is not unprecedented: debt never fell below 100% of GDP between1920-1960. In fact, UK debt reached 250% of GDP after World War II and we still managed to create the NHS, the welfare system, comprehensive schooling and a massive investment in council housing.

It is not Britain that is bankrupt it is old capitalist ideas of George Osborne – ‘make the poor pay’ – and his Liberal democrat cronies that are bankrupt

Newspeak rules in the ‘non-nomadic’ European Union

Newspeak: ‘Deliberately ambiguous and contradictory language used to mislead and manipulate the public’.

We appear to be stuck in the time warp of 1984.

Having recently returned from election monitoring in Tanzania I find that Roma have become ‘nomads’ and ‘anti-Gypsyism’ is on the rise.

A new report from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has identified incidents of racism, anti-Semitism and anti-Gypsyism in both amateur and professional football and basketball across the EU-27.

According to the EU agency, in particular in Germany and Italy, experts warn that right-wing extremists are becoming active in amateur leagues.

While the study’s focus is on ethnic minorities and migrants, it also looked at gender and age in relation to sport. The report reveals that women and girls of an ethnic minority background are particularly underrepresented in sport.

But the biggest sport in France continues to be the expulsion of Roma.

In the first nine months of the year, France repatriated 6,562 Romanians and 910 Bulgarians, according to French Immigration Minister Eric Besson, who has stopped referring to deportees as Roma.

On 29 September the European Commission, following world-wide condemnation, decided to take France to task, and the European Court of Justice, regarding its summer crackdown on Roma camps, giving Paris until 15 October to prove that its policies comply with European Union (EU) laws guaranteeing the free circulation of people.

At the last minute France complied with Commission demands by submitting information on how it intends to align its national legislation with EU laws on the free movement of people. But the French Sarkozy Government remains under scrutiny to determine whether its summer crackdown on Roma camps amounted to discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.

Apparently, expulsions of Roma by France continue unabated, but noticeably, France has ceased to refer to them by their ethnicity – Gypsies have become nomads!

Besson announced that the French authorities had repatriated 1,476 Romanians and 227 Bulgarians by force, adding that in addition to those, 5,086 Romanians and 683 Bulgarians had accepted financial assistance to return home.

The French Government provides 300 euros per adult and 100 euros per child for families who agree to return to their home countries. The tactic has been denounced by human rights groups as a form of bribe, while others say they merely provide “paid holidays” for Roma and allow them to buy a return ticket to France.

Indeed, as EU citizens, Roma from Bulgaria and Romania are free to travel back to Western Europe and a bus ticket costs about 80 euros.

Besson said that 2010 had not marked a major shift in expulsions, but admitted “an acceleration” of expulsions of “Romanian nomads” in irregular situations in August and September.

The change of vocabulary appears to mark a change of tactics after France was strongly criticised by the European Commission for discriminating against Roma in its expulsion policy.

Besson only referred to those expelled by their nationality and the term ‘nomads’, which designates ‘a way of life’, not ‘ethnicity’.

A year and a half ago, Italy avoided European Commission criticism for discriminating against Roma in a fingerprinting campaign targeted at the ethnic group. The reason for this, explained a Commission spokesperson, was that the Italian administration called the Roma ‘nomads’ – Newspeak rules, Orwell’s nightmare has come to pass!

Europe to the rescue

With the UK government and economy firmly in the grip of the Con/Dem coalition it is time to look to the European Union (EU) for some kind of bulwark against the mad ideological reign we last saw in the 1980’s when Ms Thatcher was in power. Unfortunately we do not have a Jacques Delors at the European Commission. Nonetheless I and my colleagues in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats will do our best to show – ‘There is a better way!’

At the recent plenary session of the European parliament in Strasbourg I voted in favour of the Pregnant Workers Directive and in favour of the provision to extend minimum maternity leave to 20 weeks on full pay. As all European Union (EU) citizens have the right to live and work throughout the EU, it is vital we afford woman a minimum entitlement to maternity leave, wherever they are working at the time of having a baby. Maternity leave should not be a privilege for woman can afford it; it should be a basic right of all women to take appropriate leave – for the health of the mother and the wellbeing of the child – before returning to work. Indeed, the World Health Organisation recommends 26 weeks of maternity leave.

Decent maternity leave is part of a wider issue of female participation in the labour market and tackling the financial implications of an ageing society. The EU goal is for 75% labour participation by 2020, and a crucial element of this will be giving all mothers the ability to take maternity leave which they can afford and then return to work. In an ageing society, where the demand for social care is increasing and the number of people providing the care is decreasing, more realistic leave such as maternity leave is needed. Woman should not feel that having children is incompatible with their work – our policies need to enable care for young and older persons; to recognise the needs of mothers and fathers to afford maternity leave and be able to return to work to support their family.

The implementation of this legislation – once an agreement is reached between the Member State governments (the Council) and the Parliament – will not come into force for at least 5 years. Furthermore, with an increase of just 1.04% of women’s participation in the labour market, the additional cost of extending maternity leave would be covered. I strongly believe an extension of the minimum requirement will have a significant and positive impact on the lives of families, the health and wellbeing of children and mothers, and the ability of women to enter and return to the labour market, as well as being financially covered by increased labour participation.

Although there was no final vote on the budget as a whole, I and my colleagues in the European Parliamentary Labour Party voted against the resolution accompanying the budget. On individual votes I voted against provisions which I believe have negative consequences for EU citizens and people in developing countries. This includes EU funding for tobacco production, as well as EU agricultural export subsidies which harm developing countries. I also voted against an increase in budget lines relating to expenses, travel and administrative costs.

However I welcome the positive elements of the Parliament’s first reading, including funding for economic development in our regions, support for crucial Research and Development and increased overseas aid in line with the UK’s target to increase development assistance.

I believe the EU budget is needed to provide long-term stability against the severe austerity measures which are being introduced by national governments in Europe. While national governments implement – in some cases – drastic cuts with a short-term vision, the EU budget can provide stability and long-term planning to help – through funds such as the structural funds and cohesion funds, to create jobs, provide job training and boost European economies through the recovery , particularly by providing structural funds to deprived areas hit the hardest. There is a better way the European way!

When the dam bursts in Europe!

What happens when the dam burst, or the proverbial ‘shit hits the fan’? The polluter must pay.

We have all watched spellbound as the human drama of the Chile mining rescue unfolds and rejoiced in the success of human ingenuity in bringing these miners back to life on the surface.

However, the Chilean Government now has to deal with the aftermath of a disaster happening as the result of a rock fall in an industry with poor safety standards, ingrained incompetence and even the suggestion of corruption.

We should always want to know how do disasters occur, how do we deal with the aftermath and how can we prevent them happening in the future?

As far as disasters caused by deep water drilling are concerned we have a very special interest here in Scotland. The US Government this week lifted the ban imposed as a result of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the European Union (EU) decided not to impose a ban on deep water drilling – but instead to stringently increase safety.

Safety must be a priority, it is non-negotiable. We have to do our maximum to ensure that a disaster similar to the one that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico does not occur in EU waters.

However, despite this unified approach by the European Parliament, Commission and Council, Oil & Gas UK, the UK’s industry lobby said the EU’s proposals were ‘unjustified’.

This is a somewhat shortsighted view as EU legislation designed to ensure polluters pay is now in place and will be tested in connection with Hungary’s spill of toxic sludge.

The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) entered into force in 2004 with the deadline to bring it into law by April 2007. To date only Italy, Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary have met this deadline. The other EU member states must implement this legislation without delay.

Furthermore this recent toxic disaster in Hungary will put pressure on the EU to force industrial companies to make financial provision against risks of serious environmental accidents.

With this ‘polluter pays’ legislation national authorities in member states will require the operator to repay damages including the restoration of the environment, species and habitat to its original state.

Thus the liability extends well beyond the simple clean-up of the material in a spill like the toxic sludge from MAL’s alumna plant in Hungary. The Directive says the polluter must also restore a damaged environment to its previous state.

This means reintroducing animal and plant species killed off, or paying damages when this is not possible.

And how much will all this cost? In a relatively small pipeline rupture in the US that involved 22,000 liters of waste oil which polluted 16 miles of river and left about 100 oiled birds needing cleaning, the cost of restoration , including remedial action, was over $2.5m.

The Hungarian spill (were four people are known to have died and over120 injured when some 600,000 – 7000-000 cubic meters of sludge burst from the plant) was one of the largest environmental disasters ever in the EU and will cost considerably more than $2.5m. According to the Hungarian Government it will cost tens of millions of dollars and take at least a year to clean up the damage caused.

Imagine the impact and cost of an oil spill off the coast of Scotland. It would be horrendous. Everything must be done to make our safety rules the most stringent possible.

What happens when the dam burst, or the proverbial ‘shit hits the fan’? The polluter must pay.
We have all watched spellbound as the human drama of the Chile mining rescue unfolds and rejoiced in the success of human ingenuity in bringing these miners back to life on the surface.
However, the Chilean Government now has to deal with the aftermath of a disaster happening as the result of a rock fall in an industry with poor safety standards, ingrained incompetence and even the suggestion of corruption.
We should always want to know how do disasters occur, how do we deal with the aftermath and how can we prevent them happening in the future?
As far as disasters caused by deep water drilling are concerned we have a very special interest here in Scotland. The US Government this week lifted the ban imposed as a result of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the European Union (EU) decided not to impose a ban on deep water drilling – but instead to stringently increase safety.
Safety must be a priority, it is non-negotiable. We have to do our maximum to ensure that a disaster similar to the one that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico does not occur in EU waters.
However, despite this unified approach by the European Parliament, Commission and Council, Oil & Gas UK, the UK’s industry lobby said the EU’s proposals were ‘unjustified’.
This is a somewhat shortsighted view as EU legislation designed to ensure polluters pay is now in place and will be tested in connection with Hungary’s spill of toxic sludge.
The Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) entered into force in 2004 with the deadline to bring it into law by April 2007. To date only Italy, Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary have met this deadline. The other EU member states must implement this legislation without delay.
Furthermore this recent toxic disaster in Hungary will put pressure on the EU to force industrial companies to make financial provision against risks of serious environmental accidents.
With this ‘polluter pays’ legislation national authorities in member states will require the operator to repay damages including the restoration of the environment, species and habitat to its original state.
Thus the liability extends well beyond the simple clean-up of the material in a spill like the toxic sludge from MAL’s alumna plant in Hungary. The Directive says the polluter must also restore a damaged environment to its previous state.
This means reintroducing animal and plant species killed off, or paying damages when this is not possible.
And how much will all this cost? In a relatively small pipeline rupture in the US that involved 22,000 liters of waste oil which polluted 16 miles of river and left about 100 oiled birds needing cleaning, the cost of restoration , including remedial action, was over $2.5m.
The Hungarian spill (were four people are known to have died and over120 injured when some 600,000 – 7000-000 cubic meters of sludge burst from the plant) was one of the largest environmental disasters ever in the EU and will cost considerably more than $2.5m. According to the Hungarian Government it will cost tens of millions of dollars and take at least a year to clean up the damage caused.
Imagine the impact and cost of an oil spill off the coast of Scotland. It would be horrendous. Everything must be done to make our safety rules the most stringent possible.

CONDEM shame on sex trafficking

According to Trafficking Monitor http://trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com/2010/09/archbishop-of-york-condemns-uk-opt-out.html the Archbishop of York, no friend of European Union (EU) Directives, has come out against the inexplicable and unjustifiable decision of the UK Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government decision not to join our partners in the EU in extending the legislation designed to combat trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The EU Directive includes a common definition on the crime of trafficking and makes it easier to convict offenders in the EU’s 27 member states. It also boosts the rights of victims.

The UK Government position has also been condemned by the charity Anti-Slavery International who say co-ordinated EU action is essential because many of the victims come from Eastern Europe and beyond.

The UK Governments position is exactly the wrong message to send to pimps and traffickers.

It has been estimated that criminal gangs have forced an estimated 2,600 foreign women into prostitution in England and Wales, where only five people this year have been convicted for human trafficking for sexual exploitation in the first six months of this year.

Here in Scotland there have been no convictions for human trafficking offences in 2009 and none so far in 2010, even although Glasgow has the highest number of sex workers outside London. It is estimated that 50% of Glasgow’s sex workers are from overseas.

With Glasgow hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games sex trafficking into Scotland is likely to increase. It is essential that we take a tough stance on human trafficking now to prevent the potential misery of thousands of women who will be trafficked into this country to satisfy the demand at the games.

That is why I am urging all my constituents who have Conservative or Liberal MPs to lobby their members of the UK Government to change their position.

As the Archbishop of York says the Con/Dem decision is ‘stunning’, ‘Our Government should be ensuring that Britain leads the way, as it did in the days of William Wilberforce,’ argues the Archbishop.