BANFFSHIRE and BUCHAN COAST Liberal Democrats

Summer 2010

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BP should look to home

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BP is suffering a major public relations and commercial disaster as a result of the blowout and subsequent catastrophic leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It is threatened with a ban on future activity within the USA and its US petroleum distributors are urging it to revert to the Amoco brand as sales of BP have plummeted up to 40 per cent.

The company, of course, operates in the USA under a more relaxed licensing system than operates in the North Sea and will; no doubt, in due course cite its US contractors in any litigation it faces.

Nevertheless, it is a salutary lesson for any company that presides over a disaster. I wonder if the US media make any connection with Occidental, which was, of course, the operator of Piper Alpha and still operates in the USA and the Middle East but not, of course, anywhere in Europe.

To the extent that any blame attaches to BP for the Gulf of Mexico disaster then the company must carry the can but being the UK's flagship with a good reputation here the company might well be wise to reconsider its future commitment to the UK Continental shelf where it will not face the same prejudice and vilification that it is experiencing in the USA.

US companies operating in the UK sector will be very sensitive to their exposure should anything go amiss.

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Milliband attack on Cameron does not undo his Indian faux pas

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David Milliband has chosen to attack David Cameron's criticism of Pakistan's role as a base for terrorists during his recent visit to India but I can't help feeling that this may have been coloured by Mr Milliband's own diplomatic debacle when he visited India as Foreign Secretary.

The whole UK relationship with the subcontinent is fraught with difficulties. The abandonment of the Jewel in the Crown in haste in 1947 was a human disaster for millions.

Historians have spilt millions of words analysing the events, the options and the outcomes. The facts remain that Pakistan was essentially a British creation and its border with Afghanistan is only, I believe, to this day recognised by the UK and Pakistan.

There remains the unresolved issue of Kashmir and the promised but undelivered plebiscite.

All these issues make it easy to make a diplomatic faux pas in either country. Nevertheless, it is an objective fact that Pakistan has so far failed to make a success of its democracy or its economy while India is flourishing and moving into middle income status albeit with more of the world's poorest people than sub Saharan Africa.

The UK has an obligation, as well as a national self interest, to help Pakistan graduate to stability and prosperity but seeing Labour and the Tories having a spat over it is childish and will not impress anyone outside the UK and not many inside.

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Variations on communications for deaf

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Having spent some holiday time with my grown up deaf daughter in the past week I have had a chance to discuss different aspects of communication. I have experimented with voice recognition software to see it if can effectively subtitle my side of the conversation. It was useful for some technical or complicated subjects but in other ways a bit stilted and one sided. I think the software producers could do better if they thought of the technology as a tool for hearing to deaf communication rather than inanimate dictation for office purposes.

At the same time we found a lot of similarities in the signs in French sign language and BSL in spite of separate development. There are a lot of differences but my daughter could definitely understand a deaf French person better than an English speaking hearing counterpart who did not understand French.

There are, also, significant regional variations with British Sign Language. The beginners course I attended in London had different signs in a number of areas from those used by the deaf community in Scotland -much the same as the spoken language in effect!

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Scottish Water's future could benefit customers

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I hope Scottish Water does not become some kind of totem of left of centre political correctness rather than the focus of discussion of the best way to handle public goods.

I opposed the privatisation of water having only complained about the way gas, electricity and telecoms were privatised rather than the fact that they were.

However, I subsequently judged that water privatisation in England, while it created some anomalies such as the sale of water assets to state owned French companies, but did lead to significant investment in water infrastructure which led to more reliable supplies and better quality - although there were disruptions along the way and, of course, charges went up - but that would have happened anyway.

At the same time Scottish Water lagged behind in both investment and quality and still does. One village in my constituency has been blighted for years by the inaction of Scottish Water.

However, it has seemed that water provision in Scotland could be a role model for an alternative form of ownership namely a mutual owned by its customers. It could then be freed from the shackles of the public sector be allowed to borrow and yet still be subject to the will of the users if its services.

Substantial resources would be released for reinvestment in other hard pressed public services at a time when they desperately need it. To refuse to consider this would be thrawn to the point of ideological stupidity.

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Liberal Democrats take responsibility for fairness

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For the next few months all the political focus is likely to be on cuts - how much damage will they do? - What will be the impact on poor people? - Will there be a double dip recession? Will the private sector make up for jobs lost in the public sector? - How can we ensure that we will emerge stronger at the end of it?

A dip in the polls and a barrage of criticism from opposition parties and the right wing press are focussing on the role of the Liberal Democrats, It is clear to me that it was our responsibility to try and make a success of the coalition and to bring a uniquely Liberal dimension to it.

This is precisely what we are trying to do. That is why, among many other measures the government is introducing, the income tax threshold is being increased by £1000 on the way to being raised to £10,000 by the end of this Parliament. That is why the state pension will be increased by the highest of earnings prices or 2.5%. That is why Working Families Tax Credit is increased by £150.

It is also the case that, as there been no basis for a coalition we would had a second election in June. The suggestion that somehow there could have been a Conservative minority government without the co-operation of Liberal Democrats had no basis. If every party voted against the Queen's Speech then a second election would have followed.

If Liberal Democrats had abstained it would have allowed a minority Conservative Government with no Liberal Democrat policies or influence. So Liberal Democrats would have got the blame. We would have an uncertain Government trying to manipulate issues to secure outright victory at the earliest opportunity and no long term commitment to tackle the country's problems.

It is easy to criticise but most Liberal Democrats understand we have to use our responsibilities to help create a more Liberal society in which Government live within their means but tax and benefits are fair based on need and ability to pay.

ENDS