CHANCELLOR SHOULD TAKE OWN ADVICE ON CUTS

SPENDING CUTS RISK CHOKING OFF RECOVERY

SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP has called on the Chancellor to act on his own advice after Alistair Darling, delivering the Callaghan lecture in Cardiff today, warned cutting public spending now would risk "choking off" the recovery and prolonging the downturn.

Mr Hosie pointed out that Scotland faces a real terms cut to its Budget of £500m from 20010/11 as a result of Labour cuts.

Mr Hosie said:

“Alistair Darling needs to put his money where his mouth is and rule out Labour’s planned spending cuts to Scotland ’s budget. The Chancellor is absolutely right that cutting frontline spending now risks choking off recovery and prolonging the downturn – and he needs to act on his own advice.

“Now that Alistair Darling has admitted that cutting public spending before the recession has ended is the wrong thing to do, he must acknowledge the reality of his party’s damaging cuts agenda.

“Labour are planning to raid Scotland ’s health, education and housing budgets by forcing the first real terms cut in Scotland ’s public expenditure since the Tories in the 1990s.

“In contrast, the Scottish Government is focussed on investing in recovery from recession - today launching a skills support package to provide real financial support to businesses and individuals through the recession.

“Alistair Darling’s double standards show exactly why Scotland needs to be responsible for all of our own resources, with an independent Scottish Parliament controlling all revenue and spending in Scotland .”

From rationing to recession – Citizens Advice Bureaux turn 70

Debt and benefits enquiries soar as recession takes hold – new figures out today

As the Citizens Advice Bureau service turns 70 today (Friday 4 September) record numbers of people are turning to the charity for help with recession-linked problems of job loss and debt.

New figures show Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales dealing with 9,300 new debt problems and 8,000 new benefit problems every working day.

Debt problems shot up 27% and enquiries about welfare benefits leapt by 22% in the three months to the end of June 2009 compared with the same period last year. At 1,671,183 the total problem count for the three months April – June 2009 was up by 17% on the same period last year.

Enquiries about job seekers allowance doubled (up 99%) and redundancy-related problems went up by three-quarters (74%), while problems with mortgage arrears were up 44% and fuel debts up 53% compared with the same period last year.

These figures* come out as the charity celebrates turning 70, and its archives chart how much people’s problems have changed over the decades**:

• Wartime austerity and enemy action saw bureaux helping people trace missing relatives, helping them get back on their feet after being bombed out of their homes and losing everything, arranging evacuation for mothers and children, and sorting out problems with rationing.

• By the 1960s, a social revolution was taking place and new-found affluence began to replace austerity for many. But the consumer boom brought new problems as people realised they could 'buy now, pay later', and housing problems and divorce dominated CAB caseloads.

• As a new millennium dawned bureaux were still helping people cope with the fallout from two recessions, mass unemployment, a repossessions crisis and unprecedented access to easy credit. Debt and benefits became the biggest issues brought to bureaux by far.
  

Now tackling around six million problems of all kinds every year, the volunteer-based charity involving 27,000 people has been used by almost half the population at some time in their lives.

Citizens Advice Chief Executive David Harker said:

“From rationing to recession, the CAB has been there for people in times of crisis throughout all the past 70 years. Dipping into the decades of our history shows that some of the problems people have may have changed but the need for our service certainly has not.

“As we celebrate our 70th birthday our new figures show that what started out as an emergency service in wartime is now needed more than ever as the recession continues to take its toll on people’s lives.”

To mark the charity’s milestone anniversary and raise funds for local Citizens Advice Bureaux,115 Citizens Advice service volunteers and staff aged 19 to 72 will be taking part today (Friday 4 September) in two sponsored skydives with the famous Red Devils parachute team, in Nottingham and Salisbury.

Lord Hunt Of Kings Heath: “To beat the recession and beat climate change we need the pragmatic ‘Can Do’ spirit of West Midlands’ business.”

Speaking to the West Midlands Business Council today, Energy and Climate Change Minister, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath expressed his admiration for the positive way West Midlands’ business had faced the challenges of the recession. He pledged that the Government would continue to do everything it could to insure a reliable, cost effective energy supply for business:

“We recognise the importance of secure, reliable and affordable energy supplies for business, particularly in these tough economic times. The recent fall in energy prices is good news for business and we are looking at making sure that businesses, large and small can feel the benefits of that and get secure energy contracts in place for the future.”

He also talked about the opportunities the growing low carbon sector is already providing in the West Midlands:

“The West Midlands is already taking on the challenge of climate change. It’s low carbon sector accounts for some £8.4 billion of the region’s economy, comprising 4,179 companies with around 74,000 employees. Despite the economic downturn the sector is expected to grow by around 4% in the next year and employment in green industries by up to 45% to 2015.”

“The UK’s Low Carbon Transition Plan puts in place a roadmap to build on this strong foundation to put us in a prime position to take advantage of these opportunities. I have no doubt that the West Midlands, as a hub for Advanced Green Manufacture, innovation and transport, will play a key role.”

Government is letting down graduates - Webb

Ministers must offer personalised support far earlier to make sure young people’s career prospects aren’t set back," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.

Commenting on figures released today [Thursday 3 September] from the Higher Education Statistics Agency which reveal that almost a quarter of graduates were not in full-time work three and a half years after leaving university, Steve Webb said:

“These figures show that graduates were finding things very tough even before the recession hit.

“Having forked out for at least three years to get a degree, many graduates are finding immediate opportunities few and far between.

“Facing such a hostile employment situation, it is no surprise that many graduates are opting to stay in further education to enhance their job prospects.

“The Government has failed to offer young people the help they need. Ministers must offer personalised support far earlier to make sure young people’s career prospects aren’t set back by a demoralising period of unemployment so soon after leaving education.”

International economic watchdog warns UK is falling behind

Philip Hammond, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has responded to today’s OECD growth forecasts predicting that the UK will be the only G7 country not to see any growth this year.

"We will be the only major economy without any growth this year, and the only one for which prospects have got worse not better", he said.

He added that we were ill-prepared to face the recession because of economic and fiscal mismanagement on the part of Gordon Brown. "Far from being well placed to weather the storm as Gordon Brown claimed", Hammond said, "these figures show yet again that Britain is worse placed than our neighbours".

The OECD expects the UK economy to contract by 4.7 per cent in 2009 - even more than its last forecast of 4.3 per cent.

“IT’S TIME TO GET FAIR” – MPs TO SIGN POVERTY PLEDGE

Over sixty charities and community organisations have come together to challenge MPs across the country to act now and protect the poorest in society who are hardest hit by the recession.

After weeks of the expenses scandal and having elected a new Speaker for the House of Commons to clean up their own act, MPs returning to their constituencies at the weekend face calls to sign a Poverty Pledge (26-27 June). Local groups will meet with over 100 MPs in their constituencies, raising local issues and pressing the case for change nationally. Many more MPs are being lobbied across the UK.

Vanessa Stanislas, chair of Get Fair and Chief Executive of Disability Alliance said: “With the economy in recession and rapidly rising unemployment, it’s time to get fair – that’s why we are calling on MPs to sign the Get Fair poverty pledge. Once people find themselves living below the breadline, it is virtually impossible for them to pull themselves out of poverty. Things will only get worse, not better unless action is taken. All politicians and political parties should commit to make the UK a fairer place and help bring an end to poverty.”

Get Fair is calling for immediate action to:

· Put planned changes to welfare benefits on hold: with a rapid rise in unemployment, current government plans will result in severe hardship for many families

· Increase the number of social rented homes by 45,000: house building has almost stopped and repossession rates are rising as people lose their jobs

· Protect local services: additional funding focused on quality public services that reach those most in need

Poverty Pledge for MPs: "I undertake to use, or support the use, of all policy powers available to parliament to meet poverty targets and include concrete measures in my party manifesto to achieve a lasting reduction in poverty in the UK."

Get Fair members include: Oxfam; Shelter; Age Concern/Help The Aged; Disability Alliance; Refugee Council; Church Action on Poverty; YWCA; Church Urban Fund.

Brown the Saviour Takes Message to God from The EU

Well....not only is Gordon Brown a financial genius but he is now to be regarded as a political svengali as well having united the EU on the issue of the "global recession and is taking its message to Obama in the US. What a load of old tosh!!!

EU member states by the sound of it are far in fact from being united with a rift opening up between Western and Eastern Europe and the French doing what the French always do in a crisis (or at any other time for that matter) and looking after the French interest, in particular its car industry. However states reputedly agreed that they do want better regulation, action on the shadow banking system and hedge funds, no protectionism, fiscal and monetary stimulus and no maintainence of the old status quo on the role of our financial institutions.

Our man Brown says that he will be taking a clear message to Obama when he visits him that "Bold global action, a global grand bargain, is not now just necessary but it is vitally urgent to deal with the challenges of the world economy".

Now...call me crazy but the only clear message I am getting from what has been reportedly discussed in Europe last weekend is that Europe wants lots of altruistic things but doesn't have a clue how to go about getting them by themselves. Not only this but we are about to send the architect of our own domestic crisis to the US with his cap in his hand to ask for a solution on behalf of Europe to the "global problem".

Call me crazy, but I'm not too sure that the best way to solve the current financial situation is to go and ask the new kid on the block in global politics for advice. On the up side, at least Bush has gone otherwise we would probably end up invading another Muslim state in the name of salvation for democracy and capitalism (I wonder by the way if Sadam Hussein is jumping up and down in Hell, saying smugly to everyone, "See! I told you all my system was better").

It will be interesting to see what the political outcome of this meeting of minds in terms of a solution to the problem. It would be nice if it were a bit more that somple reassurances and gratuitous solidarity for the sake of the cameras. It would be nice to think that we could maybe come up with a real global solution and not one where everyone signs up except the US and the UK. In reality however, the US like China and India are not bound by the conventions and restrictions of the EU and they are naturally likely to want to protect their own interests far above all others. That is after all what made these countries economic giants in the first place and will maintain their status for generations to come.

If Europe wants to survive and retain any status as an economic power, it will have to start looking out for its own interests as well and it may even need to be done on a country basis opposed to a union basis. What might be needed to stimulate growth is a reduction or even suspension of EU regulation which has hampered local, regional and national economies since the EU came into being.

What will be just as interesting about this meeting is of course what kind of relationship Brown and Obama will actually have. Will it be one of master and subordinate like Bush & Blair? Will Brown manage to alienate himself from the US president by going in on the first meeting with his hand out asking for help? Will the two become the next "odd couple" and save the world? What is clear to me though is that nothing possitive comes from this meeting then it should be time for a change at the top.

PM Brown is in Danger of Calling the Kettle Black

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is gunning after national scapegoat Sir Fred Goodwin because of the obscene pension he will be getting despite the massive failure of RBS, the bank he was supposed to be running. He is threatening legal action to recover some of the reported £12million pension fund that Goodwin managed to build for himself over the ten or so years he was at the bank.

I'm not sure however that pursuing Goodwin is the most prudent thing Brown could possibly be doing right now. We all know why he's making a big thing about it. He is trying to divert public attention away from the billions of pounds that are required to bail out the banking system by instigating a good old fashioned mob lynching.

There are two problems I think Brown will create for himself by chasing Goodwin. The first is quite simply that Goodwin undoubtedly knows too much about the system and looks like he is going to stand up and defend himself against all attacks. In the cold light of day, he has done nothing it seems but follow the rules and play the system. It seems odd for me to be defending this man but he did not create the system, instead he worked it. Gordon Brown created it.

The second problem I think he could and should face if we are going to start taking away peoples pensions for abject failure is that he might end up facing questions over whether or not he should in fact keep his lovely little pot. The more I think about it in fact, the more that sounds like a good idea....Doh!!!

The Four Merchant Bankers of the Apocalypse

The word "Sorry", it occurs to me is just a word like every other word that appears on this screen. Some people are quite comfortable with it whilst others agonise over it as though their world would come to an end or perhaps be given a fresh beginning with its very utterance. Some people say things like "it takes a bigger man to apologise for their mistakes" although others will say that "you're better safe than sorry".

What occurs to me having watched the Four Bankers of the Apocalypse apologise on TV today is that they didn't appear to be suffering too much for their mistakes. Granted, they appeared on TV and all said the most difficult word in the English language to say. They faced questions about how the banking system failed and how bonus culture was in part to blame. They've even lost their jobs. However I cannot imagine for a moment that any of them will be close to losing their homes. I can't imagine for a moment that any of them will be shopping at Iceland, Lidl or Primark in the near future. The ones with knighthoods will undoubtedly retain their titles and as the credit crunch diminishes and the world economy starts to recover, their expansive share portfolios will undoubtedly begin to burst at the seams again. The only thing I am certain that they are sorry about is that they will not be recieving the salaries and bonuses they will now be missing out on due to the fact that they are no longer employed by the institutions they ruined. In fact they all looked fairly relaxed and comfortable in their surroundings.

The thing that made me angry though; the thing that made me want to tear off my shirt, turn green and save a beautiful woman from an evil scientist was that the young arse second from left in the photo above had the audacity to complain that his shares had lost more money than they had made. What a disaster for him that must have been. Poor guy, he only made £2 million odd last year and his shares have temporarily dropped in value. I am presuming that his friends in Cloud Cuckoo Land are sympathetic to his losses, but I fail to see why I or any one else for that matter should be. I would suggest that he offloads these awful shares at the earliest opportunity to a good cause like Great Ormond St Hospital or something. That way he will not have to complain and wine about his self inflicted misfortune like a little girl who's just broken the head off her dolly. What's more he will be free of his cursed losses.

The Great Pretender - Don't Be Fooled!

I'm usually quite a passive kind of a guy but there are certain things that make me mad and I'm talking about jump up and down, thump your fists in the air kind of mad. One such thing is when people take over...lets say...a project while the project is beginning to do well. They run the project and take all the credit for its success...claiming that that project could never have been as good as it is without themselves. In effect they steel credit for something they haven't done.

Then, if the project begins to fail they start to blame just about everyone else under the sun for the demise except themselves. Not only that but when they actually do some work and put badly planned and considered knee-jerk provisions in place to save the project (or in fact their ego) they then claim credit for saving the project which in actual fact wouldn't have been failing had they done their job properly in the first place. When these badly thought out provisions fail, they again revert and continue to blame everyone under the sun except themselves.

Now as an employer, I would not be happy employing such a person and in fact I do and have actively avoided these people like the plague because they are usually wholly dishonest and can add nothing of value to an organisation. I wonder how Gordon Brown would feel should anything like the above mentioned example happen whilst he was in power. I am sure that as the prudent and shrewd operator we know him to be, he would not stand for it either and make all haste to remove such a person from any positions of trust and responsibility for the good of the country and its people.