The week ahead...

Monday
At work until 2.00 then down to Greenock to chair the Inverlcyde Alliance Board at 3.30. I have a surgery in Clune Park Resource Centre at 6.00 followed by a meeting of the Kelburn Action Group at 7.00 in the same venue. The Kelburn meeting clashes with meetings of St Francis Primary School Parent Council and Port Glasgow West Community Council. Unfortunately even I can't be in three places at once!
Tuesday
At work until 1.00 then down to Greenock for my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive at 2.00. I will be chairing - possibly for the last time - a meeting of the Council's Policy & Resources Committee at 3.00. I have a meeting with Rankin Park Bowling Club at 5.00 and will be attending Kilmacolm Community Council at 7.30.
Wednesday
At work until 2.00 with meetings at 3.30 (with Chief Executive of Riverside Inverclyde), 4.30 (Administration Group) and 5.30 (Labour Group).
Thursday
A day off work as I am involved in interviews for the new Director of Inverclyde Community Health and Care Partnership. In the evening I have a meeting of Kilmacolm New Community Centre Company Board.
Friday
Ar work all day.

Welcome for Housing Investment Plan...

The Council's Policy & Resources Committee is being asked to approve the Inverclyde Strategic Housing Investment Plan for 2012-2015 on Tuesday.

I am pleased to see that the plan makes the Clune Park area of Port Glasgow Inverclyde's number one housing priority. The plan also gives a high priority to Phase 2 of the redevelopment of the Woodhall Estate - which will be good news to residents waiting on a new house - and other housing developments in Port Glasgow which could provide new housing for residents from Clune Park, which the Council plans to demolish.

How much of the plan can be delivered over the next 3 years will be dependent on the amount of housing grant awarded to Inverclyde by the Scottish Government. This is not known at present but we are told that an announcement will be made in mid April.

Hopefully the Government will allocate this funding on the basis of need and not, like other recent funding announcements, on the basis of the greatest political advantage to the SNP two weeks before the Council elections!

I won't hold my breath however.

Labour to stand 11 candidates in Council election...

Inverclyde Labour Party has lodged nomination papers for 11 candidates for the Council elections on 3 May. It is believed that Labour will be the only party to stand sufficient candidates to win outright control of the 20 member council.  

Labour Election Agent Joe McIlwee commented: “I am delighted to be acting as agent for this election. We are putting forward a very strong team of candidates who will be going all out to secure a Labour victory on 3 May. We have a good mix of sitting councillors and new candidates in Martin Brennan, Vaughan Jones and Colin Jackson who bring with them a wealth of experience from the worlds of education,  social care and business respectively.  We also have a fine new young candidate in James McColgan, who would be an excellent addition to the Council and at the same time significantly reduce the average age of members. ”

Labour’s candidates are:

Ward 1 (Inverclyde East): Stephen McCabe and James McColgan

Ward 2 (Inverclyde East Central):  Michael McCormick and Robert Moran

Ward 3 (Inverclyde North): Martin Brennan and Jim Clocherty

Ward 4 (Inverclyde South): Vaughan Jones and Joe McIlwee

Ward 5 (Inverclyde West): Terry Loughran

Ward 6 (Inverclyde South West): Gerry Dorrian and Colin Jackson

Labour's Team for Inverclyde 2012

Start date agreed for new £180,000 Boglestone play park...

I am delighted to report that a start date has been agreed for the Council's new play park at Boglestone in Port Glasgow. Work will start on the £180,000 project on 16 April and take around 9 weeks to complete.

The play park will include a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), similar to the one in Birkmyre Park in Kilmacolm; a children's play area; and a large aerial swing.


I am sure that young people in upper Port Glasgow will be delighted with the new facilities when they are ready.

A plan of the new play park to be provided at Boglestone

Letter to Minister on Youth Employment Strategy Funding...

Ms. Angela Constance, MSP Minister for Youth Employment T3.25 The Scottish Parliament EDINBURGH EH99 1SP Dear Minister Youth Employment Strategy Funding I wish to raise several concerns with the methodology, transparency and outcome of the current allocation of additional funding to support Local Authorities in tackling youth unemployment. I understand that the available £9m is the balance from an initial allocation of £30m originally announced for this activity.  It is worrying that this allocation has been diluted over recent months, particularly since I have learnt that funding has been diverted to Further Education and the Community Jobs Fund. I am sure that you are aware that Inverclyde remains one of the most employment deprived areas of Scotland with a significant jobs gap.  Indeed, from your own labour market information, it is recognised that the claimant count rate for Inverclyde is the 6th highest in Scotland.  This anomaly is not unique to Inverclyde, with other areas having equally high claimant count rates and being excluded from additional funding.  Accordingly, the methodology for allocation of award between authorities seems arbitrary and discretionary on the one hand, whilst there is a perceived lack of fairness and transparency on the other hand.  Please clarify who agreed the Local Authority allocations, as it appears there has been no consultation through SLAED, which is the primary economic development engagement forum for all Local Authorities below COSLA. Please clarify the justification for additional funds for the Community Jobs Fund which has underperformed, both in participation and outcome rates since the allocation of funds to SCVO.  I think it is worthwhile to note that Inverclyde currently has 905 young people aged 18-24 in receipt of JSA, the 31 posts provided through the Community Jobs Fund programme will not even begin to tackle youth unemployment in Inverclyde. You will appreciate that Inverclyde Council through the Single Outcome Agreement and Community Planning procedures has allocated resources for employability and has been successful in programme delivery, including targeted initiatives with young people from care leavers to graduates.  Nevertheless, the Local Authority alone cannot solve all of the historical and deep rooted labour market challenges we face, we rely on support from partner agencies and indeed we would welcome much needed support from the Scottish Government. Finally, this decision has been made when it appears that Inverclyde has been disadvantaged in other areas of economic development as a result of the decision making process of Scottish Government.  There have been significant cuts to the budget associated with our Urban Regeneration Company, Riverside Inverclyde, which put at risk our efforts to regenerate the area and develop the business base.  Inverclyde has been excluded from the award of Enterprise Area status whilst neighbouring authorities have been included and are, therefore, more attractive destinations for inward investment.  The net effect of all the above is that the physical regeneration of Inverclyde is stalling and is increasingly reliant on the singular funding of the Local Authority.  If the area becomes less competitive in attracting new companies, unemployment will continue to increase in the area which is something none of us aspire to. I welcome your response and certainly the opportunity to sit down and discuss this situation further. Yours sincerely Stephen McCabe Leader of the Council

Port Glasgow Shared Campus Update...

I chaired a meeting of the Port Glasgow Shared Campus Working Group tonight in the Enterprise Centre.

Eddie Montgomery of the Council's School Estates Team gave an update on progress with the new shared campus. He advised the Group that the demolition works are complete, with groundworks, drainage, piling and formation of the new roundabout on Kilmacolm Road all at an advanced stage. The steelwork for the sports wing will start emerging from the ground very soon.

Members of the Group were pleased to hear that the contract is on schedule for completion in July 2013.

The Working Group were advised that agreement had been reached between the Head Teachers of the secondary schools on the wings of the main block that each would occupy. Port Glasgow High School will be located in the wing nearest Kilmacolm and St Stephen's High School in the other wing.

The Working Group also agreed to consult parent councils on a proposed name for the campus, which will also house the new Craigmarloch School. The name proposed is "Port Glasgow Community Campus" reflecting the fact that the campus will be a community resource for all of Port Glasgow.

The next meeting of the Working Group will take place on Monday 28 May.

Work is progressing well at the new 'Port Glasgow Community Campus'

The week ahead...

Monday
At work until 2.00 then down to Greenock for a meeting with the Inverclyde Tourist Group at 3.00 and the Chief Executive's appraisal interview at 4.30. I will be chairing a meeting of the Port Glasgow Shared Campus Working Group at 6.30.
Tuesday
Again at work until 2.00 and then down to Greenock for a meeting on the Gourock Town Centre development at 3.00. In the evening I hope to attend a meeting of Port Glasgow High School Parent Council.
Wednesday
At work until 11.00 before heading to Port Glasgow for the unveiling of the new 'Endeavour' sculpture at 11.30. I have another meeting at 3.00 on the Gourock Town Centre development, the Administration Group at 4.30 and the Labour Group at 5.30. In the evening I hope to attend the Inverclyde Tourist Group AGM.
Thursday
At work until 2.00 before returning to Kilmacolm to pick my kids up from school. I have a Labour Party meeting in the evening.
Friday
A full day at work.

Youth employment funding blow...

So it is official: the SNP Government does not believe that youth unemployment in Inverclyde is bad enough to justify a share of the £9m they are allocating to local authorities, despite the fact that we have a higher unemployment rate than 3 of the 6 Councils - including neighbouring SNP controlled Renfrewshire - who are being allocated funding.

Surprise, surprise the money has been given to 6 councils that the SNP are either trying to hold onto or take control of at May's council elections. Clearly the SNP have already written off their chances in Inverclyde.

Coming on top of savage cuts to Riverside Inverclyde funding; the fact that we were not even able to bid to become an enterprise area; and the pitiful number of posts we were given through the Community Jobs Fund, this is another hammer blow to Inverclyde from the SNP Government.

Fortunately for the young people of Inverclyde the current Administration recognises that we do have a major youth unemployment problem, which is why we allocated an additional £600,000 for a range of initiatives in our February budget. At the time the budget was set I had anticipated that we would also receive our fair share of the additional funding announced by the Scottish Government as part of their budget. To say I am disappointed is an understatement.

I will be writing in the strongest possible terms to the SNP Youth Employment Minister Angela Constance to protest about the fact that we have received none of this funding.

New Port Glasgow sculpture to be unveiled...

I am looking forward to the long-awaited unveiling of the new Port Glasgow town centre sculpture on Wednesday.

The new sculpture was commissioned by the Council and Riverside Inverclyde to make the entrance to the town centre more distinctive and welcoming. Having seen drawings of the chosen sculpture by Malcolm Robertson - Endeavour - I am sure that it will not disappoint.

The unveiling takes place on Wednesday 21 March at 11.30 a.m. at Fore Street, opposite the town's War Memorial. All are welcome.

Play time...

It is great to see youngsters enjoying the new play facilities at Kilmacolm's West Glen Park. 

 I also am pleased to report that the officer in charge of the Council’s play area investment programme has agreed to fund some improvements to the adjacent toddlers’ play area, including the provision of new safety fencing. 

Dylan McCabe (7) enjoying the new aerial slide

He has also agreed to investigate the flooding problem in the lower part of the park and seed or turf the area to improve its appearance.

Looking forward to welcoming the Olympic Torch to Inverclyde...

The London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay will visit Inverclyde on Friday 8 June on day 21 of the torch's 70 day journey around the UK.

I am delighted that Inverclyde - and specifically Kilmacolm and Port Glasgow - will be playing host to the torch. The Olympics will be a fantastic event for our country and it is great that we in Inverclyde can be a part of it.

The Council will be responsible for event planning around the Relay in Inverclyde and the Policy and Resources Committee will receive a report on the arrangements at our meeting on 27 March. We are being asked to approve a budget of £26,000 to pay for traffic management, flags and bunting, pedestrian barriers, public toilets, etc.

It is intended that local schools will hold events to mark the arrival of the Olympic torch and potentially sport's days could be planned around this.

It gives us something to look forward to.

Welcome for additional funding of £750,000 for Independent Living...

The Council's Policy & Resources Committee will consider a proposal from officers to establish an Independent Living Fund of £750,000 at its meeting on 27 March.

The new fund would be used to help social work clients of all age groups live independently in their own homes for longer than would otherwise be the case. Some of the funding will be used to pay for aids and adaptations to the homes of disabled people.

I very much welcome this proposal as the Labour-led Administration has been determined to ensure that our vulnerable citizens receive the highest standards of care and, where possible, are able to live independent and fulfilling lives.

We have given a high priority to providing aids and adaptations for disabled people since coming to power in May 2007 by allocating over £5.2m for this purpose. This additional £750,000 will make a real difference to many disabled people's lives.

Clarification sought from Minister on RI funding...

As Leader of the Council I have written again to the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment to seek clarification on the Government's funding commitment to our urban regeneration company Riverside Inverclyde.

Previously the Government indicated that it was only prepared to fund RI for a further two years, causing considerable uncertainty over the company's future. The current Council Administration is fully committed to honouring our 10 year, £24m funding pledge to RI and I had sought assurances from the Cabinet Secretary that the Government would honour its funding pledge. Unfortunately the Cabinet Secretary up till now has not made a similar commitment to the Council.

Recent discussions between officials however have suggested that the Government may be prepared to offer further funding to RI beyond its current two year commitment. I have therefore written to the Cabinet Secretary to seek clarification on this point.

Below is the text of my letter to Mr Neil:

"Dear Alex


I understand that you have offered to meet the Board of Riverside Inverclyde to outline the Scottish Government’s commitment to the regeneration of Inverclyde and the continuation of Riverside Inverclyde URC. I know that Bill Nicol, the CEO, has contacted David Cowan in your Regeneration Team to try and arrange an early date for a discussion.

Whilst I welcome the fact that you are happy to attend the Board meeting to discuss the Government’s continued commitment to the URC, as Leader of Inverclyde Council, a key funder of the Company, I would appreciate if you could give me some further detail on how the Government is going to financially support the URC moving forward. I believe that a two year funding settlement to cover core costs at a level of £2.5M and £1.5M has been made for the year 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 respectively.

The URC has also been asked to work closely with colleagues in the Government to prepare a four year Business Plan for the Government’s consideration. In order that stability and clarity can exist within the URC, and that I can update the Council, I would appreciate if you could confirm what that means in real financial terms.

I look forward to your reply and seeing you at the Riverside Inverclyde Board meeting.

Yours sincerely

Stephen McCabe
Leader of the Council"

Welcome support for Community Midwife Unit...

I was pleased today to receive a copy of a letter that the President of Greenock Chamber of Commerce, Elaine Stewart, has sent to the Chief Executive of the Health Board, Robert Calderwood, calling for the Board not to close the birthing facility at Inverclyde's Community Midwife Unit.

The Chamber's concerns very much echo those of the Council and the wider community. I hope that the Board and the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Nicola Sturgeon, will acknowledge those concerns and agree to enter into meaningful discussions about the future of the birthing facility.

The week ahead...

Monday
At work until 1.30 and then down to Greenock for a preparatory meeting for the Chief Executive's annual appraisal at 2.30 and the Policy & Resources Committee pre-agenda at 4.00. I have a surgery in Kilmacolm Community Centre at 6.00.
Tuesday
At work until 2.00 followed by my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive at 3.00 and a meeting of the Education & Lifelong Learning Committee at 4.00. I hope to attend a meeting of the Park Farm Tenants' and Residents' Association at 7.00.
Wednesday
 At work until 2.00 then down to Greenock for meetings of the Administration Group at 4.30 and Labour Group at 5.30.
Thursday
At work all day. I have an evening meeting with Kilmacolm Civic Trust.
Friday
At work all day with no evening commitments.

Is it that Ronnie Cowan?

Just wondering out loud if the Ronnie Cowan with a letter in today's Greenock Telegraph misrepresenting the Council's proposed parking strategy for Greenock Town Centre is the Ronnie Cowan who was in the same paper recently announcing the SNP's candidates for the Council elections on 3 May?

The week ahead...

Monday
At work until 2.00 before returning to Kilmacolm to pick my kids up from school. At 5.00 I am attending a meeting with consultants who are undertaking a feasibility study for a new community facility in the Woodhall estate in my ward. At 6.00 I am attending an event in Newark Primary School aimed at encouraging local residents to put their names forward to members of the Port Glasgow East Community Council.
Tuesday
At work until 2.00 then down to Greenock for a meeting of the Council's Safe, Sustainable Communities Committee. I have my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive at 5.00 and a meeting of St Stephen's High School Parent Council at 7.00.
Wednesday
At work until 1.00 and then I have a series of visits to Council projects. I will be attending meetings of the Administration Group at 4.30 and the Labour Group at 5.30.
Thursday
At work until 12.30 then down to Port Glasgow for a 'Port Glasgow in Bloom' presentation at Parklea Branching Out. I have a meeting with an officer at 2.30 followed by the Regeneration Committee at 3.00. After this I will be returning to work in Glasgow for a meeting at 6.30.
Friday
A full day at work.

Are you registered to vote?

If not, you won't be able to have your say at the next election on 3 May 2012.

For information about registration telephone 0141 842 5922.

The final date for registering to vote is Wednesday 18 April 2012.

Anyone registered who wishes to vote by post or proxy and has not already applied, can do so now.

Just phone 0141 842 5922.

Ed Miliband's speech to the Scottish Labour conference, Dundee...

Friends, it’s good to be back in Scotland, and let me pay tribute to our new leader, someone who has dedicated their whole adult life to working for Scotland’s people -  Johann Lamont.

Johann – I am proud to call you a colleague. Thank you for your leadership in these important days for Scotland.

Let me also pay tribute to our Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. She is tough, determined, and steadfast in her values: Margaret Curran.

I also want to praise someone who is a rising star in our party, our Deputy Leader: Anas Sarwar.

And let me also thank someone else for his service, Iain Gray. Your steady hand on the tiller during the leadership contest has allowed us to move forward together.

Let us also thank the excellent Scottish Labour staff we have at John Smith House and across Scotland. Thank you.

But let’s face facts: we lost very badly in the Scottish 2011, and the General Election in 2010. Why did we lose?

Too many people thought we were a party for somebody else, we wouldn’t stand up for them.

Above all, we didn’t have a sufficient vision for the future which answered the challenges they faced in their lives.

And so our challenge is to renew ourselves here in Scotland, as we have been doing in the UK since the 2010 General Election.

But we don’t have the luxury of simply looking inwards.  People need our voice, including in the May elections and today I want to show how we can beat a Tory-led government across the UK and the SNP government here in Scotland.

To do that, we must start by answering one call above all, building an economy which works for the working people of our country.

Wages not rising for the many, runaway rewards at the top, household bills causing monthly heartache, and a younger generation asking why its prospects are worse than their parents’.

My case to the people of the United Kingdom is that old-fashioned Tory politics cannot answer this call, and my case to the people of Scotland is that the SNP cannot either. The Tories because they are wedded to the old ways that got us into the banking crisis, the SNP, because while they award themselves the title of progressive beacon, it is neither what they are doing in practice in government nor what separatism would bring.

In the end, only a renewed Labour Party can do it.

A renewed Labour party that understands that we must deliver fairness in tough times, that we must make different choices. We must have different priorities in a fiscally responsible way, and the most urgent task is employment.

Conference, we know nothing strains a family like a mother or father out of work - nothing scars a community like a generation of young people with no hope. Nothing holds back a country like the wasted talent of hundreds of thousands of Scots who don’t lack the ability to work, but just the chance.

Unemployment rose faster in Scotland than in England over the last year. On the most recent figures, one out of every three jobs lost across the whole of the UK was in Scotland. One in five young people are out of work in Scotland. Last time I was in Scotland, a few weeks ago, I went to the Co op distribution plant in Newhouse.

One of the people who works there told me that he had always told his children that if they worked hard in school they would get a good job, but now that they’re out of school and there are so few jobs, he honestly doesn’t know what to tell them.

With 13,000 young people out of work for more than six months, how many parents around this country must feel the same way.

It is the price of Tory economic failure. It is the price of an approach to the deficit that goes too far and too fast, but it is also the failure of an SNP government too.

Alex Salmond came to England to brag about how he would turn Scotland into a progressive beacon. There’s just one problem. He forgot about what he is doing in Scotland.

When George Osborne handed him the plans to make cuts to job-creating public investment of 11%, he didn’t just make those cuts, he almost doubled them.

Thousands of jobs building roads, bridges, and infrastructure ripped out of the economy, not just by the Tories in Westminster, but by the SNP in Holyrood.

He forgot about the people of Scotland when he cut the budget of colleges by a fifth, harming the training chances for young people.

Whatever the failings of the Tory government, he should be using the powers he does have to make a difference to young people, like the Labour government in Wales.

You can’t be a progressive beacon if you stand by as youth unemployment rises.

Scotland needs a Labour government that would stand up for jobs in this country. We would tax the bankers’ bonuses. We would spend the money on 100,000 jobs for young people.

That’s the difference with Labour. Unlike the SNP, we would never stand by and leave young people out of work. We would get Scotland working again.

Conference, it’s true on youth unemployment, and it’s true on every part of building an economy that works for working people. The challenge is so fundamental, you can only do it with an overriding, single-minded determination to make it happen. That’s the difference between us and the SNP.

Johann and I came into politics to make Britain fairer. Alex Salmond came into politics to change Britain’s borders.

It’s not by chance that that the SNP have failed the young people of Scotland - it’s their choice to make separatism the priority.

But to create an economy that works for working people, it’s not just about jobs, it’s about creating good jobs. Let’s face it: we know too many of the jobs in our country are low wage and low skill.

A year or so ago, I was at the Govan shipyard, I met some apprentices doing four year apprenticeships. What sticks in my mind is the enthusiasm they expressed for the opportunity they had been given, and their sense that they were lucky ones—most of their mates were out of work or doing low wage jobs.

We must celebrate, nurture, and support successful companies that train their workforce. That’s why I say that one of the first acts of the next Labour government will be to say that if companies want major government contracts, they must offer apprenticeships for the next generation.

And we have to reform the way our banks work as well.

When I was in Glasgow last month, I spoke to a man who ran a small wind turbine company. He said he wanted to expand, take on more employees and create more jobs, but his bank had turned him down for a loan.

You know the Tories said it was anti-business when I spoke out about massive bonuses, but one of the reasons I did is that they’re not meeting their targets on small business lending.

That’s not anti-business, it’s pro-business.

I want banks which help to create more successful entrepreneurs, more profit-making businesses, and more good jobs. I want to reform the way our banks work so that instead of industry serving finance, finance serves industry.

That’s why we must plan for a British Investment Bank to properly serve small business in this country. That’s not anti-business, it’s pro-business.

And we are determined to encourage long-term investment. That’s why we are looking at the rules on takeovers so that people invest in a firm to build it up, not to strip its assets.

That’s not anti-business, it’s pro-business.

What does the SNP offer? Ask the employees of the Dalzell steelworks, who should be hard at work right now on the steel for the New Forth Road Bridge, only 38 miles down the road from where it’s being built. A contract from the Scottish Government which went instead to China.

At a time when we need to do everything we can to encourage businesses to grow, Alex Salmond’s government doesn’t have an industrial policy to speak of. That’s because they don’t have a single-minded focus on how to create an economy that works for working people, they’re too busy trying to change our borders.

So an economy that works for working people must see fair rewards, and not just for the few.  Even before the crisis, growth was not translating into higher wages for the squeezed middle.

On current forecasts, the average worker will be earning the same in three years’ time as they were ten years ago. That in itself should shock us: no change in wages for more than a decade. And this Tory-led government is making it worse.

Higher VAT. Cuts to tax credits. The freezing of child benefit.

From this April, a family with children will lose £580 a year.

What’s my priority? To relieve that burden on middle and low-income families.

What’s the SNP’s priority? What is the tax cut they want to make? Not lower VAT to help put money in the pockets of families, not higher tax credits to help those at work, not higher child benefit to help families with children, nothing to relieve that burden.What do they propose?

A 12 percent corporation tax.

Not a targeted tax cut for small businesses as we are recommending as part of our five point plan, but a tax cut whose most significant benefit will go to the banking industry.

And with separatism, that would lead to a race to the bottom between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

At the same time the SNP are saying Scotland can be a progressive beacon offering Scandinavian levels of investment. But you can’t have Scandinavian public services on Irish rates of corporation tax. It’s not progressive and it’s not credible.

And we know costs are rising.

The weekly shop costs more. It costs a lot more to keep the house warm. It costs more to take the train. And we have a Conservative-led government standing by, not standing up to those vested interests.

They promised that rail fares would only go up by 1% above inflation. But they allowed a loophole in the law. A cross country ticket from Birmingham to Edinburgh has gone up more than 8% this year alone.

On train fares - it’s not good enough just to let prices go up and up. I say the next Labour government would close that loophole and provide a proper cap on rail fares. That’s what I mean by an economy that works for working people.

On energy prices - Energy prices will rise over time as we tackle climate change, and we do need more private investment in energy, but that makes it all the more important that the most vulnerable get the best deal.

It’s not good enough to say to the most vulnerable shop around, go online. The 350,000 over 75s in Scotland should all get the cheapest tariff.

We would make sure the energy companies gave them the cheapest tariff - by law.

Just as in the first half of the twentieth century, government used its power on behalf of working people for basic rights to conditions, hours and safety, so in the twenty-first century, government must use its power on behalf of citizens to protect their basic rights too.

And is that what the SNP offers? Not a bit of it.

On the vested interests at the top of our economy, the SNP say business as usual. Even as the company put up fares, the  SNP government waved through an extension of their franchise for ScotRail. That’s not being a progressive beacon, that’s letting down the working people of Scotland.

They oppose bus regulation which would make them work for working people. And who else does? Brian Souter and the Tories.

That’s not being a progressive beacon, that’s letting down the working people of Scotland.

And the biggest vested interest of all?

Rupert Murdoch.

This week’s revelations represent a new low - corporate corruption on an unprecedented scale. For all those, like me, who believe in a free press, the revelations have done profound damage to the reputation of British journalism.

And what was Alex Salmond doing? Was he making a speech calling for change? Was he saying that News International needed to clean up its act? Was he supporting the Leveson inquiry? No.

He said nothing about these issues.

He was too busy cultivating his relationship with Rupert Murdoch. His Twitter friend,

his follow Friday, his Sun on Sunday: Rupert Murdoch.

If you want to make Scotland a progressive beacon, if you want to be a progressive beacon you have to speak truth to power.

And Alex Salmond: You have comprehensively failed that test.

So on jobs, on creating a new economy, on living standards, on tax, on vested interests, the SNP are not the progressive voice, and their commitment to separatism means they cannot be a progressive force.

What can they offer the man worried about his kids finding a job?

What can they offer the man who wanted a loan for his wind turbine company?

What can they offer the millions more around the country worried about how much it costs to keep warm in winter or take the train?

To every problem, the Nationalists’ answer is the same.

Separation. Division. Isolation

Throwing up a new border across the A1 and the M74 isn’t going to help them. New passports to travel from Scotland to the rest of the United Kingdom aren’t going to help them. New taxes to fund new embassies aren’t going to help them.

But throwing up new borders won’t build an economy that works for working people, we have to do it together.  The banks on your high street are the same as the banks on my high street. If we are going to reform them, we can only do it with stronger rules together, not weaker rules apart.

If we are going to create a fairer tax system, we must avoid the race to the bottom on tax rates that separation would import.

And if we believe in the idea of Scotland as a progressive beacon, why would we turn our back on the redistributive union - the United Kingdom?

I believe, and I believe that people across the United Kingdom believe, that we owe obligations to each other, that the successful Scottish entrepreneur owes obligations to the child born into poverty in London, and the pensioner in Wales.

Right now, every nation of the UK, every child in poverty, every young person out of work,

every small business struggling, needs solidarity not isolation.

And the only argument Alex Salmond has left is to tell you that Scotland is left-wing and England is right-wing.

That Scotland is the land of Keir Hardie, and England is the land of Margaret Thatcher. I believe that the concern to build an economy that works not just for the few at the top but for working people is shared all across the United Kingdom.

The parent in Nottingham is as worried about their kids getting a job just as the worried parent I met in Newhouse. The small business in Southampton is as worried about getting a loan as those in Stirling. There are pensioners in Dudley who want the government to stand up to the energy companies just as much as pensioners here in Dundee.

The way to beat the Tory-led government and the SNP government is not different, it’s the same: to show how our values can make our country work for the working people of Britain.

Friends, let me tell you something:

I was brought up by parents who came to this country and saw a new world built after 1945. Parents who saw the power of politics to build houses for everyone, a health service which served everyone equally, to maintain full employment. Politics ran through their lives. And they taught me never just to be angry about injustice, but to do something about it.

Sometimes you have to dream bold dreams to change the way our country works. Alex Salmond’s version of boldness is to split up the United Kingdom. We must respond with a different type of boldness:

To reform an economy which works for the few into an economy which works for all the working people.

To transform our country so we don’t betray the promise of Britain but fulfil it.

And to change people’s lives so that the next generation feels they have hope for a better future.

A society which fulfils the promise of Britain.

Built on my values. Your values. Labour’s values. Scotland’s values. Equality. Justice. Responsibility and community.

Those are the values which brought me into politics. Those are the values which bought us here today.  Those are the values which will rebuild Scottish Those are the values which brought me into politics. Those are the values which bought us here today.  Those are the values which will rebuild Scottish Labour. Those are the values which will win back trust across the United Kingdom, across Scotland and will win the next general election. Those are the values which will transform this country.