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Dear Constituent

On Wednesday the second phase of the Scottish Budget for 2010 was presented before Parliament. I, along with my Labour colleagues, voted against the budget for a number of reasons. Namely because I do not believe it is a budget for people struggling through the recession, who need action on jobs and on housing  and I  cannot vote for a budget which has removed the Scottish Parliaments commitment to the Glasgow air link, the cancellation of which, will affect the cities growth and the impact of which will be felt across the country. The Scottish Government are not serving Glasgow interests and I will not endorse their actions. 

In addition, because the government refuses to publish full details of the Capital Spending Programme which outlines how the government will allocate its resources. I believe that all members of the Parliament should have full access to this information and be much more extensively consulted on how the government priorities its funds.

Only last week the Scottish Executive Permanent Secretary Sir John Elvidge indicated to Parliament's Audit Committee that four major programmes, three of which are in the Glasgow area, have slipped in timetable: The Southern General Hospital, the Borders Railway, the National Arena for the Commonwealth Games and the Gartcosh campus.

These projects have a combined expenditure of £1.2bn and might have released sufficient funds for the government to finance other schemes such as the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, a project which the government asked opposition parties to find the money to finance having previously decided to remove it from the budget.

The government is playing games will Glasgow’s future and we must fight to ensure that it does not continue.

Local Papers

The Scottish Government is consulting on plans to end the duty on local authorities to advertise public notices in the local press and only post notices online in a money saving exercise.

I am concerned over the negative impact the new advertising plans will have on local newspapers in Scotland — many of which are already struggling to keep going with falling advert revenues.

I believe it is vital that local authorities advertise public notices in as many available media;s as possible, so that the general public is kept informed and up to date with the work of local authorities. In addition, I know many of my constituents place a high value on local news and want to see our local papers flourish.

The Scottish Government must rethink these proposals to avoid irreversibly damaging local papers, which are important employers in communities across Scotland and a vital part of the media spectrum.

Motions

Last week I tabled one motions before Parliament:

S3M-05526 Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Scottish Labour): Closure of the Queen Mother's Maternity Hospital— That the Parliament notes with sadness the closure of the Queen Mother’s Maternity Hospital in Glasgow; commemorates its work over the years; recognises the pioneering ultrasound techniques developed at the facility that brought the hospital world-wide recognition; notes the view of Professor Andrew Calder who called for the name to be retained at the new site and for it to be named the Queen Mother’s Maternity Unit of the Southern General Hospital, and calls on the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing to consider this proposal.

 

Surgeries

My next Constituency Surgery will be held on Monday the 25th January at 9am

in the BCD Credit Union, Townhead. Appointments preferable

Best Wishes,

 


Pauline McNeill MSP
for Glasgow Kelvin

Updated 18th January 2010

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