Why vote Labour? My priorities for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine

I might not get another chance to update this blog before polling day, so I want to set out why I'm asking you to vote Labour on May 5th, and set out some of my priorities for the constituency.

• Employment and the economy  - Under Alex Salmond, unemployment in Scotland has now risen higher than the rest of the UK. It used to be the lowest in the UK under Scottish Labour. We have ambitious job creation schemes, from funding apprenticeships through to providing more support for renewables companies and small businesses. What's the SNP's answer? They are still the party of independence, no matter how much they try to hide it this election. Salmond is still the man who would like to Scotland to be modeled on the now failed economies of Ireland and Iceland. My party is the party labour, of work and employment. Solid plans for job creation and economic growth are at the heart of our plans for government.
• Tough decisions in tough times - Any Scottish Government will have to live within its means. We need politicians who will protect the things that really matter and invest for the future. So, at a time when under the current SNP government teachers are being lost, leisure facilities shut and the roads aren't getting fixed, why on earth are the nationalists and the Liberals wanting to spend £140m bulldozing over Union Terrace Gardens? It's a folly, and I won't have it. Labour is the only party opposed to the city square project. With more Labour MSPs, we stand a better chance of stopping it.
• Transport and infrastructure - The future prosperity of the North East lies in improving its infrastructure (not in another shopping centre / car park). This means getting on building the Western Peripheral Route is a priority. We also need to improve public transport, particularly for people in Portlethen and Newtonhill getting in and out of Aberdeen. This means more competition with bus services, and more trains from Portlethen station.

Finally, this election is about a choice of candidate as well as a party. I genuinely believe I offer something different to the other career politicians and serial candidates standing in this seat. I want to use the experience I've gained at the heart of the North East's oil industry to shake up government and get the support to frontline services. You can find out more about what I stand for below, and what I get up to outside of politics on my twitter feed.

Thanks for reading. This seat is wide open and with your vote I hope I will be your next MSP.

Greg

Campaign update

We're over a week into the campaign now, and things are really cranking up. The feedback on the doors is really positive for Labour, keeping us out there long into the evenings. Thank you British Summer Time!

However, one of the things voters are pinning us down on is how a Scottish Labour government would live within its means in a time of budget constraint. Two of of our main policies really illustrate this. With the National Care Service, we will gain economies of scale similar to the NHS, and use those savings to improve patient care. No more derisory 15 minute care visits. And with the Scottish Police Force, we will save money by reducing duplicated back office bureaucracy and put the money saved into maintaining the number of police on the beat. These are tough choices, but a Labour government will always put front line services first.


The same can't be said of the opposition. We were all amused this weekend to see the latest Lib Dem leaflet. Firstly, it doesn't even have their logo on it - another clear indication of how embarrassed they are of their own party. But they've also launched a campaign to protect the bureaucracy of multiple police forces. They're so desperate to find a unique position they've turned to defending replicated paper pushing. It's incredible, and they're clearly not a fiscally credible party.



Finally, this week I'm happy to see the Labour group in Aberdeen City Council have forced another vote on the Lib Dem and SNP's plans to bulldoze over Union Terrace Gardens. Only Labour are against this concrete calamity, but I hope the councillors will put party politics and pride aside and take a second chance to vote against the £140m car park. For the record, Mr. Stewart, I've been against this before I was even selected as a candidate. No stunts here.

Scottish Labour conference at Glasgow

Quick update on getting back from the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow. I was the first delegate to speak from the floor, which was exciting and daunting in equal measure!

Anyway, I used my speech to call for sustained infrastructure investment in the North East of Scotland. The current SNP government have cut £1.2 billion of infrastructure projects across Scotland, and over 25,000 construction jobs have been lost across the country as a result.

A similar slashing of investment happened in the oil and gas industry in the 1990s. Now, we still have a big skills shortage are heavily dependent on overseas engineers. If we don’t maintain public sector investment, I’m worried the same thing will happen to the North East’s construction industry and we’ll only end up importing those skills again a decade down the line.

From the feedback we're getting on the doorstep, it's increasingly clear that the Liberal Democrats are in big trouble and the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine seat has become a two horse race between Labour and the SNP. But just in case folk are still thinking of voting Lib Dem, in terms of infrastructure let’s not forget that is was the current Lib Dem leader, Tavish Scott, who as transport minister bungled the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route consultation process and allowed protesters to hold the project up in the courts. They have an awful delivery record in Aberdeen city and the shire and we can’t let them make the same mistakes in the future.

Quick! It's election time! Bury some power lines

I love this photo. Even though Rhonda, on the left, is endorsing me in the Bon Accord newspaper many of you will have received through the doors by now, she still likes to tell me what's what! That's what politics is about, to me. Getting out there and talking to people.

People like Rhonda certainly see though the recent flurry of policy announcements coming out of the SNP government. One year's Coalfield Regeneration funding after Labour announced a three year scheme. A Salmond-faced conference for the cameras on sectarianism that chucks money at the issue without addressing the root causes. And my personal favourite - the SNP's diktat to Scottish Power to bury the Beuly-Denny power line. Two months after the same SNP government approved it being built above ground. Timing of the announcement anything to do with the polls on Monday that showed the SNP slipping backwards perhaps?

Finally, I've been contacted by a lot of people about my views on the Aberdeen council's deer cull on Tullos Hill. There were many alternatives on the table (such as cattle grids, fences or plastic tubing around the saplings) that were ruled out for being too expensive without having the costs being properly investigated. Another example of back-of-a-fag-packet accounting in the Lib Dem / SNP administration. We can't let this carry on, nor can we have another Lib Dem MSP or a career politician who stands idly by and lets his colleagues get away with cock up after cock up. If elected MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, I will use the experience I've gained working in the real world to hold both the city and shire councils to account.

Carrots and Sticks

I went to visit Strikers Indoor Football in Aberdeen last night with Dame Anne Begg. This a great community initiative which provides teenagers across Aberdeen with something to do in the evenings and gets them off the streets. It's free of charge, and first group lay on buses to pick the footballers up. In my opinion, tackling anti-social behaviour is a great example of the carrots we need, along with the sticks of ASBOs and dispersal zones.

Unfortunately, there are no teams from Kincorth or Torry this year. This is really frustrating, considering these suburbs suffer the most from late night disturbances. The police have been doing their best to push the scheme through their early intervention officers, but parental consent is still needed for the footballers to take part. I would really encourage parents to get their children to sign up to the scheme.

Since the closure of the Tullos swimming pool, Striker's football is one of the few leisure facilities left available to teenagers. I attended a Torry Community Council meeting at the Academy on Thursday where local residents are trying to fund raise to get the pool reopened. It's a sad state we've reached in Aberdeen where communities are having to bail out the Lib Dem / SNP city council's incompetence; in this case their botched procurement process. The council should make right their mistakes and reopen the pool for the benefit of the Torry community.

The Suburbs

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks, both on and off the field (as it were). We've been marching around the suburbs of Aberdeen and into Portlethen and Newtonhill door knocking. I've also been up into the wee hours preparing the campaign literature. I'd do another video blog if I didn't look like an exhausted zombie and scare the electorate off.

I was also excited this week to see Iain Gray launch Energy Scotland. I've written about the need for the north east to secure green energy jobs before, but with more co-ordinated and easier accessed government support than under the SNP, I'm confident Scottish Labour would make quicker progress.

And finally, yes the title is a reference to the Arcade Fire album which I picked up the other week. It's engrossing, and I'd thoroughly recommend it.

Local development

I was attacked in P&J letters page this week for speaking out in defence of the Torry, Kincorth, Cove and Nigg community councils on the matter of the new Aberdeen Football club stadium.

My concerns with the plans are purely those of local residents, as the paper reported. Residents are worried about the impact of the stadium on the environment and traffic in their communities. They are also right to raise for consideration the wider economic impact on the city.

I will always stand up for local people and highlight well founded concerns. I also think that whether the stadium is the best thing for AFC or not is a matter for the season ticket holding Dons fans, not prospective politicians, so I won't wade in to that debate.

But to address this Andy Coulson-esque piece of spin that I'm anti development. Ridiculous. Maybe if the Tories had any members or a candidate that lives in Aberdeen they'd know I've got 'Get on with building the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route' as one of the top pledges on my campaign literature. That I'm a strong supporter of the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. That I think all across Scotland we desperately need more affordable housing, and would expedite the development of brownfield sites to help provide more accommodation.

But no. I'll take one look at the polls which show that the Lib Dems and Tories are down and out across Scotland, but remember there's still a lot of work to be done and get back to campaigning. This election will really be a straight out fight between Scottish Labour and the SNP. It was the last Labour administration that passed the legislation for the AWPR, before the SNP took two and a half years to confirm the funding for it. It's Labour who want to reinstate the Edinburgh and Glasgow rail links the SNP cancelled. Labour are the only credible pro-development party on the ballot paper.

Antisocial behaviour

Firstly a happy new year to everyone. I hope you had a great Christmas.

Today the Evening Express led with a story on Grampian Police instigating a dispersal order in an area of Torry near Balnagask Road, following more than 300 calls about troublemakers in the last 12 months. This is only the second time Grampian Police have used dispersal powers since the Scottish Labour government gave them the powers in 2004.

Why? The current SNP government don't like them, and discourage the police from using them. Just like the SNP don't like prison sentences of six months or less (along with the Lib Dems). It's through the SNP government's laid back attitude on justice that Scotland has become the 'worst in the UK for fighting crime', according to the Herald. Astonishingly, in 2009-10 there were 241,000 antisocial behaviour complaints.

With your votes in May, we can turn this around. Scottish Labour has pledged to be tougher on crime, including introducing a a mandatory jail sentence for anyone caught carrying a knife. You shouldn't be intimidated in your own home, like some of the residents of Torry. Scotland deserves better.

Energy and Aberdeen

Two things have been ailing me this week: the energy industry, and the future of Aberdeen.

Thursday saw the Coalition Government's announcement of electricity market reform. I can't even begin to outline the competing agendas and ideas boiling away in this policy cauldron right now, but DECC's consultation paper proposes a UK carbon tax on top of the European Emission Trading Scheme, contracts to top up revenue in the event of low electricity prices, payments to the private sector to encourage reserve capacity and an emission performance standard.

Seems like a lot? It is, as the Financial Times points out. The coalition's scheme essentially tries to regulate the economics of a privatised electricity market. But if the market is failing why are we as a country insisting on on prevailing with the private sector rather than state run utilities? The current privatised scheme was conceived long before low carbon energy was a priority, and cajoling business into selling product into a market at a loss cannot be much more efficient than the state system we left behind. I have to say I'm not convinced state utilities are the way to go either, although I'd love to have that debate and be educated otherwise.

There was a clear piece of positive energy news this week - the EU has committed €40m of funding for Aberdeen's proposed offshore wind test centre. The farm has already been scaled back to 11 turbines from the 33 initially, and Donald Trump looks keen to kill the project off. We must persevere with the project, and I am a firm supporter. It won't be anything near a substitute for oil and gas in the city, but it's an important step towards a more diverse economic future.

And what future will our children have in the city, at schools without teaching assistants? Children with special needs abandoned? What future will the city have with more of this Lib Dem administration that puts a gun to public sector workers' heads, demanding them to take a pay cut or face compulsory redundancy? At the same time as they put up VAT in Westminster? The Liberal party has to go - next year in Holyrood, in local government elections the year after and as soon as possible from Westminster.

Video blog - tuition fees: the progressive con

Fibs, cakes and pledges

It's been a lively week in Scottish politics. You've probably seen the big story, that the SNP Government gave away the Scottish Parliament's right to vary income tax without consulting...the Scottish Parliament. It's misleading, underhand and duplicitous. John Swinney still failed to give an honest answer to the Finance Committee today. You may be asking where Alex Salmond has been during this crisis of his government. Thanks to the P&J for providing the scoop (of cake mix).

I mean, this is the guy running Scotland! With your vote in May, not for much longer. And what of the Lib Dems party that run the Aberdeen City Council with the SNP. Look out for their campaign tag line over the next few weeks - 'Securing a better funding deal for Aberdeen'. They are so desperate to distract you from the mess they have made of running our city that they're blaming it on the funding deal. Which they, as a member of COSLA, willing signed up to. The same finding deal that that Labour lived with up to 2002, and with which we left the city a £25 million surplus. So don't be fooled! We know what the Lib Dems do with power locally. And we know what they do with power in Westminster - ignore their election manifesto, just as they ignored a signed pledge not to put up tuition fees. When the Liberal leaflets come, you know their promises aren't worth the paper it's written on.

Campaigning away

I've been blazing the campaign trail in the last couple of weeks, so apologies for the lack of updates. Here's what I've been up to:

• Door knocking in Torry to gather local opinion on the Lib Dem  - SNP council's proposed closure of the Academy. Over 90% of local residents are concerned that closing or resiting the academy would rip the heart out of the community
• Visiting the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood to support union campaigns against callous public sector cuts, and Shelter's campaign to prioritise investment in affordable housing. Many people in Aberdeen and North Kincardine know the challenges of being able to afford somewhere to live.
• Supporting a local coffee morning run by volunteers in the Jubilee Hall in Portlethen. They desperately need more volunteers to increase the mornings they open, and funding to fix the roof.
• Highlighting Labour's Scotland Deserves Better campaign with a street stall in Aberdeen town centre

Getting some time with Labour's shadow cabinet in Holyrood was a highlight. We discussed local issues and industry in particular. Everyone seems to think that because you're a candidate, you spend half your time in and around the parliament in Edinburgh. Like most ordinary people, I have a real job that keeps me in Aberdeen most of the time!

Conference in Oban, and a green future

As promised, an update from Scottish conference in Oban. The highlight was Iain Gray's speech, which really showed how he stands apart from the bluster of Alex Salmond. This is a man with clear ideas for Scotland and a commitment to get things done. Which is pretty much what I said when interviewed by the BBC's Brian Taylor after the speech on TV! You can see footage on the iPlayer for the next 5 days here.

I was also pleased to be able to give a speech to conference on the future for the renewables industry in Scotland. I called for the Scottish Government to provide investment certainty to the private sector through a clear roadmap of where offshore wind turbines are going to go, where they'll be constructed, and the ports they'll be launched from. Only with that sort of government direction will we attract investment, ensure that the jobs generated stay in Scotland, and meet our 2020 electricty generation targets.

Can we rely on the current SNP government to provide it? Well, coincidently, Alex Salmond today announced a grand talking shop where he will ask Aberdeen oil and gas companies to work with renewables companies to help claim for Scotland the 'estimated £7bn of investment up of grabs'. He believes "There are clear opportunities for joint working and learning between the oil and gas and renewables sectors". This is true in part - in the areas of subsea cable and pipe laying, and in the foundations for the turbine jackets. Maybe some surveying work as well. However there are a number of flaws with this proposal:

1. These sectors are only part of the services necessary for a large scale offshore wind rollout. Who is going to make the turbines for example? 
2. The fact is, most oil and gas companies now manufacture the platforms and jackets in Asia, whilst we want them constructed in Scotland, for Scottish jobs.
3. Most oil service companies are looking to expand their core business overseas, not diversify in to other sectors, as rightly pointed out by the author of http://otheraberdeen.blogspot.com/ 
4. Where is this £7bn of investment? Has anyone seen it?

Mere weeks ago, the Danish company Vestas were axing plants and jobs across Europe because a lack of investment and long term certainty. All Alex Salmond has done is get the oil field service companies together for a chat about something they are not interested it, with no indication of future work. 

If we're really serious about meeting the 2020 80% renewable energy target, and making sure Scottish offshore wind results in Scottish onshore jobs, we need more than just a chin wag. Government needs to provide direction, and as per my speech at conference, I'm confident Labour will provide it.

Aberdeen South and North Kincardine selection

Yes, I've finally got round to updating my website, despite winning the selection to stand as Labour's candidate in this seat over a month ago.

And the delay is because I've been busy campaigning! So far I've been working to highlight the poor rail services in Portlethen and last weekend, we were out doorknocking in Torry. You may have heard about the Lib Dem and SNP council's plans to close the academy here, and in Kincorth. They've sold out the communities south of the river to keep votes in the city centre.

Coupled with Nicol Stephen resigning, it's obvious they've given up on this seat already. I won't stand by and let them rip the heart out of these communities.

I'm writing this from the Scottish Labour conference in Oban, and will post another update with all I've been doing here later.

Please get in touch if there are any local issues you want to raise.

Yours,
Greg

Vote Labour on May 6th

This will be my last chance to update the blog before polling day. It's been a hectic but enjoyable campaign, and I've took great pleasure in speaking to voters from all over Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. When you cast your vote, please consider:

Labour are the party of public services - the 'state' we've built up in the last 13 years are the doctors, nurses, teachers and policemen we all cherish. The 'big society' is just a deception for running them down.

Labour are the party of the economy - we took decisive action to save the banks, protecting peoples savings, and to minimise unemployment. Now is not the time for amateurs.

Labour are the party of progress - only Labour can win the election and deliver a referendum on electoral reform.

Labour are the party of the family - only we will protect the child trust fund and working families tax credit, whilst extending the responsibilities of parents with respect to their children's behaviour.

Finally, for all the talk of tactical voting in this seat, I think recent Scottish polls have shown that you can afford a vote for Labour here and not let the Tories in. If you like what I have to say, and want to see more people like me with fresh ideas in British politics, the only way that will happen is by voting for us on May 6th!

Campaign update

Well it's only a few days left until polling day and people across Aberdeenshire are making their minds up. As the Lib Dems come under more scrutiny in the newspapers, people are finally finding out what they stand for. Certainly not working families - they plan to cut both the child trust fund and working families tax credit. Clegg also made it clear today that he would not work with Gordon Brown in the event of a hung parliament. Voting Lib Dem in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine will help bring the Tories to power. Only Labour can stop them!

My pledges have always been the focus of my campaign and in Portlethen on the weekend with Anne Begg I was emphasising my number one priority - bringing more green jobs in renewables to the North East. I work in the oil industry, and am thankful of all the jobs and prosperity it's brought to the region. However we need to act now to secure the jobs of the future. Only Labour are committing to providing direct, targeted government support to help more renewables companies set up in Scotland, and I would fight for more of that money as your MP. You can read more about our environmental commitments in our Green Manifesto.

Video blog - Lib Dems are not Rage Against the Machine

Campaign update

This weekend our campaign focused on Westhill, holding a stall outside the local supermarket. I managed to speak to a lot of voters and the response was promising!

The leaders debate has brought some much needed scrutiny of opposition party policies from the press. The Lib Dems received a spot on critique from the Daily Telegraph (can't believe I just said that!). However, the Telegraph didn't go far enough to expose the absurd and, ironically, utterly illiberal idea that people coming in to the UK will be restricted to particular geographic areas. Do they want to create ghettos or something? How on earth would that work whilst they pledge to deconstruct the security measures the Labour government have put in place?

On a local level, I think Cameron's idea of having 'little platoons of civic society' running our public services was exposed in the locally renowned Deeside Piper. It turns out we can't even get councillors to represent Deeside - Dinnet, Glen Tannar, Kincardine O'Neil and Aboyne. Who's going to his country when no one even wants to be a councillor?

End of the city square project?

I didn't manage to get my views on today's announcement across effectively in Twitter's 140 characters, so allow me to try again!

The majority of Aberdonians who responded to the consultation, 55%, opposed Sir Ian Wood's plan. Whilst this is a majority, 44% of people who responded clearly want a new civic centre, and the Peacock visual arts centre is not enough for them.

So the real question to me is where do we go from here? The main flaw in the ACSEF consultation is that it presented people with Ian Wood's choice alone. We need a broader, more inclusive debate about what sort of civic centre Aberdeen needs and where it is going to go. But we're not going to get this before the city council decide whether to proceed with the city square project on the 19th of May.

19th of May is after the General Election, so if the Lib Dem and SNP council disregard the will of the public and push ahead with Ian Wood's plans, you won't be able express your discontent by giving their Westminster candidates a hiding. As far as I know, only Anne Begg had made her views clear in the Aberdeen South constituency, calling for interested groups to support the Peacock plan. Where do the other candidates stand?

One week in - a future fair for all but my feet

One week in to the election campaign and I've already ruined my feet running around Portlethen meeting voters. You might have read about 'blitzing' on the BBC website, but the more people you have knocking on doors the faster the candidate has to move between them. And I did not wear the right shoes for the number of friends who came out to knock doors with me! I hope to upload some video of the session soon.

I've also held a street stall in Stonehaven (photo right) where it was great to meet quite a few Labour voters. It seems that people across Aberdeenshire are recognising this election is a choice between a Labour and Conservative government, and they know that the Liberal Democrats can't stop the Tories getting back in. Only Labour are committing to investing in the industries of the future whilst protecting public services and crucial family benefits like the child trust fund. Over 20,000 families across Aberdeenshire benefited from tax credits and if elected as your Labour MP I will continue to support them.

So, it begins

Gordon is set to go to the palace and the election will be truly underway.

I think the main battleground will be on the economy, and I've already set out some of my personal ideas below. However I would sum it up thus: Who do you really trust to build the economy of the future?

Labour believes in state intervention. The intervention that saved Scottish banks and kept people in jobs. An intervention that now means building a broader, greener manufacturing base.

Conservatives stood back as families suffered from the recession. They now are treating the electorate as ignorant, kidding you that they can cut taxes, cut the deficit and protect spending all at the same time.

Liberal Democrats have spelt out their cuts - cuts in defence; in trident, in aircraft carriers. In Scottish Jobs. And now they want to stop all road building - a policy that would threaten the Western Peripheral Route.

Finally, the SNP have shown their economic incompetence with a Scottish Futures Trust that hasn't delivered one new school since they've been in power, and a narrow minded lust to join bankrupt countries like Ireland and Iceland in an arc of depression.

So, who can you trust? If you want a stable, growing economy you must vote Labour in this election. I look forward to meeting you on the campaign trail.

Conference; Chancellor's debate

Just a quick update - thought the Chancellor's debate was excellent, and sets a good precedent for the Prime Ministerial debates to come. There was respect from all parties, balanced approaches and even, dare I say, a consensus on a couple of issues. A world removed from the punch and judy of PMQs, which was very refreshing.

Am personally not feeling so refreshed after a hectic weekend at the Scottish Labour conference on Saturday and on Mearns FM on Sunday morning before out campaigning. I was hoping to post some video from conference but the quality was even lower than my usual video blogs! I did, however, get to speak and here is the slightly grainy photo evidence. I managed to talk about my concerns on the local economy in Aberdeenshire and the need to diversify now into renewables before the chance passes us by.

Who's really focusing on keeping Scottish jobs?

You'd think by Alex Salmond's latest headline grabbing that he was personally responsible for the apprenticeships that are keeping Scotland working during the recession. He seems to have conveniently forgotten that Labour forced him to increase the number of apprenticeships funded in the last Scottish budget! He runs a slick PR machine, that's for sure, but I know thousands of Scots have seen right through him, and are just waiting to kick the SNP into touch in this General Election.

And what about support in Westminster for Scottish jobs? Well, the Tories are threatening to scrap our Future Jobs Fund, which has delivered 14,900 jobs in Scotland to date. If they had their way, we'd have another generation thrown on the unemployment scrap heap like in the 1980s. Don't let them do it again!

The economy - to act or sit back?

There are a lot of accusations of fake dividing lines in this election, but there is no clearer ideological difference than on industrial policy. In Mandy's words:

Labour believes that the Government must play a supportive role in helping business succeed. Government invests in the infrastructure, helps fund the science and research and helps invest in the skills. The Tories believe that government can only get in the way.

This is really important. Our long term economic success depends on a balanced British economy. Which government is going to help craft this, if the Tories' primary belief is stepping back from government intervention? That did not serve us so well in the 1980s, not did it help prevent the recent banking crisis.

Labour on the other hand announced today a conditional offer of a government loan has been made to Sheffield Forgemasters which will see the firm build the largest nuclear accredited steel press in Europe, able to manufacture the largest components vital for civil nuclear power stations. We're going to need nuclear power as part of our energy mix going forward, and Labour are making proactive interventions to ensure that this creates British jobs.

So, who do you want to run the country? An economic, laissez-faire Neville Chamberlain or a party that intervenes for the common good?