BANFFSHIRE and BUCHAN COAST Liberal Democrats

March column (2)

Local businesses look to rates relief

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Rating revaluations are never popular. Coming in the middle of the deepest recession in living memory they are especially unwelcome for any businesses.

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Revaluations are supposed to take account of the real growth of the economy, but in the interval between the time the assessors were making their evaluation and the valuation being determined, businesses have been severely squeezed.

While many local businesses tell me they are weathering the storm and the North East is faring better than many parts of the country, business conditions are difficult.

A number of pubs and hotels have recently closed and some businesses have gone into liquidation. Local authorities report a sharp decline in the number of planning applications - an indication of a slow down.

The rates bill is based on the valuation multiplied by the rates poundage which, until the Conservative Government took central control, was determined by the local council. It does not necessarily reflect in any way the performance of the business.

At the last revaluation and, currently in England, the Government introduced transitional relief to allow companies to adjust to their higher bills. So far the administration in Scotland has refused to do so. However, they are under pressure and should respond.

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BA strike will have long term effect

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As the North East is more dependent on air travel than most other parts of the UK, the strike by BA cabin crew is particular disruptive. It ruins planned holidays and disrupts business schedules.

What also happens is that people move to other carriers who work hard to hang onto them or they find ways of doing business without flying and sometimes conclude they can reduce the number of flights they take in future.

Either way, the airline not only loses the revenue it would have received during the period of the strike but suffers a hangover of lost business.

I have certainly travelled more frequently with BMI and Flybe and in many ways find them more congenial than BA.

At a time when many people are facing a threat to their job or income, it is difficult to understand why BA staff is prepared to take such strong action over changed staffing rotas.

Certainly, BA ground staff have almost disappeared without the same furore although many I know felt aggrieved at the way they were dispensed with.

It is true that the management style is somewhat macho but all airlines are fighting for survival. Perhaps the impending merger with Iberia is colouring the attitudes of both parties to the dispute. As far as I know Iberia does not have anything like the same pay and conditions as BA.

If the second strike goes ahead then it seems likely that BA will suffer long term damage that will harm the business and the staff prospects.

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Post election budget is what will bite

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A budget produced only weeks before a General Election is more window dressing than substance. The question most people fear to hear answered is what is it all going to cost us in the medium term?

There are confused and contradictory figures about public finances in terms of tax revenues and the scale of contingent liabilities being underwritten by the taxpayer. There are hopes that the nationalised banks will turn round and give the Treasury a profit.

Nevertheless most people recognise that there is to be a day of reckoning and are concerned that it will require savage cuts in public spending or tax increases or, most probably, both

So it is budgets that follow the General Election that will have the most bite. A surprising number of people have commented to me that the country's finances are too serious to be left to one political party. Usually that is followed with a comment something like "Labour got us into this mess. I have no idea what the Tories would do and Vince Cable and the Lib Dems have been right all along".

The serious point is that there needs to be some cross party discussion and agreement if we are to reach decisions that are fair and command public acceptance even if they are painful. That is why Nick Clegg is warning that if one party wins the next election and imposes a partisan agenda there might not be the necessary degree of public consent to implement it.

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International Development Committee has influenced Government

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Nearly five years ago I had the privilege to be elected to the chair of the International Development Committee which monitors the work of the Department.

Last week we signed off our last three reports of the Parliament allowing me to reflect on the committee's work over the past five years.

I know, because DFID has told me, that the committee has had a significant influence on the department's water and sanitation strategy and nutrition strategy. We provoked a reassessment on their commitment on Burma and a rethink on China.

The engagement with the World Bank changed while we were taking evidence on the topic and in many other areas we have had an influence on the department's thinking.

I believe our success was achieved by pursuing a non partisan style. There were few if any party political disagreements. If anything differences were within parties. We also wanted the department to succeed in its overall aim of pursuing policies that reduced poverty.

In that respect we have been a challenging friend rather than a fierce critic and that has been the spirit in which our criticisms or recommendations - based, as they were, on the evidence we received and what we saw and heard with our own eyes and ears when visiting countries and talking to local people.

It has been a very rewarding privilege and one, I know, of great interest to many people in Gordon.

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Defence and budgets lose touch with reality

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I realise it is difficult, nay impossible, to make the case for breaking up the United Kingdom at a time when we are in the deepest economic hole any of us can remember and for which we will need a huge collective effort to climb out.

Nevertheless I cannot understand how the SNP can suggest that the Scottish budget must escape unscathed if measures are to be applied across the UK to attack the huge deficit to which Scottish banks have contributed in no small measure.

Of course we should make a case for Scotland's special needs to be taken into account so that recession is not made worse. Having strenuously opposed the Lloyds TSB takeover of HBOS I would like to 'bring the Bank of Scotland home' - just as I was disappointed when TSB which started in Aberdeen was gobbled up. Losing genuine savings banks contributed to our present problems.

By the same token I cannot understand how the SNP can credibly demand there be no cuts in conventional defence spending in Scotland while opposing not only the nuclear submarine bases, but membership of NATO and any deployment of forces from the Scottish bases.

To defend the bases it seems necessary in logic to have some connection with UK defence strategy or at least recognise where Scotland's interests coincide with the rest of the UK and with NATO (of which Norway is such a committed member).

There is an honest case for independence as there is an honest case for the union but lets keep in touch with reality.