The week ahead...

Monday
In the morning I am attending a Labour local government leaders' meeting in Glasgow. In the afternoon I will be at special meetings of the Community Health & Care Partnership Sub-Committee and the Heath & Social Care Committee to discuss the governance arrangements for the proposed new health and social care joint board, which will replace the former. In the evening I will be attending a joint meeting of Port Glasgow West and Port Glasgow East Community Councils. Previously I called for one community council in Port Glasgow and hopefully these joint meetings are an indication that community councillors may be coming round to this way of thinking.
Tuesday
In the afternoon I am attending a Holocaust commemoration event, which is being held in Notre Dame High School. In the evening I have a surgery in Kilmacolm Community Centre followed by a meeting of Kilmacolm Community Council.
Wednesday
In the afternoon I have my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive followed by a meeting of the Labour Group.
Thursday
In late afternoon I will be attending a special meeting of the Council where one of the items will be the funding request from Greenock Arts Guild for the Beacon Arts Centre.
Friday
I am attending the COSLA Leaders' Meeting in Edinburgh.

Today's column in the Greenock Telegraph...

As readers will know, the Council has been undertaking the most wide-ranging public budget consultation that we have ever conducted. The consultation is now closed and the feedback we receive from the community will inform the difficult decisions that elected members will ultimately have to make.

In parallel a cross-party members’ budget working group has been going through the savings proposals from officers in great detail. We have met on four occasions so far to scrutinise and challenge these proposals. Our most recent meeting lasted nearly five hours, which gives an indication of how seriously we take our responsibilities to the local community.

I have been a Councillor now for a combined total of 19 years and been through many challenging budget processes. This one is certainly the most difficult I have faced to date.

The decisions that I and my Labour colleagues make will be informed by our election manifesto and by our socialist values and principles. As the great Welsh Socialist Aneurin Bevan said: “The language of priorities is the religion of socialism”.

It is relatively easy being a politician in times of plenty. It is in times of austerity that you really need to remember why you are involved in politics and - for me - why I am Labour politician.

I have been lobbied by a number of people, including local members of the Scottish Socialist Party, calling for ‘a no cuts budget’. Others have proposed that education should be excluded from any savings.

There is a legitimate argument that we should postpone some of the most difficult cuts by using reserves and sums we have set aside for other purposes to protect jobs and services for the another couple of years and that is something elected members are actively considering.

The down side is that this would reduce general economic activity and the number of private sector jobs the Council’s investment programme supports.

The difficulty with ring-fencing education is that any cuts would then fall disproportionately on other services, and in particular social work services for the most vulnerable people in our community.

A ‘no cuts budget’ could only be a short-term approach. The outlook for future years is no less bleak unless there is a willingness on the part of both the UK and Scottish Governments and taxpayers to fund the current level of local services. The outcome of May’s UK General Election will give some indication as to whether they are or not.

I did not come into local politics to cut jobs and services. My aim was to improve services and make Inverclyde a better place to live for my family and other people’s families.

If we are to face years of reduced funding, Inverclyde Council, in my opinion, is simply not sustainable in its current form. We will either have to share services with neighbouring councils and other public agencies on a significant scale or actively seek a voluntary merger with one or more Councils.

Protecting the vital services that my constituents rely on is more important than keeping a separate council in Inverclyde. Death by a thousand cuts is not a strategy that appeals to me.

The week ahead...

Monday
In the evening I am hoping to attend a meeting of St Francis' Primary School Parent Council.
Tuesday 
In the morning I am in Glasgow for a meeting of the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Cabinet before heading to Greenock for a serious of meetings: Policy & Resources Committee pre-agenda; a briefing on new governance arrangements for health and social care; and the Education & Communities Committee. In the evening I have a meeting of River Clyde Homes' Board.
Wednesday
The afternoon will be taken up with a meeting of the Council's members' budget working group. I then have a meeting of the Labour Group.
Thursday
In the afternoon I have three meetings: a briefing on the Beacon Arts Centre; the Council's Strategic Leadership Forum; and my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive. In the evening I have a meeting of Slaemuir Tenants' and Residents' Association.
Friday
In the morning I am meeting with Council trade unions to hear their representations on some of the proposed budget savings put forward by management. In the evening I will be attending the local Labour Party's Burns' Supper.

The week ahead...

Monday
No Council commitments at this time.
Tuesday
In the evening I have a surgery in St Francis' Primary School followed by a meeting of Kilmacolm Primary School Parent Partnership.
Wednesday
In the morning I have my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive and in late afternoon the weekly meeting of the Labour Group.
Thursday
In the afternoon I have a meeting of the Environment & Regeneration Committee and in the evening I will be attending a meeting of Slaemuir Tenants' and Residents' Association.
Friday
No Council commitments at this time.

My column in today's Greenock Telegraph...

2014 is a year I will never forget. On a personal level it was arguably the most difficult year of my life to date, not least because of the death of my Mother.

Politically it was without doubt the most difficult year of my life. Being at the front and centre of the local No campaign, I had never before experienced such hostility and anger towards me and my Party.

2015 promises to be no less challenging for Scottish Labour. With the SNP looking to re-run the independence referendum during May’s UK General Election, we face a tough battle to hold onto our Westminster seats here and across Scotland.

It will also be a challenging year for the Council as we address the tough decisions required to balance the books in the years ahead due to anticipated funding cuts and the ongoing Council Tax freeze.

The Council will still spend over £200m a year on services however and along with our partners in the public, third and private sectors we will be able to make significant investments in improving our community infrastructure.

2015 will see the completion of the refurbishments and extensions of Ardgowan and St John’s Primary Schools. Work will start on the refurbishment of Kilmacolm Primary School and a new school for St Patrick’s in Greenock. There will be improvements carried out in some of our pre-five centres to support increased provision for 2-3 years olds and a number of our primary schools will get new games areas.

Community facilities will be improved with work starting on new centres for Inverkip and Broomhill in Greenock; the opening of new I Youth Zones in Gourock and Port Glasgow; Ravenscraig Sports Centre being re-modelled to provide a new click and climb facility; and the completion of the new Gibshill community centre. Several new play parks will open in the year as will the new skate park in Battery Park.

The Council will continue to invest major sums in upgrading our roads network and a range of flood alleviation projects will be undertaken to tackle some of the area’s worst flooding hotspots.

2015 will see the start and completion of new social housing developments by local housing providers, including at Woodhall and Lower Mary Street in Port Glasgow. I also hope to see positive progress on our strategy to demolish the poor quality housing in the Clune Park area.

The Council’s regeneration agency Riverside Inverclyde is progressing major projects. A new business centre will open in Port Glasgow town centre and the second phase of the Kelburn Business Park will be completed, significantly improving what the area has to offer in terms of modern industrial and commercial space. Work will start on the final phase of the refurbishment of Greenock’s historic Custom House and the Gourock pier head redevelopment project is scheduled for completion by October 2015.

The private sector is playing its part in the area’s regeneration. The new ‘Tail of the Bank’ restaurant will open at the Greenock harbours in the spring and work will start on the new Clydebuilt retail park at Port Glasgow. When completed, this development will add significantly to the retail offer available in Inverclyde.

As you can see, despite the continuing economic and political uncertainty facing the country, 2015 should be another year of progress for Inverclyde.

I wish you all a Happy New Year.

My letter in today's Greenock Telegraph...

Our MP elect Christopher McEleny certainly doesn’t lack confidence. In advance of even being selected by his party he is already thinking about how he will spend his two public salaries (Telegraph, 17 December).

His decision to donate his £18,000 Councillor’s salary to local charities is a generous gesture although I would be even more impressed – as I’m sure would his allies in the Inverclyde SSP - if he agreed to donate his £64,000 MP’s salary.

I do find it strange however that Mr McEleny is considering holding two public offices for up to two years by continuing as a Councillor beyond May 2015. Surely the SNP have nothing to fear or lose by having a by-election?

In fact they would have much to gain by giving one of their many new female members in Gourock the opportunity to serve on the Council. Given his party leader’s commitment to 50:50 representation for males and females, surely Mr McEleny wouldn’t want to stand in their way?

He could cite the precedent that when Iain McKenzie was elected as an MP in June 2011 he continued as a Councillor until May 2012. The circumstances then were entirely different as if Labour had lost the by-election we could have lost control of the Council.

What we found when Iain was carrying out a dual mandate was that it placed an additional  workload on other Labour Councillors to cover meetings for him. Iain also had to seek permission to be absent from Parliament from party whips to attend crucial meetings of the Council.

If Mr McEleny was to continue as a Councillor while undertaking the duties of an MP this would add to the burden already being borne by his SNP colleagues and other Councillors resulting from the absence of another SNP member due to ill-health, a situation that has been ongoing for a number of years now.

Of course Mr McEleny will not face this moral dilemma if he is not selected as his party’s candidate or in the highly unlikely event that he is not elected as our MP.

The week ahead...

Back to work after the festive break but with a relatively free week:

Monday
No Council commitments at this time but I will be doing some preparatory work for meetings later in the week.
Tuesday
As Monday.
Wednesday
The morning will be taken up with the latest meeting of the Council's cross-party members' budget working group. In the afternoon I have my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive and Labour Group. In the evening I hope to attend a meeting of Newark Primary School Parents' Council.
Thursday
In the afternoon I have a meeting of the Inverclyde Community Health and Care Partnership Sub-Committee. In the evening I will be debating with Inverclyde SSP on local radio about the financial challenges facing the Council.
Friday
Another day free of Council commitments at this time.
Saturday
I will be attending meetings of the Scottish Labour Party's Executive Committee and Policy Forum in Glasgow.