The Wrong Choices

Without doubt the biggest talking point in politics in recent days has been the UK Government’s budget and the fallout that has accompanied it. In the run up to it, the Scottish Government made clear that we believed the priority should be on encouraging economic growth through capital investment. We illustrated how quickly work could begin by providing details of shovel ready projects totalling £300 million that could have boosted the Scottish economy immediately if funding was provided.

In the event, this was completely ignored by the UK Government who instead embarked upon a set of priorities that are completely incomprehensible in these difficult times. The latest figures show how much weaker economic recovery has been here compared to the USA and that is almost entirely down to the UK Government’s decision not follow America’s example and stimulate economic growth through investment.

It would be wrong to say there were absolutely no positives from the budget. Since the Chancellor’s enormously damaging £2 billion tax raid on the North Sea industry, the SNP has been at the forefront of calls for guaranteeing tax relief on decommissioning and creating a greater incentive for oil field exploration through broadening the field allowance for such projects. We have also consistently called for tax relief for the video games sector which is increasingly important to the Scottish economy but was at risk of relocating to other countries with more favourable tax systems. Enhanced capital allowances for the enterprise zones that we have established in Dundee, Irvine and Nigg are also positive.

But those positive measures are completely overshadowed by the enormous damage that other parts of the budget will do. The reduction in the top rate of income tax from 50% to 45% will hand a substantial tax cut to 15,000 of the most well off people in the Scotland while 330,000 pensioners in Scotland will now see their taxes rise in real terms to pay for it. That is not fair by any measure of the word and will rightly cause real outrage to communities up and down the country.

As if that wasn’t enough, the UK Government is also pressing ahead with plans to further hike fuel duties by 3p later this year. Prices at the pump are already eye-wateringly high as people in Banffshire & Buchan Coast know only too well. To put up the price again at a time when household budgets are stretched to the limit simply demonstrates how out of touch the UK Government is with life in this part of Scotland.

For people in areas like Banffshire & Buchan Coast, a car is quite simply a necessity rather than a lifestyle choice. People in rural areas do not have the choice to use their car less, so price hikes at the pump hand higher bills to households that they have no way of avoiding. On top of that, higher fuel prices also affect the cost of everything we buy as businesses have no choice but to pass on the increased haulage costs they face to consumers.

Taken together, the Institute of Fiscal Studies estimates that the measures in the budget will cost an average household £790 a year. This budget was quite simply not a budget for Scotland and demonstrated, if any more proof was needed, how little Scotland features in the thoughts of the UK Government. These kinds of decisions that have such a dramatic effect on our day to day lives should be made in Scotland and show just why Scotland needs the normal powers of an independent country.

A Critical Year

One year ago when I was given the opportunity to write an article for the Fishing Review, I wrote about the frustration that I, and a huge part of the fishing industry, held about the behaviour of Iceland and the Faroe Islands in relation to Mackerel quotas. Both countries have been unilaterally giving themselves massive quota hikes since 2008 and with the latest attempts to negotiate an agreement having ended without movement, this dangerous approach will continue in 2012.

The fact that a full twelve months have passed and we are now facing a third consecutive year without an agreement in place is extremely disappointing to say the least. The scale of the quota hikes can be seen from the fact that the Faroes don’t even have the capacity to catch all the Mackerel they have awarded themselves and are instead inviting foreign vessels into their waters to catch the stock on their behalf.

This is selfish short-termism at its worst and is a fast-track to Mackerel stocks, which was Scotland’s most valuable fishing stock in 2010, falling below safe limits thanks to overfishing. The EU needs to fast-track its plans for sanctions and ensure that a tough stand is taken before the damage that is being done becomes irreparable.

One area where the fishing industry could have benefited from the EU taking less speed was with the nonsensical proposals late last year that would have seen days at sea reduced across the industry while several fishing quotas were rising. Thankfully this threat was seen off and those vessels that are subject to the annual days at sea reduction as part of the Cod Recovery Plan will be able to see them reinstated through adopting Cod avoidance measures after the Commission accepted Scotland’s interpretation of the rules.

The annual negotiations eventually saw quotas for several key fish stocks rise, but once again the key lesson that can be drawn from the fraught negotiations over the failed and discredited CFP is that the reforms this year cannot come soon enough. We urgently need to replace the CFP with a system of regional management that sees those with the greatest knowledge and stake in the success of the fishing industry given responsibility for managing it.

Some good news for the year ahead though was the Scottish Government’s announcement that Fraserburgh Harbour is to receive £7.5 million to deepen part of the harbour, improving access, and to upgrade facilities at the site. Work is expected to start in the near future and these improvements will represent a real boost for the town and the fishing industry in the area.

Despite the many trials that it has faced over the years and continues to have ahead of it, the fishing industry is integral to the fabric of Banffshire & Buchan Coast. The Scottish Government is firmly committed to supporting our fishing industry and allocating funding such as this to critical projects such as the improvements to Fraserburgh Harbour demonstrates that clearly.