I see that in his 'Holyrood message' in today's Greenock Telegraph our esteemed SNP list MSP blames "the dreadful mismanagement of the UK public finances by the previous Labour Government" for the impending reductions in public expenditure.
It beats me why the Telegraph allows Mr McMillan this platform to attack his political opponents. Why can't he, like other mere mortals, have to rely on press releases or, dare I say it, a blog for this?
That having been said, he is of course, as usual, talking claptrap.
As far as I know Labour was not in charge of the Greek, Spanish, Portuguese or Irish economies during the past couple of years, all of which have experienced significant economic difficulties and cuts in public expenditure. Nor was Labour in charge of the economic superpower that is the United States of America, which is going through very similar problems to the UK.
It is also worth reminding Mr McMillan that only a matter of 3 months ago his party's assertion that Labour was to blame for all our economic woes was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters of Inverclyde who returned David Cairns to Westminster with a resounding and increased majority.
I don't recall when the Labour Government was bailing out both The Bank of Scotland and The Royal Bank of Scotland with billions of pounds of taxpayers money Mr McMillan saying that they should have been left to collapse.
I don't recall when the Labour Government was borrowing billions of pounds to keep the UK economy afloat and people in jobs Mr McMillan saying that they shouldn't be doing that. Indeed the SNP were actually arguing for more money to be spent to boost the economy.
I also have to laugh when I hear people like Mr McMillan arguing that if the Scottish Parliament had greater control over taxation everything would be alright.
It seems to escape their notice that the Scottish Parliament has had the power to vary - increase or reduce - the basic rate of income tax since it was established in 1999 and never used it. Perhaps they should use the powers they have before asking for more.
Ironically at the same time as calling for more tax powers for the Scottish Parliament our Parliamentarians have effectively removed tax powers from local government by introducing a nationally set uniform business rate and imposing a Council Tax freeze.
So much for parity of esteem.
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Stuart Mcmillan is the golden boy of the Greenock Telegraph ,god knows why but there it is.His voting record in Holyrood from knife crime to bus re-regualtion shows he has no backbone,and is just one of Mr Salmonds lackies.Even when the outcome of his decision has an adverse effect on the people of Inverclyde, this politician is not for turning. He is probably right to think that very few Inverclyde voters actually look at his voting record, and so is under very little scrutiny locally ,but he can rest assured(and I assume he reads this blog) that in the run up to the Scottish elections some of us will be exposing his selfish ambition .He knows full well the Uk does not have the power to bring down the economies of all the major euro zone countries or America .This is a man who studied economics at university so he knows he is selling a lie for political capital.I could maybe accept if he was ideologically driven, but selfish ambition is a little harder to stomach.
ReplyDeleteColin J
Inverclyde is lucky to have someone like mr McMillan.With the recent council job loses announced on the TV ,Greenock is still being classed as one of the most deprived areas in Scotland.I dont see that you and your labour council have improved it that much.Maybe an SNP council with stuart at the helm would improve the area
ReplyDeleteYou clearly haven't met our SNP Councillors or you wouldn't be saying that Iain.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I hear, Stuart is going to struggle to get elected on the regional list next year, never mind win the constituency seat, since his party members don't exactly rate him as a superstar, so a Council seat in 2012 might be the best he can hope for.
As for him being at the helm of the Council, while I am usually a very modest person, I suspect that most informed commentators would be of the opinion that he couldn't lace my boots.
On the subject of Council job losses, you might want to have a look at SNP controlled Renfrewshire before you start criticising us.
I must add my tupance worth here.I somewhat agree with the first gentleman regarding Labour not being fully responsible for all that has happened to the economy.But dont all politicians vote in line with their party.Do party whips not insist on this.
ReplyDelete