David Maddox: In Constance sorrow (2)

There is a debate going on this morning in Holyrood which may well go under the radar in terms of media coverage.

Labour have put down a motion raising concerns about a report which suggested that disabled people should be excluded from having free bus passes.

What is interesting about this is that the Labour motion in the name of their transport spokesman, the recently rehabilitated Charlie Gordon, is word for word the same as a written one put down by Livingston SNP MSP Angela Constance (top left).

The mystery here is why after putting down a written motion which was then signed by several of her colleagues and members of other parties Ms Constance then decided to withdraw it.

She is deputy convener of the parliamentary group and thee is a suggestion that she was heavily leaned on by the party whips because the motion essentially undermined future SNP spending policy, probably because the Scottish Government doies not have enough money for it.

An example of the SNP's famous central control over its MSPs who have yet to show any sign of rebellion.

If this is true then there is a slight irony in the sense that the leaning would almost certainly have been administered by the chief whip Brian Adam (pictured right).

This no nonsense MSP just recently put out a press release apparently criticising his finance secretary John Swinney for his decisions on council funding which has left Mr Adam's city of Aberdeen a little short of cash. To be fair, from my days as an Aberdeen reporter I know that Mr Adam is first and foremost a determined constituency MSP.

Whatever the inside machinations of the SNP Holyrood group, it will be interesting if Ms Constance offers an explanation for suddenly pulling a motion which commanded wide support.

Here's the original motion:

(1) S3M-04717 Angela Constance (Livingston) (Scottish National Party): Concessionary Travel— That the Parliament welcomes the recommendation of the Review of the Scotland Wide Free Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People to include seriously injured armed forces veterans to the scheme but notes with disappointment and concern the review’s recommendation to disenfranchise disabled people who receive the lower rate of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from the scheme; further notes that the review paints a worst-case scenario of the costs of including disabled people who receive the lower rate of DLA and that these costs are open to scrutiny and debate and that the review also played down the positive social impact that the scheme has on people’s lives; acknowledges that denying disabled people on the lower rate of DLA access to the scheme will damage the main aims and ethos of the scheme, namely to allow disabled people improved access to services, facilities and social networks by free scheduled bus services and so promote social inclusion and improve health by promoting a more active lifestyle for disabled people; notes that previous local schemes operated in West Lothian and Strathclyde provided people on the lower rate of DLA access to concessionary travel schemes and that they supported the national scheme mirroring their eligibility criteria instead of the stringent criteria that is now adopted; welcomes disability organisations Leonard Cheshire Disability, Learning Disability Alliance Scotland (LDAS), Inclusion Scotland and many more in challenging the review’s negative recommendation, and considers that disabled people’s views, that the national concessionary travel scheme should include people who receive the lower rate of DLA instead of backing the unfair recommendation on eligibility from the review, should be listened to.
Supported by: Robin Harper (Green), Dr Bill Wilson (SNP), Stuart McMillan (SNP), Bill Kidd (SNP), Anne McLaughlin (SNP), Gil Paterson (SNP), Christina McKelvie (SNP), Elaine Smith (Labour), Charlie Gordon (Labour), Aileen Campbell (SNP)
Lodged on Friday, August 21, 2009; Withdrawn as of Friday, August 21, 2009

David Maddox: Lubrication and fetishes make the Holyrood world go round

It must be something about the Nationalists, because two MSP motions of late have added a little colour to the humdrum of Holyrood debate. Livingston MSP Angela Constance has declared an interest in lubricants, while her West of Scotland colleague Bill Wilson wants an end to fetishism.

But before the "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" stuff goes further these motions are on the economy rather than any (ahem!) outside interests

Ms Constance's motion is actually congratulating a firm in her constituency called Specialist Lubricants which has carried out some pioneering work and developed eco-friendly packaging. It has just won a massive contract with Tetra Pak, so has not only helped to save the environment but made loads of money in the process, which goes to prove that capitalism and environmentalism are not mutually exclusive.

Mr Wilson meanwhile has latched on to an academic paper by economics professors Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, which calls for an end to GDP fetishism. It believes that measuring economic success through gross domestic product alone ignores work/ life balance and happiness.

This could be dismissed as leftwing nonsense, but, interestingly, this approach has been accepted by the right of centre French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

It should be said though that Green MSP Patrick Harvie was there first and made a call for a national "happiness indicator" when he became his party's co-convener (joint leader in normal parlance).

Anyway here are the motions for your perusal:

Angela Constance (Livingston) (SNP): Congratulations to Livingston Firm Specialists Lubricants S3M-04825: That the Parliament commends Livingston-based Specialist Lubricants for its pioneering eco-friendly packaging solution that has led to a multi-million pound contract with the global packaging firm Tetra Pak; acknowledges the importance of its development of a more environmentally friendly solution to the traditional soap and water based lubricants systems; pays tribute to the pioneering development work that has resulted in a product that has been proven to save millions of gallons of water each year in bottling facilities worldwide, and wishes the company and its workforce well in future developments and expansion of its customer base as a result of this contract with Tetra Pak.

*S3M-4867 Bill Wilson: Ending the GDP Fetish: That the Parliament welcomes the recent report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, contributed to by economics professors Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, which calls for an end to "GDP fetishism"; believes that an economic approach focused on ever-increasing GDP to the detriment of other factors is unsustainable and has been disastrous for the wellbeing of individuals and the environment; agrees with the report that a new indicator of progress is needed, one that considers issues such as environmental protection and work/life balance as well as economic output, to rate a country’s ability to maintain the sustainable happiness of its inhabitants; notes that, were such methodology to be used, and, as a result, GDP took into account outcomes and not just financial inputs, the United States of America’s apparently large economic lead over France in terms of its GDP would be greatly reduced due to France’s high-quality health service, welfare system and long holidays, all of which contribute to the wellbeing of its inhabitants; commends French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his response to the report, not least his statement that "the [present economic] crisis doesn’t only make us free to imagine other models, another future, another world. It obliges us to do so", and his instruction to France’s national statistics body, Insee, to update its methods in accordance with the report’s recommendations, and calls on the Scottish and UK Governments urgently to follow his lead and to encourage other countries to do so.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (14) - In Constance sorrow

It has been noted that the noble one - Lord George Foulkes, MSP to the Lothians, Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery - has been taking a lot of interest in Livingston of late.

This seems to be a slight change of focus for his lordship who has spent the last two years concentrating on being a roving MSP for Edinburgh in his list role.

But with the threat of 500 jobs going at Bausch and Lomb, which an adviser to the First Minister behind the dastardly deed and a former SNP spin doctor doing the public relations for it, George has got on his charger and rode in to fight for the workers.

Others have seen another motive. And today I gather the noble one was accused point blank of preparing to run against SNP Livingston MSP Angela Constance (pictured top left) in 2011.

He, of course, denies this and insists he will be retiring to his red leather armchair in the House of Lords after 2011. But think on this, he also denied that he would be an MSP in 2007 prior to the selection of candidates for the election and lo and behold he is here.