caltonjock

 

 

 

21 March 2014: Glasgow Council Rips Off Female Employees – But the lamb Nips the Lion. Remember this fiasco- and the cost of Attempting to Defend Their Actions

In 2005 Glasgow Councillors guided by Stephen Purcell, with the full support of their Labour Party colleagues, in government, in Scotland created Arms Length External Organizations (ALEOs) and transferred large numbers of Council employees to said organizations.

Evading their responsibilities over equal pay they created “Cordia” a company providing care in the community services and moved a largely female workforce into it in a cynical attempt to locate the bulk of their low paid women workers together locking them into a low wage environment forever.

This would be achieved by implementing the “equal pay act” at the time of the transfer of staff, under ‘TUPE  regulations. The Council calculated that by putting many of its low paid female workers into (Cordia) – that the women would no longer be employed alongside their former higher paid male workers who, in the absence of change would have been used as comparators for equal pay purposes increasing salary costs.

Male employees on a much higher rate of pay, were all placed in their own ALEO (City Building) which was not the same or even an associated employer – so the Council was ‘off the hook’ as far as future equal pay claims were concerned.

 

 

 

The Unions

The unions in Glasgow kept their members in the dark about the huge pay differences between traditional male and female council jobs – and originally sided with the council when these big pay differences were exposed in 2005.

So the trade unions have a credibility problem because of their behaviour in Glasgow which remains to this day – since the trade unions Glasgow also failed to put up any serious resistance over the creation of ALEOs either.

 

 

 

Labour Party MSP’s

Not one of the local Labour MSPs spoke out against these payments at the time – including Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader – whose partner/husband Archie Graham was a senior Labour councillor in Glasgow.

 

 

 

Litigation 2005 – 2014   (10 years of court sessions – Female staff V Glasgow City Council)

Action 4 Equality Scotland took up the case for equal pay for female staff transferred to  Cordia.

Court representation was placed with Fox and Partners Solicitors – and Daphne Romney a leading QC who also represented the staff  during the successful genuine material factor  (GMF) hearing against Glasgow City Council in 2007.

But Glasgow City Council persisted with their argument that they had acted entirely within the Law and in 2013 their solicitors managed to persuade an Employment Tribunal that the newly created ALEOs were not an ‘associated employer’ – in employment law terms.

The significance of which was that staff transferred to Cordia had effectively lost their ability to continue with an equal pay claim – once they had been ‘TUPE transferred’.

Action for Equality Scotland submitted the finding to the “Court of Appeal” arguing that the decision of the Employment Tribunal was unfair – since the council retained control of all ALEO’s.

Said control extending to  extra ‘top-up’ payments to Councillors for overseeing the ALEOs – which to many people, seemed like money for old rope.

The Council maintained their position that female employees could no longer compare themselves to male comparators who remained in the employment of the Council – the plain purpose of the Council’s strategy being to try and evade responsibility for equal pay claims.

 

City Council Leader

 

 

The Court of Appeal (final outcome)

In the Inner House Lords Brodie, Drummond and Philip handed down a major decision affecting more than 2,500 Action 4 Equality Scotland clients with equal pay claims against Glasgow City Council.

Glasgow City Council lost a big appeal case, – over whether or not thousands of council workers transferred to various arms length bodies (known as ALEOs) – can continue with their equal pay claims.

The good news is that they can – so hip, hip, hooray – for the 2,700 claimants from Action 4 Equality Scotland who are affected by this decision!

Action 4 Equality Scotland now represents 5,500 clients in the ongoing equal pay claims against Glasgow City Council – whereas the trade unions represent only penny numbers.

 

 

Statement – Action for Equality Scotland

Whoever dreamed up this despicable plan – should be sacked forthwith by Glasgow’s ruling ‘socialist’ Labour administration – that is if they have not already departed the scene with an generously enhanced tax-free lump and final salary pension.

“We began this litigation back in 2005 and over the past 10 years we have witnessed Glasgow City Council enter into complicated and costly avoidance measures to escape their responsibilities to low paid.

 

 

 

True to his word during the Scottish election campaign – John Swinney has now put a stop to the practice which has been widely condemned – as a ridiculous waste of public money.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said the new rules will end payments to Councillors who sit on bodies known as arms-length external organizations, after a Holyrood committee discovered that Glasgow Councillors had claimed £260,000 between them.

http://action4equalityscotland.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/glasgow-city-council.html
http://www.employmentcasesupdate.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed16273

 

What a bunch!!!!!

 

 

 

The fight continues delay, delay, delay the most invidious form of denial

http://action4equalityscotland.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/glasgow-update.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sohan Singh – Profile of a Councillor

Councillor Singh apparently attempted to have the Council annul £1400 of private debts he had racked up.

Earlier in the year he participated in a business group aiming to partner with the Council linked to disgraced Council leader Stephen Purcell.

He has operated as a landlord with a licence on homes he bought in the East End from the Council for £1 which was sold on agreement that they would be renovated. They have not been renovated.

Unlicensed alcohol sales have been taking place at hotels he owns.

HMRC has taken the step of closing down one of his companies after he racked up huge unpaid bills.

He has recently been charged with perverting the course of justice.

Previously he was convicted for his part in a major VAT bootlegging operation.

He is a regular Labour donor, but was suspended for eight weeks not long after his election for parking in a disabled bay.

All of this information is in the public domain and provides explanatory briefing supporting the generally held public opinion that embattled Singh is not the best example of a public servant.

 

 

 

16 July 1999: The man behind Scotland’s biggest duty-free drink scam is jailed for six years.

Singh was at the centre of a fraudulent operation involving enough whisky and vodka to give every adult in Scotland two drinks each. Singh, 46, from Bishopbriggs, was found guilty of defrauding the country of £1.6m in duty on 16 lorry loads of whisky over a 10-week period. Customs investigators who brought him to justice reckoned the scam involved duty on more than eight million pub measures of whisky and vodka.

Sentenced with Singh at the High Court in Glasgow were two co-accused, James Sanderson, 43, and Craig McAteer, 29. Sanderson, from Nitshill in Glasgow, was found guilty of evading £399,000 in duty, and McAteer, from Motherwell, of evading £376,000 in duty. They were jailed for three years and 30 months respectively.

The case against a fourth man – spirits broker Kevin Burrage, 36, of Shoeburyness near Southend – was found not proven. Another accused, Anthony Sawers, 31, from Hamilton, also walked free from court.

 

 

Scam details

During the trial, the court heard how a series of phoney liquor exporting firms were set up to further the scam. Fake orders for drink were faxed to a London bond. Once paid for – free of duty – the drink was supposed to be exported to Germany, France, Italy and Denmark and Spain. But instead the consignments were driven to Scotland and hidden at secret storage places in Coatbridge, West Calder, Livingstone, Wishaw, Bannockburn, and Glasgow. Lonely farmhouses were also used by the gang. From there, cheap drink was sold in under-the-counter deals to off-licences all over the central belt and distributed in hired vans. Customs and Excise was so concerned at losses of duty and VAT in the west of Scotland that its elite National Investigation Service moved in.

 

 

 

Surveillance operation

The Customs officers secretly took photographs of the participants and the handover of drink to the buyers. They watched off-sales owners drive away with so much whisky and vodka that their cars and vans were down on their springs. On 11 March, 250 Customs officers swooped on 65 premises throughout the UK. Singh and his gang were arrested and charged, and spirits they had not yet sold – worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in duty – were seized. More than £40,000 in cash was ordered to be confiscated by the court. After the trial, Singh was notified of the Crown’s intention to seize his assets. Sentencing Singh, Lord Phillip told him: “You were in overall control in Scotland of a wide-ranging, carefully planned and efficiently run operation designed to defraud the state and you were making large profits.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/396352.stm

 

 
10 April 2005: A Curry shop boss jailed over Scotland’s biggest duty-free fraud has been cleared after the Customs operation against him collapsed in chaos.

Singh, 51, was jailed for six years after being convicted of dodging pounds 1.6 million of tax due on lorry-loads of booze in one ten-week period. But he has been cleared after serious flaws were revealed in the Customs operation.

Singh, who runs the Bombay Blue curry house in Glasgow, spent just 10 months in jail after being convicted along with James Sanderson, who got three years, and Craig McAteer, who got two and a half. They stood trial in 1999 after undercover Customs officers claimed they sold 16 lorry-loads of whisky – meant to be sent abroad duty-free – on the British black market. Customs claimed the staggering haul was enough to give every adult in Scotland two duty-free drinks.

But the cleared Scots are just some of the prosecutions that have collapsed in the wake of the Customs operation. Up to pounds 2 billion was lost in unpaid taxes during the sting operation, centred on a tax-free warehouse called the London City Bond. Customs allowed the fraud to continue in the hope of catching Mr Bigs but the cases have collapsed since their informant was exposed as a main player in the scam.

Singh was released pending his appeal in March 2000. Last night he said: ‘My lawyers appealed against my conviction and my sentence. ‘At that time we didn’t know anything about what the Customs had been doing. ‘That didn’t come out until a court case in Manchester about six months after I had been released. ‘The prosecution were in no hurry for the appeal to go ahead but they eventually had to admit that I was not guilty. My conviction was quashed last year. ‘That means that everything has been scratched from my record. I am completely clear.’

Singh says he is not interested in suing and says compensation is not important. He said: ‘I am very lucky that I don’t have any problems or high blood pressure, despite everything that has happened. ‘I don’t need the money. If I got pounds 50,000 or pounds 100,000 then so what? ‘My children are happy, they are getting a good education and that is far more important to me than compensation.’

Singh was alleged to have been making pounds 40,000 profit on every lorry-load, selling the booze on for between pounds 4 and pounds 5 a bottle. On March 11, 1998, Customs officers ‘knocked’ the operation. More than 250 officers from Scotland and England arrested 21 suspects and executed 55 search warrants.

 

 

False

More than 2500 cases of spirits were seized to add to 4400 cases that had been impounded. Officers also found documents at the LCB showing that at least 15 lorry-loads traced to Scotland had gone overseas. A dozen export forms had false foreign stamps.During his trial, it was revealed that Singh had been a target for some kind of vengeance over a deal which went wrong. In July 1998, while he was on bail, three hooded men walked into his office and systematically clubbed him with baseball bats, breaking both of his legs. Singh’s sentence was a year short of the maximum possible.

The judge Lord Phillip told Singh: ‘You were in control in Scotland of a carefully-planned and efficiently-run operation designed to defraud the state and you were making huge profits.’ In 2000, Singh was released pending his appeal and when it eventually came to court, in June last year, the Crown told the court that they would not be resisting the appeals. Singh and McAteer walked free.

 

 

Hitman

McAteer, one of Singh’s alleged lieutenants, was the best friend of murdered drug dealer Justin McAlroy, shot dead after attending a Labour Party fundraiser at his dad’s club. Hitman William ‘Tiler’ Gage was convicted of McAlroy’s execution last year but the man who paid him has never been caught.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DUTY+FREED+..SUBH+Curry+king+is+cleared+of+dodging+pounds+1.6m+tax+on…-a0131301077

 

 

 

10 April 2005: UP to 20 Customs officers are under investigation by police after their disastrous operation against LCB.

The profits from the scam – which the fraudsters called ‘The Swerve’ – were enormous. Despite documents claiming they were heading abroad via ferry ports, the lorries full of duty-free vodka and whisky swerved off course and headed to Scotland. Their loads were hidden, mainly at warehouses in Coatbridge, West Calder, Livingston, Wishaw, Bannockburn and Glasgow. From there, plain white vans took the cheap drink to off-licences across the Central Belt.

But convictions linked to the massive operation were overturned after it emerged the key customs witness, Alf Allington – the managing director of LCB – lied under oath about his status as an informant. His customs handlers had turned a blind eye as he helped the huge fraud proceed with an estimated loss of pounds 2 billion in lost duty.

In the appeal of four men at the Court of Appeal in London last year, Customs admitted that they had intelligence that Allington himself was involved in committing frauds and was taking bribes. Customs now admit that Allington should never have been called as a witness ‘relied on by the prosecution’ in the trial in February, 1998. In the case against Singh and McAteer, Customs decided not to use Allington as a witness but to call an employee of his, Raymond Buckledee, instead. But Allington did give evidence in several trials after February 1998 and was still appearing for the prosecution as late as 2000.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Police+to+probe+Customs+fiasco.-a0131301076

 

 

 

14 February 2012: A curry entrepreneur has been accused of stealing £1.46 million of taxpayers’ cash after the £7.3million sale of his upmarket hotel and restaurant, it was reported in the Scottish press recently.

Archie Sharif, 43, sold the Lorne Hotel and Bukharah restaurant in Glasgow after his business hit the rocks. But instead of handing over £1.46 million in VAT from the sale, he is accused of transferring the cash to a bank in Pakistan. HM Revenue & Customs foiled the alleged fraud days after Sharif travelled to Karachi to try to access the money in November.

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland then took Sharif to the Court of Session where judge Lord Brailsford agreed to freeze the businessman’s assets under proceeds of crime laws. One source said: “Glasgow criminals have been at the epicentre of the VAT fraud crimewave which has cost the UK economy billions of pounds. “It makes a welcome change if the taxman has managed to prevent one from taking place.”

Pakistan-born Sharif bought the A-listed Lorne hotel in Glasgow’s west end in 2007 after it had lain derelict for six years. Bankrolled with £11million from private investors and the Royal Bank of Scotland, he turned it into an upmarket 102-bedroom hotel, Indian restaurant and cocktail bar. At the time, he said: “This is the biggest thing I’ve taken on but I am proud to own this hotel and I want to restore it to its former glory.”

Two years ago, he admitted trading conditions were tough but saw the Bukharah named restaurant of the year at the Scottish Curry Awards. Just three months later, HMRC petitioned to wind up Sharif’s trading company Lorne Hotel Glasgow Ltd and a liquidator was appointed.

Sharif later sold the building for £7.3million to Bellhill Ltd, whose director is well-known curry restaurateur Sohan Singh. Singh, 58, has been chosen by Labour as a possible candidate in local elections later this year. He was jailed along with drug dealer Craig McAteer, 42, and another man in 1999 for a £1.6 million duty-free tax fraud but Singh’s conviction was overturned on appeal.

A petition lodged at the Court of Session accused Sharif of selling the hotel but failing to pay the VAT. The cash was instead sent to an account at the Standard Chartered bank in Karachi. On November 18, Sharif was accused of travelling to Pakistan to access the funds but HMRC flagged up their probe with bank bosses. Standard Chartered then returned the cash to a United National bank account in London.

The Lorne Hotel and the adjoining restaurant has become a favourite haunt of north Glasgow crime clan head Jamie Daniel and his mob. It was also where the shamed former Labour leader of Glasgow City Council Stephen Purcell, 39, held a party last week. The meal was staged to celebrate the Crown Office’s decision not to prosecute Purcell over alleged corruption and drug use. But Purcell spent the night of the party in a police cell following his arrest after a disturbance at his flat.

On November 25, Lord Brailsford agreed to freeze the United National account plus two others controlled by Sharif – one at Bank of Scotland branch in St Vincent Street, Glasgow, and another at RBS in Milngavie. It is not known how much money is held in the three accounts. The judge also agreed to freeze the sale of Sharif’s home in Newton Mearns, Glasgow, but allowed him to operate another bank account for “reasonable living expenses”. Sharif was personally bankrupted last July but the sequestration was recalled in September. HMRC refuse to reveal how much taxpayers are owed in connection with Lorne Hotel Glasgow Ltd.

http://www.menumagazine.co.uk/archive/feb2012/curryman.html

 

 
25 May 2012: A new Labour councillor and prominent businessman was operating as an illegal landlord for at least 11 months up until his election.

Singh was renting out some of the 28 properties in a block of flats in the north of Glasgow, which he bought from the city council for just £1 around 10 years ago. However, just over a month before the local elections a few weeks ago, neither the flats nor the landlord were registered with Glasgow City Council –despite having tenants for at least a year.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13059214.Labour_councillor_operated_as_illegal_landlord/

 

 
15 October 2012: Police target councillor over licence breaches at hotel

A Labour councillor exposed as operating unlawfully as a landlord has been targeted by police over alcohol licensing breaches at a hotel and claims of hampering criminal enquiries. Sohan Singh, a member of Glasgow’s ruling Labour administration, has been issued with a written warning by his own council after Strathclyde Police called on licensing chiefs to take action against his Lorne Hotel in the city’s west end.

Police complained that, in breach of alcohol laws, staff had not been trained, management structures were non-existent and staff were unable to help officers access CCTV footage following a string of assaults at the venue. Officers complained staff at the hotel could not give any contact details for managers when the police called on several occasions and that one supposed manager worked in a newsagents facing the hotel.

During the meeting it also emerged that Singh was employing the man from whom he had bought the hotel for around £7.5 million, who had his assets frozen following the deal. Archie Sharif sold the hotel to Singh at a loss of about £4m last year but was apprehended by HMRC after he attempted to move money to a bank in Pakistan from the sale.

Lord Brailsford froze the businessman’s assets under proceeds of crime laws late last year, as well as freezing the sale of Sharif’s home in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire.

Just before the sale to Singh, HMRC petitioned to wind up Sharif’s trading company Lorne Hotel Glasgow Ltd and a liquidator was appointed. Singh failed to appear at a meeting of Glasgow’s licensing board yesterday, to the obvious irritation of councillor colleagues on the body, with the company represented by Mr Sharif.

The Herald revealed during the summer how Singh, a well-known restaurateur, had been operating without a licence as a landlord for flats he had bought from the council for just £1 a decade earlier.

Singh had already been selected as a Labour candidate at the time and was operating unlawfully despite warnings from the council leader “rogue landlords” would be fined £50,000. He resigned from his ceremonial role as a city bailie – essentially a stand-in Lord Provost – as a result.

The latest brush with the authorities over failure to adhere to legislation will heap more embarrassment on Labour, with many in the party uneasy about Singh’s selection as a candidate. The 58-year-old was jailed along with two other men in 1999 for a £1.6m duty-free tax fraud, but his conviction was overturned on appeal. At yesterday’s meeting, board chairman and Labour councillor Malcolm Cunning said: “It seems there was a laxity in management, which existed on paper but not in reality.”

Archie Maciver, Singh’s legal representative, acknowledged the shambolic management but said this had been resolved with the installation of Mr Sharif as manager. The Lorne was the venue for the wake of notorious gangland figure Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, who was murdered in 2010. It was also where Stephen Purcell, the shamed former Labour leader of Glasgow City Council, held a party to celebrate the Crown Office’s decision not to prosecute him over alleged corruption and drug use.

 

 

 

 

22 October 2012: Calls for city councillor to be expelled

Pressure is growing for a Labour councillor to be expelled from the party after he was allegedly caught using a blue badge belonging to a relative to access a disabled parking space.Sohan Singh, a prominent businessman elected to Glasgow City Council earlier this year and already stripped of a ceremonial role, will be interviewed by party enforcers tomorrow after his second brush with the authorities in a week.

Singh was representing Glasgow at the Strathclyde Fire Board at South Lanarkshire Council in Hamilton when he was spotted using the disabled bay, to the fury of his boss, city council leader Gordon Matheson. He is understood to have told colleagues that the blue badge belonged to a niece. Fraudulent use of the badge can carry a penalty of up to £1000.

Just last weekend, The Herald revealed how Singh’s hotel, the Lorne in Glasgow’s west end, had been sanctioned amid a variety of breaches of alcohol laws and claims of hampering police investigations, while it also emerged his manager had recently had his assets frozen under proceeds of crime laws. And just after his election in May it came to light that he had been operating illegally as a landlord in flats he had bought from the council for just £1. Sources within the Labour administration said that, while the party has procedures to adhere to, they expect “serious action” as the city’s leadership is “not at all happy”.

But despite promises of a “thorough investigation”, opposition politicians on the council have called for Singh’s removal from frontline politics. SNP group leader Graeme Hendry said: “Since being approved as a Labour candidate Singh has shown himself to have little regard for licensing laws in terms of housing and the sale of alcohol as well as showing a contempt for the disabled by abusing the blue badge scheme. “Surely he has now reached the end of the line with the Labour party and Mr Matheson will move to have him expelled from the Labour Group. If not, the public will wonder just what Labour regard as their so called A Team.”

Tory councillor David Meikle added: “It seems every week there is a scandal involving Sohan Singh and people are now rightly demanding that Labour take action against him. If they don’t, they will be right to wonder who or what is protecting him.” The Herald is aware of councillors from across the political spectrum having received letters from constituents expressing “disgust” that Singh has not been asked to resign.

Just weeks after being elected, Singh stood down as a city bailie – a ceremonial role which could have seen him stand in for the Lord Provost at official engagements – when it emerged that while a candidate for Glasgow North East he operated illegally as a landlord. He failed to register in a mandatory scheme, despite the council leader warning “rogue landlords” would be fined £50,000. During last week’s licensing board meeting it also emerged that Singh was employing the man from whom he had bought the hotel for around £7.5 million, who had his assets frozen following the deal. Archie Sharif sold the hotel to Singh at a loss of about £4m last year but was apprehended by HMRC after he attempted to move money from the sale to a bank in Pakistan.

Singh himself faces a court sequestration action in December over a £100,000 loan and could have his political career halted if he is made bankrupt. A Labour group spokesman said: “Abuse of blue badges is an extremely serious matter and the council’s business manager will carry out a thorough investigation into these allegations.”

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13077954.Calls_for_city_councillor_to_be_expelled/

 

 

 

24 October 2012: Glasgow Councillor suspended from the labour party

Glasgow City Council’s Labour group booted out Sohan Singh for eight weeks after he parked illegally using his niece’s disabled blue badge. The restaurant and hotel tycoon was also removed from the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue board. He was at a committee meeting in Hamilton when he parked his Mercedes in a disabled bay.

Singh, 59, is a pal of shamed ex-Glasgow council leader Steven Purcell. Earlier this month, Singh’s Lorne Hotel in the city’s west end was rapped for breaching booze laws. In May, just after he was elected, it emerged he had been operating as an illegal landlord. He also faces a bankruptcy action in December over an alleged £100,000 loan. A Labour spokesman said: “Councillor Singh committed a serious breach by failing to uphold standards.” Singh said: “I accept full responsibility and apologise unreservedly.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/scottishnews/4606046/Labour-axes-car-row-dad-Sohan-Singh.html

 

 
21 February 2013: RBS blames Crieff closure on Drummond Arms Hotel ruin

The state of a crumbling Perthshire hotel has come under attack after a bank was forced to close its doors as a result of structural damage. The Royal Bank of Scotland said that the deterioration of the Drummond Arms Hotel in Crieff’s James Square means it can no longer safely serve the people of the town. The bank has been operating from temporary premises but says that, as there is no solution in sight, it has decided to close in the summer. “Despite our best efforts, we cannot safely reopen the branch because of the disrepair of the Drummond Arms hotel,” said an RBS spokesman. “As an interim measure, we have been renting a portable building from the council. However, this is not a long-term solution and, as a result, we have taken the difficult decision to close the branch on June 19. “We have advised staff and will be helping our customers to make alternative arrangements. A mobile bank will provide regular banking services in Crieff.”

MSP Roseanna Cunningham expressed anger at the situation and laid the blame at the door of a Glasgow councillor who owned the hotel. “I had been in touch with the local manager trying to arrange a meeting to discuss their situation, since it was clearly unsustainable for them to continue to carry out their business from a portable building, but this news has come as an absolute bombshell,” she said. “My anger, however, is not directed so much at the RBS as at the owner — or immediate past owner — of the Drummond Arms Hotel, whose abject failure to maintain, let alone redevelop as promised, this historic Crieff building has to a great extent forced the hand of RBS. “Sohan Singh, who is a Labour councillor in Glasgow, bought the Drummond Arms and promised much, but delivered absolutely nothing.”

However, Mr Singh was adamant that he was not to blame for the situation. He said: “I have not owned the hotel since March 2012. Throughout my ownership, I sought support to redevelop the hotel, even speaking with RBS, but without success. “I regret that, given the recession, funding proved impossible. I sold the hotel to others who assured me of their desire to bring the building back into use.There has been no sleight of hand on my part. “I have had no correspondence from Roseanna Cunningham about the hotel when I owned it, so I am confused about why she has only now chosen to speak out and her accusations about me have no foundation. “If Ms Cunningham had spoken to me when I was the owner, then she would have understood what happened and the problems that I, along with others, faced in these economic conditions. “I regret that, as with so many other businesses in the recession, my business plans did not work out. “I am sorry that Crieff is losing out as a result. I can only hope that RBS can find a solution to ensure that it remains in Crieff.”

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/perth-kinross/rbs-blames-crieff-closure-on-drummond-arms-hotel-ruin-1.70152

 

16 July 2013: Scandal-hit councillor Sohan Singh involved in new row over unpaid bill which officials wanted to write off

A Controversial councillor is embroiled in a new row over an unpaid bill – which officials tried to write off. Glasgow councillor Sohan Singh’s Lorne Hotel in Finnieston owed almost £1400 to the council-owned Glasgow City Marketing Bureau. Despite repeated requests, the bill was not paid. And after four months, officials at the agency recommended to their board – which includes council leader Gordon Matheson – that the debt be written off.

But it was pointed out there could be a conflict of interest because the debtor was a councillor. A source said: “Gordon Matheson looked horrified when he realised whose business it was.” The hotel finally cleared their tab after the Daily Record approached Singh, 60, who said he had been unaware of the debt.

Singh, who was jailed in 1999 for tax fraud before being cleared on appeal, has been involved in a string of controversies over illegally-rented flats and using disabled bays unlawfully.

Tory councillor David Meikle said: “It’s a shame it took the Record’s intervention for Councillor Singh to do the right thing. “I hope in future he ensures that all his businesses pay up and the council take all steps to recoup bad debts.”

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scandal-hit-councillor-involved-new-row-2056459

 

 

 

27 August 2013: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has moved to wind up one of a raft of companies owned by a controversial Labour politician

In the latest in a string of revelations about his businesses which have embarrassed party bosses and colleagues, HMRC has presented a petition to the courts to wind up Bellhill Limited, one of a raft of companies owned by Glasgow councillor Sohan Singh. Bellhill is the vehicle for Singh’s Lorne Hotel in Glasgow’s west end. It has previously been targeted by police over alcohol licensing breaches and claims of hampering criminal enquiries, leading to Singh’s own local authority issuing him with a written warning.

A notice in the Edinburgh Gazette, an official publication of the UK Government which includes insolvency and bankruptcy announcements, said HMRC was calling on the court to appoint a liquidator to the company. The 60-year-old is listed as the sole director of Bellhill. Singh was recently suspended by the Labour Party after police moved on another of his Glasgow hotels, Artto, when it came to light it had been selling alcohol without a licence for over a year.

The Lorne Hotel has also been the subject of speculation among Singh’s estranged political colleagues after it emerged its electricity was being provided, at least partly, by a mobile generator parked outside the Sauchiehall Street venue. In little over a year in frontline politics Singh, who represents the north-east of Glasgow, has been affected by constant revelations.

It emerged he had operated unlawfully as a landlord in flats bought for £1 from the council, he was temporarily suspended by the council’s Labour administration for admitting to parking in a disabled bay while on council businesses and he quit the ceremonial post of bailie for the council. He also racked up debts to the city council’s marketing bureau and was accused by a Scottish Government minister of being responsible for the closure of a Perthshire bank because of the state of the adjoining property which he owns.

One source said: “This really does make it easier for Labour to keep Sohan out and close all doors to a return. It may not be the defining thing but as he continues to embarrass people he’s just hammering nails into his own coffin. “I can only begin to speculate how much he owes HMRC but it must be a considerable wedge if they’re seeking to liquidate. The generator outside the Lorne has been a topic of conversation for some time now.”

Glasgow SNP group leader Graeme Hendry said: “Cllr Singh’s track record is simply awful and an almost daily embarrassment to his political masters. I hope those controlling Glasgow Labour bring this rather sad episode to an end soon for all our sakes.”

It is also the second time the Lorne has been in trouble with HMRC. It emerged last year  Singh had been employing the man from whom he had bought the hotel for around £7.5 million, who had his assets frozen after the deal. Archie Sharif sold the hotel to Mr Singh at a loss of about £4m in 2011 but was apprehended by HMRC after he attempted to move money to a bank in Pakistan from the sale. Just before the sale to Singh, HMRC petitioned to wind up Sharif’s trading company Lorne Hotel Glasgow Ltd and a liquidator was appointed.

HMRC said that while the figures owed to it would be publicly available when the matter came to court it could not comment on individual cases and reveal the extent of the debt.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13120058.Bid_to_wind_up_politician_s_firm/

 

 
7 September 2013: A Scottish Labour politician, currently suspended by the party, has appeared in court charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Glasgow councillor Sohan Singh appeared on petition at the city’s Sheriff Court 10 days ago, along with another man, Mahesh Sharda. Singh, 60, made no plea or declaration and was bailed. No date has been set for Singh’s next court appearance. Mr Sharda was similarly bailed after making no plea or declaration.

Singh was only elected to Glasgow City Council in May 2012 and represents the North East ward. A well-known businessman before becoming the first Sikh elected to political office in Scotland, he owns a raft of hotels, including Artto in Glasgow city centre and the Lorne Hotel in the west end.

He had been suspended from the Labour group on the council in late 2012 after admitting to using a disabled parking space while on business for the local authority. His current suspension from Scottish Labour is not related to his Glasgow Sheriff Court appearance on August 28.

http://www.heraldscotland.com news/13121679.Controversial_Labour_councillor_charged/

 

30 September 2013: Glasgow and a tale of its first Sikh councillor

Sitting in the cubicles of one of his prime hotel properties on bustling Hope Street, a dapper-looking billionaire entrepreneur Sohan Singh has been busy drawing up the list of Indian dignitaries coming to attend the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2014 in Glasgow. The 60-year-old, who had brought the Queen’s baton from India to Scotland last year, is the first Sikh to be elected to Glasgow as the city’s councillor. He ran the elections on Scottish Labour Party in 2012. He now sits on Glasgow’s CWG committee as its member.

“Being a councillor with my Indian and Sikh roots is a privilege for me. The Commonwealth Games represent a huge opportunity for Glasgow, especially in terms of the social and economic benefits and lasting legacy they will leave for the community of this city. It is the biggest event the city is ever likely to stage and I’m really looking forward to my role of showcasing Glasgow to the world and to my Indian colleagues,” Singh said

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/nri-achievers/Glasgow-scotches-a-tale-of-1st-Sikh-councilor-3-8m-gurudwara/articleshow/23280146.cms

 

19 Jun 2015: In Crieff, the Drummond Arms Hotel has become a derelict eyesore in this picturesque Perthshire town.

Crieff Community Trust (CCT) had been in talks with the Royal Bank of Scotland with a view to establishing a Community Right to Buy (CRTB) that would enable a long-term solution to be found for the hotel.

Ailsa Campbell, chairman of CCT, expressed her exasperation to BQ about how a positive scheme – supported by 22% of the local electoral role in Crieff – had become stuck. “We’ve had massive local support to do something about the hotel. We’ve won the Community Right to Buy yet we have hit a brick wall. It has all been depressing. At the moment, we have a ‘watching brief’.”

The group sent its proposal, along with required signatures contained in a petition, to the Scottish Government, with the aim of finding a community or multi-purpose use for the James Square premises. Last December, a meeting between the trust’s representatives, Perth and Kinross Council, and Strathfare Ltd, the current owner of the derelict hotel, took place at Crieff Hydro.

Mrs Campbell said that the Royal Bank of Scotland, rather than helping the local community, closed the branch attached to the hotel and sold it to Strathfare.

Ranjeet Singh, a Strathfare director, and Sohan Singh, its former owner, told the meeting they intend to have the building wind, watertight and structurally safe, by the end of April, although the trust maintain the hotel is in a sorry state.

The building, estimated to be worth between £450,000 to £500,000, is not up for sale or being marketed, as the owners say the market isn’t conducive to achieving what they believe it is worth. Mrs Campbell reckons a further £4m will be required to refurbish the building and bring it back to life.

According to a minute “The owners made it clear that, for now, they did not intend to do anything that would trigger the CRTB, as they would be looking to achieve significantly greater than its current market value, and they would be happy to retain the property for years, until the property market had improved.”

 

14 December 2015: Glasgow councillor Sohan Singh cleared of perverting course of justice, following row over Hindu priest

A Glasgow councillor has been found not guilty of allegations of attempting to pervert the course of justice in a row involving a senior religious figure. Sohan Singh could now be in line for a Labour comeback after a long–term suspension was imposed on him due to an unrelated controversy.

Singh, who is behind the Artto hotel and popular Bombay Blues restaurant in the city, was elected as a Labour councillor for Glasgow North East in 2012. However, he was suspended by the party within months of getting elected over claims he misused a disabled parking badge at a fire board meeting in Hamilton. The councillor said of the incident at the time: “I fully accept my behaviour has fallen short of the standards expected of elected officials.”

Singh then appeared in court to face serious criminal allegations. He was on trial this year charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegedly informing a woman that her immigration status would be affected if she continued a complaint against a Hindu priest.In evidence, the woman alleged that the priest had made inappropriate comments towards her and asked her to spend a night away with him.

She claimed she contacted Singh, a Sikh, after he was recommended to her about helping with her visa application. The woman claimed she met Singh at the Artto Hotel and alleged in court that he “started a conversation about the Hindu priest case”. She alleged he told her that it “shouldn’t go to court” and that “we should talk and resolve this matter”.

The woman also told the court: “He said that it can affect your visa status as well.” However, Singh denied the charges and was found not guilty on November 27 by a sheriff. A co-accused was acquitted.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14142406.Glasgow_councillor_Sohan_Singh_

cleared_of_perverting_course_of_justice__following_row_over_Hindu_priest/

 

 
A Scottish hotel has ended up with the rudest name imaginable after its Facebook page was C-bombed. The three-star Lorne Hotel in Glasgow was changed on the social media site to the C*** Hotel. The hotel’s page was hacked in the early hours of Monday morning.

The Lorne Hotel’s recent history has been as colourful as its new name, including serving as the venue for the wake of murdered gangster Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll.

The change in Facebook name has not-so-funny potential consequences for unwitting visitors. Those who have in the past ‘checked-in’ to the hotel on Facebook are now listed as visiting the ‘C*** Hotel Glasgow’ on their own pages. And those who have tagged the establishment in pictures now may have to answer bemused questions from family and friends who will see that they stayed the night at the ‘C*** Hotel’.

The duty manager, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘We are aware of this matter. Obviously as admins we can see it. ‘But once a name is changed on Facebook you can’t physically change it for two weeks. We have been in contact with Facebook to get it changed back as soon as possible.

As well as serving as the venue for ‘Gerbil’s’ wake in 2010, it was also where Steven Purcell, the shamed former Labour leader of Glasgow City Council, held a party to celebrate the Crown Office’s decision not to prosecute him over alleged corruption and drug use.

Previous owner Sohan Singh, a former member of Glasgow’s ruling Labour administration, was targeted by police over alcohol licensing breaches at the hotel in 2012. He was issued with a written warning by his own council after Strathclyde Police called on licensing chiefs to take action. Archie Maciver, Singh’s legal representative, acknowledged the shambolic management but said this had been resolved.

At the time, board chairman and Labour councillor Malcolm Cunning said: ‘It seems there was a laxity in management, which existed on paper but not in reality.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3360668/Glasgow-hotel-receives-world-s-rudest-thanks-Facebook-hack.html

 

 

Councillor Yvonne Kucuk (Calton Ward)

 

 

22 November 2015: Labour mired in ‘nepotism’ and ‘cronyism’ claims over Commonwealth Games legacy project run by Glasgow councillor Yvonne Kucuk

A £3.5 Million Commonwealth Games legacy project is embroiled in nepotism claims over a string of posts occupied by a local Labour councillor’s friends and family.

The project was overseen from the beginning by the People’s Development Trust (PDT), a charity that runs the Hub and which hired Kucuk as the £35,000-a-year regeneration manager. Another Labour councillor, Maureen Burke, also declares a paid job at the Trust.

Kucuk took up her post in 2011 and her cousin Alan Kennedy was appointed to the P.D.T. board in the same year. He left in July 2014 and his son Robert joined the board weeks later. Kucuk’s husband is also working at the Hub.

One of her local political allies, David Stewart, joined the board in 2011 as an 18-year-old before leaving last year. He describes himself on social media as a “founding director” of the PDT and has blogged on how he helped campaign for McAveety and his local councillors “I was actively involved in canvassing for my then local MSP Frank McAveety in the 2011 election and then again for my local Labour councillors in the local government elections of 2012.”

George Redmond, the only other Labour councillor who represents the Calton ward, was also on the PDT board for a spell. His cousin William Faulds has a job at the Hub and Kenneth Edward Faulds – the son of another of Redmond’s cousins – was briefly a PDT board member. Redmond said: “The entire Redmond family, inspired by the example and commitment of my late parents, have been active in community work in Bridgeton – Dalmarnock my entire life.”

 

Yvonne Kucuk  George Redmond (Centre)

 

* Malfeasance In Public Office At Glasgow City Council: The Case For A Public Inquiry. a dossier of available evidence compiled by the 100 Promises Community Campaign. George Redmond – Profile of a councillor.

Information we have gathered from an academics private investigations shows Councillor George Redmond owns 33 houses. The vast majority of landlords within Glasgow according to the Council’s own figures on the private rented sector own a handful of properties.

Of the 36,000 or so private rented properties there are only a handful of landlords with several dozens of properties available for rent.

We are unaware of whether Councillor Redmond rents out the majority of his own homes, but we know that most were acquired through right to buy arrangements and then sold to him.

His private residence has been valued at £430,000. Councillor George Redmond is a wealthy man. His career began in politics, and all of his private commercial appointments were preceded by his election as a Councillor.

Most of his commercial appointments concern his long term interest in regeneration, land and the housing market, and there is a strong cross over between his leadership in these fields and his role as a senior Councillor, and so it could well be said that his considerable personal wealth owes much to his public tenure.

That he has been able to leverage such considerable personal wealth from his public tenure is clearly not illegal, but it is also clearly not at the behest of his constituents.

His control of a housing association and a credit union, alongside his ownership of capital, and strategic involvement in regeneration also speak to a man who has very considerable commercial and public power, particularly in and around his constituency.

That his actions have frequently been instrumental in a range of the submissions of malfeasance to this dossier are why we have chosen to single him out and highlight his personal wealth and investments.

Yvonne Kucuk (Centre)

 

A complaint has been made to the council about the P.D.T.’s governance. The recruitment process that led to Kucuk’s appointment in 2011 was carried out by the Glasgow East Regeneration Agency (G.E.R.A.), a charity set up to tackle poverty.

In 2012, it was reported that outgoing G.E.R.A. chief executive Ronnie Saez had been given a golden goodbye worth £500,000 by Labour councillors.

A charity watchdog ruled that part of the pay-off agreed by G.E.R.A. amounted to “misconduct”.

David Meikle, a Tory councillor in the city, said “The Dalmarnock Legacy Hub was about regenerating the East End and helping local people – not employment opportunities for Labour councillors’ relatives.

It smacks of utter cronyism and nepotism. We need to see evidence of the PDT’s recruitment process for board members and employees. I think the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator may need to look into this.”

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14095299.Labour_mired_in__nepotism__and

__cronyism__claims_over_Commonwealth_Games_legacy_project/

 

The opening of the Legacy Hub in Dalmarnock Councillor Kucuk  second from right

 

 

29 November 2015: Glasgow Labour councillor in ‘nepotism’ row abandons Holyrood bid

A Labour councillor embroiled in a nepotism row has pulled out of the race to become a party candidate for Holyrood. Yvonne Kucuk, who has faced scrutiny over the number of relatives linked to a community centre she helps run, has not applied to be on the Glasgow Shettleston shortlist.

Kucuk, who represents the Calton ward on Glasgow city council, had been the favourite in the internal contest after Frank McAveety relinquished the candidacy due to becoming council leader again. However, senior party figures were said to be unenthusiastic about her winning the selection and re-opened the applications process.

Scottish Labour headquarters stated that the original shortlist did not “reflect the aspirations” of the party in respect of diversity. Kucuk was then at the centre of a storm over a Commonwealth Games legacy project she helped deliver in the Dalmarnock area of Glasgow.

SNP MSP John Mason said: “I’m not surprised. If Labour are now being more careful about who they select as candidates, I would welcome that.”

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14111239.Glasgow_Labour_councillor_in__

nepotism__row_abandons_Holyrood_bid/

 

Frank McAveety

 

 

25 February 2016: International firm of auditors to investigate a Commonwealth Games legacy project managed by a Labour councillor in Glasgow.

The Big Lottery Fund (B.L.F.) called in outside help after reviewing how its £1.3m award for the multi-purpose Dalmarnock ‘Hub’ had been spent.

The project has been overseen by a charity – the People’s Development Trust – and a key staff member is Calton councillor Yvonne Kucuk, who was appointed as the P.D.T.’s £35,000 a year “regeneration manager”.

The Legacy Hub, located in the shadows of the Emirates arena in the east end, benefited from £3m from the Scottish Government and £1,295,000 from the B.L.F., while Glasgow city council sold land to the Trust for £1. Around £840,000 of the award was to part-fund the Hub’s construction and £455,000 was for four years’ operating costs.

However, the flagship scheme has been marred by splits. Board members, Reverend Alison Davidge, Nancy Clunie and Daniel Bradley quit their posts and a fourth individual quit as directors. The B.L.F. was notified about the departures by the individuals afore-named…

The quango subsequently launched a review to examine whether its funding had been used in line with its grant agreement. The probe escalated after the B.L.F.’s internal audit department contracted Mazars, one of Europe’s largest accounting firms, to carry out checks.

A B.L.F. spokesman said: “It’s a term and condition of our grant that we know our funds are being spent appropriately and in line with our agreement. With this in mind our internal audit department has appointed Mazars, an independent organisation who will begin their assessment mid next week with a view to report back to us in approximately a month’s time.”

Local SNP MSP John Mason said: “There is a general concern that Labour treats Glasgow as its personal fiefdom, where friends get positions and jobs and not in a transparent way. “It is the councillor’s dual role in this project that is concerning.

You should be a local councillor, or part of the development project. Or, you should have the development role and not be the local councillor. A sensible person would surely conclude that you cannot do both roles. It is about public perception.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14299992.Auditors_probe_Commonwealth_

Games_project_managed_by_Labour_councillor/

 

 

 

 

The BBC Is Totally Independent From the State – But Is It?

By the 1960s political vetting was so well entrenched that BBC interviews were resembling Civil Service selection boards. At one time, (according to former senior BBC executive Stuart Hood,) “a Civil Service Commissioner even attended the interviews.”

Hood recalls the selection boards using Whitehall euphemisms for vetting during their post-interview discussions. “Does he play with a straight bat?” or “Does he have snow on the right foot?” were typical BBC expressions for political suitability.

Hood was a key witness of vetting during this period. He had joined the BBC in 1946 and was head of the World Service throughout the 1950s. He became Controller of Programmes in 1961 before leaving in 1964.

He recalls attending BBC Board of Management meetings “During those meetings senior administrative officials used to approach me, show me these slips of paper and say, “I think you should know this,” and then show me an article in Peace News.”

Hood also saw the security files “The investigative reports produced on staff and performers by the security services are testimony to the amount of petty espionage and surveillance to which citizens of our society are subjected.”

Stuart Hood believes this interpretation was spurious. He argues that vetting was a natural consequence of the BBC’s constitution.

“If the BBC was honest about its role, it would admit that it must support the central political authority by virtue of the State licence-fee system. But the Corporation has always had this fantasy about itself as a totally independent social organisation.”

 

 

 

 

 

 
Vetting of BBC Staff Always Had More To Do With Politics Than Security

The British Secret Service clearly saw the political objective as the major issue in their role. This was confirmed by the Observer’s disclosure that, as well as vetting, the security services also provided ‘background briefs’ to the BBC on industrial disputes.

These secret reports included the alleged involvement of subversives in trade union activity. They were delivered every three months to a small number of senior BBC executives, including the head of news and current affairs.

The ‘briefs’ included the activities of radical and subversive political groups and traced their involvement in strikes and campaigns.

The BBC confirmed the reports’ existence, but said they had stopped receiving them by 1985 and in October 1985, the BBC agreed to stop all security vetting except in two areas.

1. Members of staff involved in the planning and operation of broadcasting when British Forces are engaged in armed conflict, as they have access to classified information.

2. The External Services. This was due to the threat of infiltration and intimidation of staff by foreign intelligence services. Overseas broadcasters also had access to information from embassies which could be sensitive. But staff would no longer be asked to sign the Official Secrets Act.

Full report here:  http://www.bilderberg.org/mi5bbc.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Positive Vetting – Sensitive Posts within the BBC

Around 120 BBC staff are positively vetted by MI5. If they fail to maintain a performance level acceptable to the controller and their P.V.  classification is removed they are either removed from their post or sacked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EU Parliament backs TTIP resolution

Despite vocal criticism, the EU Parliament has approved a non-binding resolution on the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, bridging a gap in protracted negotiations on the secretive trade pact between the EU and the US.

The resolution was approved by the majority of the parliament with 436 ‘Yes’ votes coming up against 241 ‘No’ votes in Strasbourg on Wednesday in hopes of influencing the TTIP negotiations between European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom and the USA.

Washington insists that for negotiations to be successful a dispute body must be incorporated into the final agreement.

http://rt.com/news/272563-eu-parliament-ttip-trade/

 

 

 
Barack Obama is pursuing increased trade links with the EU and with Australasian countries. But why are these treaties being pushed through in haste and secrecy?

 

 

 

 
The Truth About TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership)

 

 

 

 

 
The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) – European Disintegration, Unemployment and Instability – Jeronim Capaldo October 2014

According to its proponents, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will stimulate growth in Europe and in the US. Indeed projections endorsed by the European Commission point to positive, although negligible, gains in terms of GDP and personal incomes. But, In a paradox, these projections also show that any gains in Trans-Atlantic trade would happen at the expense of intra-EU trade reversing the process of European economic integration.

Using the United Nations Global Policy Model (UNGPM), projections are that TTIP will lead to a contraction of GDP, personal incomes and employment. It is also projected there will be an increase in financial instability and a continuing downward trend in the labour share of GDP. (Simplified this means that the poor will get poorer and the already rich much richer as corporate power increases and the influence of States reduces.)

* TTIP will lead to losses (0.95-2.07) in terms of net exports after a decade, compared to the baseline “no-TTIP” scenario.

* TTIP will lead to net losses (0.30-0.50) in terms of GDP.

* TTIP will lead to a loss (3400-5500 Euros) of labour income.

* TTIP will lead to job losses. Calculations are that approximately 600,000 jobs will be lost in the EU.

* TTIP will lead to a reduction of labour share (the share of total income accruing to workers), reinforcing a trend that has contributed to the current stagnation. The flip-side of its projected decrease is an increase in the share of profits and rents, indicating that proportionally there would be a transfer of income from labour to capital. The largest transfers will take place in UK (7% of GDP transferred from labour to profit income).

* TTIP will lead to a loss of government revenue. The surplus of indirect taxes (such as sales taxes or value-added taxes) over subsidies will decrease in all EU countries.

* Government deficits will also increase as a percentage of GDP in every EU country, pushing public finances closer or beyond the Maastricht limits.

* TTIP will lead to higher financial instability and accumulation of imbalances. With export revenues, wage shares and government revenues decreasing, demand will have to be sustained by profits and investment. But with flagging consumption growth, profits cannot be expected to come from growing sales. A more realistic assumption is that profits and investment (mostly in financial assets) will be sustained by growing asset prices. The potential for macroeconomic instability of this growth strategy is well known after the recent financial crisis.

 

 
Summary

Projections point to bleak prospects for EU policymakers. Faced with higher vulnerability to any crises coming from the US and unable to coordinate a fiscal expansion, they will be left with few options to stimulate the economy: favouring an increase of private lending, with the risk of fuelling financial imbalances, seeking competitive devaluations or a combination of the two.

There are two general conclusions.

(1). As widely reported in the media, newsprint, financial and economic literature, existing assessments of TTIP do not offer a suitable basis for important trade reforms. Indeed, when the (UNGPM) model is used, results change dramatically.

(2). Seeking a higher trade volume is not a sustainable growth strategy for the EU. In the current context of austerity, high unemployment and low growth, further increasing the pressure on labour incomes will further harm economic activity. Model results suggest that any viable strategy to rekindle economic growth in Europe will have to build on a strong policy effort in support of labour incomes.

http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/wp/14-03CapaldoTTIP.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

Francesca Osowska

 

 

Scottish Affairs Committee Meeting – 2015 – Scottish Office – Financial matters – Francesca Osowska OBE, Director, Scotland Office, and Michael Chalmers, Director and Solicitor to the Advocate General in attendance

Chair: Welcome to the Scottish Affairs Committee; we are very grateful for you both coming along today. If you would like to introduce yourselves and say what you do, and if there are any initial statements that you want to make to the Committee, please feel free to use that time.

Osowska: Thank you very much. I am Francesca Osowska. I am Director for the Scotland Office and I am also Principal Accounting Officer for the Scotland Office and the Office of the Advocate General.

I have no opening statement, other than that I am very pleased to appear before the Committee to answer questions on the Scotland Office and the Office of the Advocate General Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15.

Chalmers: Thank you. My name is Michael Chalmers. I am the Director of the Office of the Advocate General and the Solicitor to the Advocate General. Similarly, I have no opening statement to make but am happy to answer any questions the Committee may have.

Chair: Thank you very much. Obviously, we are here to talk about the Annual Report, which we have all digested and know inside out and back to forward, and so on. We are grateful that we are able to ask you a few questions about what is included in the Annual Report.

One of the things that struck me, perhaps you could explain to me how this works is that there are 100 staff currently employed within the Scotland Office. Is that correct, roughly 100 staff?

Osowska: Across the Scotland Office and the Office of the Advocate General, yes.

Chair: Across the estate that is operating the Scotland Office. None of them is permanent. Does that create any difficulties or problems or issues for you? I would imagine it must, and why has the decision been taken that they have no permanent staff in the Scotland Office?

Osowska: Maybe I will kick off on that and I will ask Michael to comment and give a perspective from the Office of the Advocate General.

Since devolution and since the creation of the Scotland Office this has been the case: that the Scotland Office does not itself directly employ staff, but we second or take staff on loan from other Departments.

Part of that is pure economics, efficiency and practicality; to run a full-scale HR system for such a small office would be inefficient.

By tapping into the resources of other Government Departments for example, in the Scotland Office in London, most of our staff are on loan, but we also benefit from arrangements with the Cabinet Office we can access external expertise and indeed access external HR expertise, which is effective and efficient for us.

Members of staff, once they are in post within the Scotland Office, I feel are fully part of the Scotland Office team, so if the question is about allegiance, there are no difficulties there. Michael, do you want to say something?

Chair: Just before Michael comes in if you don’t mind, it is not about allegiance and I don’t think that is the issue. It is just being able to build up a staff capacity when none of them is permanent and most of them seem part-time.

Are they shared with other Ministry Departments or are they exclusive to the Scotland Office?

Osowska: They are exclusive to the Scotland Office.

Chair: Seconded from other Departments?

Osowska: They are seconded or on loan from other Departments. They have direct line management throughout the Scotland Office in the case of my staff, and for Michael in the case of OAG staff and they are answerable to Scotland Office Ministers, so that line of accountability is very direct.

Chair: Are there any plans to get permanent staff in place, given you have significant and substantial pieces of work to consider as we go forward in the session? Are you happy and relaxed about the current arrangements with the…?

Osowska: Yes, I believe the current arrangements work very well because we are able to bring in staff from other Departments and benefit from their expertise.

Chalmers: Yes. It is similar for the Office of the Advocate General, in that what I require to run my office is staff that have public law expertise and Scots-qualified lawyers. It is a relatively small office. We have about 36 lawyers.

It helps the resilience of my office to able to draw from a larger pool. So, the Office of the Advocate General is part of an association of Government legal offices, together with the Scottish Government Legal Directorate, Scottish Parliament lawyers and Scottish Law Commission lawyers.

All of these offices together draw from the same pool of staff but, yes, as Francesca has outlined for the Scotland Office, we have staff fully dedicated to working in our office. They do not move between offices day to day; they are on a reasonably long-term secondment and that operates as quite a successful model for us because it helps the resilience of not just our office but the other legal offices I mentioned.

It also means that staff interchange and it helps their development of legal skills. In fact, adding the perspective of working for another administration is helpful as well.

Chair: How many staff does the Office of the Advocate General have then?

Michael Chalmers: We have 36 legal staff and I think it is 46 in total.

Chair: The last year, as I think we touched on, has been a particularly trying year, with lots of pieces of significant and substantial work, particularly the referendum and the Smith Commission. What do you see as the main issues and challenges and the main thrust of your work as you go forward over the next year or two years in the parliamentary term?

Osowska: Thank you for the question. Again, I will speak for the Scotland Office and allow Michael to speak for the Office of the Advocate General.

In terms of the Annual Report, obviously, that sets out five objectives for 2014-15. For the Scotland Office, I think our work continues in that vein. We have a strong constitutional role, primarily in relation to the Scotland Bill, which, as you are aware, is passing through these Houses at the moment.

That is a key priority for the Scotland Office. In addition, we continue to be the voice of Scotland in Whitehall, so our work with other Government Departments across Whitehall, in terms of ensuring that they appreciate the devolution settlement and that they are conscious of the Scottish context, will continue.

Similarly, we are the voice of the UK Government in Scotland and, again, we work co-operatively with other Government Departments who have reserved responsibilities in Scotland to ensure that the UK government can work effectively in Scotland.

Chair: Just before we go to Mr Chalmers, do you have any sense of the balance? I am quite intrigued by seeing that you are the voice of Scotland and Whitehall and the voice of the UK Government in Scotland. How would you see that balancing out in terms of the commitment to either of those fine offices?

Osowska: In terms of numbers of staff?

Chair: No, not in terms of numbers of staff but about how much time or effort. Do you see yourself primarily as the voice of Scotland in Whitehall or do you see more of a role as being the voice of the UK Government in Scotland? How would you characterise the effort that is put on to each of those very laudable aims and objectives?

Francesca Osowska: I think we treat them equally. If I were to take those objectives along with our constitutional objectives which, as I mentioned, include the Scotland Bill, but also include responsibilities in terms of Scotland Act orders and LCMs—then I would say that we give those equal weight.

Chair: Mr Chalmers?

Chalmers: Yes. The role of our office is to provide Scots law advice to the whole of the UK Government. Our objectives reflect that, so that includes litigation for UK Government Departments in Scotland.

It includes giving Scots legal advice to all UK Government Departments, particularly on Westminster Bills, for example, but not restricted to that and also supporting the constitutional objectives that the Scotland Office shares.

Obviously, that would include the Scotland Bill and legal work on the Scotland Bill but it also includes a lot of the stuff that goes on below the radar.

Francesca mentioned Scotland Act orders; so, lawyers from my office will work closely with lawyers in the Scottish Government to make sure those orders proceed smoothly through each of the Parliaments.

I suppose an example would be the section 30 order that we put through in the early part of this year to change the competence of the Scottish Parliament to allow legislation for 16 and 17-year-olds to vote at next year’s Holyrood elections, so there is a lot of that sort of working below the radar that we continue to do and we see ourselves as part of the good operation of devolution and government for Scotland.

Chair: Thank you.

 

 

Financial matters – The Scottish referendum – Use of the Civil Service in support of the “Better Together” campaign

Margaret Ferrier: Looking at the 2015-16 budget for the Scotland Office it was set at £5.8 million in the 2013 spending round, but the most recent main estimate asked Parliament to approve an additional £3 million for capability enhancement. What are these additional funds for?

Osowska: In terms of the outturn for 2014-15 the total combined outturn for the Office of the Advocate General and the Scotland Office was £7.7 million. You will appreciate that that did include an uplift from the original budget setting process that occurred in 2010.

At that point, a referendum was not anticipated; a lot of the work in terms of 2014-15 has been the follow-through or was related to the referendum, so the work in the run-up to the referendum, contributing to the Scotland analysis papers, for example, supporting Ministers as they gave public information to inform the debate about the referendum, and that explains the increase in that provision.

Margaret Ferrier: These public Ministers, are you meaning UK Ministers?

Osowska: Yes.

Margaret Ferrier: Not the Scottish Government?

Osowska: No.

Margaret Ferrier: The Annual Report and Accounts show that general administration costs rose by about 8% from £7.2 million in 2013-14 to £7.7 million in 2014-15. Why do you feel the general administration costs are rising? Is there another reason, other than the referendum debate that was taking place?

Osowska: No. As I said earlier, the very initial budget was set in 2010 as part of that spending review. The referendum was not anticipated at that point and this increase represents the resources dedicated by the Scotland Office to support the work of the UK Government, overall, in informing the referendum debate.

Kirsty Blackman: So the Scotland Office had allocated to it and spent an extra £3 million helping UK Government Ministers with information about the referendum, mainly?

 

 

Osowska: In terms of the increase, there are a number of different figures being talked about here. It might be helpful if I wrote to the Committee after this hearing to set out the sequence of events, because there were uplifts granted and changes in the Budget made from the original 2010 provision at different periods, including during the course of 2013-14, so I do not think it is entirely correct to say it was a single jump of £3 million.

In terms of what that money delivered and the outcomes that the Scotland Office delivered, I would refer the Committee to chapter 3 of the report. That sets out quite a detailed analysis of the outcomes and the outputs from the five objectives set by the Scotland Office, and certainly part of that work and a focus of that work in 2014-15 was in relation to the run-up and then the after-events—including the Smith Commission—of the referendum.

Chair: It would be helpful if you write to the Committee to explain properly what that £3.3 million did account for.

What we are hearing is that this might have been the figure that was used for the referendum campaign, for the “No” campaign, and used by UK Ministers to take part in the referendum. Would that be roughly a correct characterisation of that spending?

Osowska: I don’t think it would be if you don’t mind. What I am saying is that, if we look at page 54 of the Annual Report and Accounts, then you see the trajectory of the Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General accounts.

You can see, in terms of general administration costs, that they have more or less been around £7 million. That is why I feel it is important that I write and set out the explanation of the £3 million figure.

Chair: Please do.

Osowska: However, in answer to your question, Mr Chairman in relation to “Was this a way of the Government funding the ‘No’ campaign?” this was to fund the activities of UK Government civil servants, in line with the civil service code.

All activities undertaken by civil servants in my Department would meet a propriety test, yet I think you would agree that in the run-up to a referendum, obviously when Ministers want to be more visible, when we need to ensure that there is a good flow of public information for example, via the Scotland analysis papers that increase our activity and that is why there was an increase between the 2013-14 out-turn and 2014-15 out-turn.

This statement was later revealed to be absolute tosh. See:

https://caltonjock.com/2015/03/04/civil-service-mandarins-plotted-against-scotland-scottish-labour-mp-sat-on-his-hands-welsh-mp-foughts-for-scots-remember-this-come-the-general-election/

 

Margaret Ferrier SNP MP

 

Damm, Damm and Double Damm – What a con – The civil service and their Janus-faced illegal political behaviour

Osowska in a number of evasive statements to the Scottish Affairs Committee represented them misleadingly glossing over the expensive and extensive work of a large group of (supposedly politically neutral) Civil Servants who actively supported the objectives of the “Better Together” campaign. A gross misuse of public finances and Civil Servants presumably authorised by David Cameron and Sir Jeremy Heywood.

The matter of the vastly oversized Scottish Office staffing establishment drew comment but did not address the previously advised 50+ excess staffing of the Scottish Office over the Welsh Office. So the Scottish Office has retained 50+ unjustified posts the costs of which are charged to Scotland’s block grant each year.

The political slush fund created is an ever-increasing Tory Party financial nest egg (it is skimmed off Scotland’s block financial grant) and abused by the Scottish Office for questionable purposes, such as the Westminster government anti-devolution leaflet production, printing and distribution.  And/or hiring Special Advisors (SpAds), often sons, daughters, other relations, friends of ministers or other MP’s.

 

 

Mundell Tory MP

 

 

 

Scotland Office – The Gobble Gobble Monster –  Rapidly Increasing Financial Allocations

The cost of maintaining the Scotland Office is extortionately high and is ever increasing year on year without justification or satisfactory explanation.

A House of Commons report submitted in 2005/2006 recorded that the Scotland Office was hopelessly overstaffed and recommended a 50 per cent establishment reduction. In the years that followed  salary costs were reduced.

But from the time the Tory Government took up the reins of government salary costs have increased year on year, but it only recently that the method in the apparent madness of the Tory Government has surfaced.

The Scotland Office is no longer a team existing to assist Scotland and it’s devolved government. It is the UK Government of Scotland. Its supremo is David Mundell assisted by the unelected Lord Dunlop. Read the 2014/15 Annual Report, Link attached:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/448145/SO_Report_2014-15.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 February 2011: Scotland Office – a Political Propaganda Unit maintained to retain supremacy over Scotland

Twenty staff are employed at the £6million-a-year Scotland Office to cope with just three letters a day. The astonishing revelation sparked calls for it to be scrapped as an irrelevant waste of cash.

The Scotland Office occupies plush Dover House in Whitehall and is supposed to look after our interests down south. But its role has shrunk dramatically since devolution in 1999.

We can reveal 20 staff employed to deal with mail replied to 1252 letters in 2006-2007 – just over one per member of staff every week. The letter scandal follows a series of damning reports on money-wasting at the department.

Its 50 staff, who work between Edinburgh and Dover House, claimed £75,000 hotel expenses last year and another £8000 on hiring plants. Matthew Elliot, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “These figures show how little work the Scotland Office is doing at the same time as it is costing taxpayers an extortionate amount.

It was very evident in the 80s and early 90s how powerless and useless our so-called Labour MPs were then as Thatcher raked her spurs along the flanks of Scotland.

The only time the “feeble fifty” Labour MPs did anything of significance in Westminster during that time was when the disbandment of Strathclyde region was announced, the Labour MPs walked out in protest with Dewar assaulting the mace. The present holders of the Labour flag are even worse if that were possible.

http://keyboredwarrior.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/newsnet-scotland.html

 

Lord Dunlop  Unelected member of the upper house at Westminster

 

 

 

 

Dunlop, Cameron, Mundell and? with Nicola & John

 

 

 

 

 

Scotland Office: Increase in salary costs between 2010 and 2015 projected to be £2.00million = 2015 Salary requirement approximately £7.00million. A scandalous amount of money supporting an unnecessary tier of Westminster government maintained just to keep the natives in their place as underlings of the Unionist political dictatorship.

A year on year analysis is revealing:

2010/2011: Total Establishment 57 WTE: Policy & Briefing: £.950k: Secretary of State Private Office: £.300k: Corporate & Constitutional Policy: £.700k. Total Cost Scottish Office: £1.950K

2014/15: Scotland Office – Total Establishment 118: Scotland Office, London: 27.00 WTE: Mundell’s Private Office (London) 8 WTE: Scotland Office, Edinburgh 40 WTE: Mundell’s Private Office (Edinburgh) 1 WTE: Total 67 WTE.

Staffing of the Office of the Advocate General: Ministerial Private Office: 3 WTE: Legal Secretariat to the Advocate General: 3 WTE: Office of the Solicitor to the Advocate General: 45 WTE: Total 51 WTE: Total establishment 118 WTE.

Total Salary Costs: 6.326K: add 1 Special (Dunlop) Advisor: £.82K  Grand Total Salary costs 2014/15: £6.408K

Comment:  Mundell siphoned off nearly £4.5million from the Scottish financial allocation and directed it into a Unionist party slush fund to provide very generous finance for schemes designed to enhance his and the Tory Party profile in Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

Brian Spanner1    https://twitter.com/brianspanner1

 

 

This little white dog (LWD) never understood why it was the one who had to go to the groomer. (submitted by Carl) April 27th, 2010    http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2010/04/27/sns-mans-bff-2/

Is Brian this Person?  LairdBrian McSpanner

 

 

http://ponsonbypost.com/index.php/news/63-rowling-and-spanner-the-untold-story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denis Winston Healey,  politician, born 30 August 1917; died 3 October 2015

Denis was the best Prime Minister the UK never had. The aptly titled “Iron Chancellor” (1974 to 1979) rescued the UK from financial disaster on a scale mirroring the recent Greek fiasco. As with Greece and the EU, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded the imposition of harsh measures on the workforce.

His high tax, low wage increase policies squeezed the rich and the poor alike but achieved results (in one year Healey repaid the IMF more of their loan than Osborne has paid back in 10 years).

But just as the economy took an upward swing the Unions decided they would no longer tolerate a wage squeeze on the lowest paid. Healey advised the Prime Minister Callaghan and the cabinet that the recession was at an end and whilst small increases could be entertained there needed to be a wage cap. Unions decided against the cap and instructed their members to strike.

There followed the “winter of discontent” which ushered in Margaret Thatcher and the Tory Party (1979). The Tories reaped the benefit of a growing (IMF loan free) economy and the added massive bonus of North Sea Oil and gas, the price of which would increase fourfold following the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and the Iran/Iraq war. More money in Westminster’s coffers than there had ever been. In Scotland there was euphoria. All was well with the world. But it wasn’t.

Thatcher embraced “monetarism” the financial philosophy of American economist, Milton Friedman. Based largely on restricting the money supply in circulation this was her weapon against rising prices, and it succeeded in halving inflation, to less than 5 per-cent by 1983.

But her success was brief since the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) failed to expand due to a massive programme of industrial downsizing instructed by Thatcher on Scotland and Wales, (punishment on Scotland for opposing the hated Poll Tax, support of the Coal-Miners and industrial action in the shipyards of the Clyde).

She went on to balance the failure of her monetary policies through the transfer of millions of workers to the care of the state, (the dole). Many aged over 40 would never work again.

Healey clashed frequently in Westminster with Thatcher, once accusing her of “adding the diplomacy of Alf Garnett to the economics of Arthur Daley.”

He also described her as “La Pasionaria of middle-class privilege” and declared: “I often compare Margaret Thatcher with Florence Nightingale. She stalks through the wards of our hospitals as a lady with a lamp. Unfortunately, it’s a blowlamp.”

 

 

 

Denis Healey and Scotland

Asked about “Scottish Independence” “fiscal independence” and the “currency union”  he said:

“I think we would suffer enormously if the income from Scottish oil stopped but if the Scots want it [independence] they should have it and we would just need to adjust. But I would think Scotland could survive perfectly well, economically, if it was independent. Yes, I would think so… with the oil.”

When questioned about the much repeated claims that Scotland is subsidised by the rest of the UK given that Joel Barnett, the architect of the Barnett formula, was his deputy at the Treasury and worked out what share of the national income pot Scotland should receive he said “pays its fair share” and that “these myths” are simply perpetuated by those that oppose independence.

On Scotland keeping the pound, he says Scotland would gain but adds that so “would the rest of us” and he doesn’t see why Westminster could say the Scots couldn’t have it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 February 2016: Budget 2016 – Former Pensions minister warns Tory’s will drop a £4Billion Tax bombshell with pensions overhaul

A former pensions minister warned that the Tory chancellor is planning to drop a £4bn “extra tax bombshell” in next month’s Budget by getting rid of the so-called tax-free lump sum.

The retired politician who was pensions minister in the coalition and is now director of policy at Royal London, said that existing rules allowing people to access 25 per cent of their pension pots tax-free in a single lump sum when they reach the age of 55 “could be on the brink of extinction” if the Chancellor introduces a so-called pensions ISA.

http://www.cityam.com/235046/budget-2016-former-pensions-minister-steve-webb-warns-osborne-will-drop-a-tax-bombshell-with-pensions-overhaul?ITO=sidebar-most-read

The UK has the worst state pensions in Europe;

A study shows the state pays pensioners an income equivalent to just 17% of average earnings. The, “inadequacy” of the UK’s state pension system is, “beyond question”.

This is the lowest level in Europe and well below the average for all European Union countries of 57%. Even the Netherlands, which has the second-lowest level, provides a state pension nearly double the UK figure, the study shows.

At the heart of the problem is Westminster’s failure to undo the damage caused by the Tories under Margaret Thatcher, who cut the link between average earnings and pensions in 1980. Since then annual pension increases have been tied to retail price inflation.

So much for a caring Westminster political system. Scotland would be better served by being independent from the corruption that is Westminster. Vote, “Yes” in the referendum

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-1615956/UK-state-pension-is-the-worst-in-Europe.html

January 2014; Women fear the struggle to survive in old age over pension uncertainty

Three-quarters of women fear they will struggle to get by when they reach retirement age because their current income is too low for a decent pension, a study shows.

Research also showed widespread confusion among working age women over the effect of changes to the pension system and the rising retirement age.

The study by the Pensions Advisory Service found that almost four in 10 women did not know when they would be able to draw their pension, because of changes to the qualifying age, and six in 10 had no idea if they had paid enough National Insurance.

Overall, it showed that seven in 10 did not feel confident about making decisions when saving for retirement.

Meanwhile 76 per cent do not believe they will have enough income to be financially comfortable once stopping work.

Around 40 million people currently of working age will receive the new single-tier pension, which is due to come into effect in 2016, simplifying the state pension arrangements.

It will run alongside the Government’s landmark plans to automatically enrol people into workplace pensions.

Michelle Cracknell, chief executive of the Pensions Advisory Service said: “The odds of women being able to provide for a comfortable retirement are stacked against them from the start.

“Women are much more likely than men to have career breaks, work part-time and have low-paid service sector jobs.

“The price they pay is an incomplete state pension in their own right and not much, if any, private pension to add to it.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/10592474/Three-quarters-of-women-fear-struggle-to-survive-in-old-age-over-pension-uncertainty.html

January 2015; Less than half British retirees to get full pension

The UK government admits that less than half of all British pensioners will receive their full £150-a-week state pension from 2016.

The Department for Work and Pensions says only 45% of the 3.5 million people who will retire between 2016 and 2020 will receive the full annuity.

The new single-tier pension will from April 2016 replace the existing two-part system of basic state pension plus the state second pension (also known as Serps).

Now Rodney Shakespeare, a London-based professor of economy and political commentator, believes the pension system is being manipulated. “The pension system is part of a general cutback in state benefits of one source and another. Behind this is a collapse of the real economy, and that is because the UK system like that of Europe and in the Western system generally does not put any money supply into productive capacity.

It only puts it into the banks and those who have existing assets and it all ends up in a sucking up of wealth to the one percent.”

“Just about half of the people who are retiring in the next year or two are going to have much less in state pension and they had been conned and they had been deceived. They were allowed in the past, in addition to their taxes not to pay an element of the national insurance pension contribution,” Shakespeare went on to say.

Under the new system, employees will need to have 35 years’ of National Insurance (NI) contributions to obtain a full pension, compared to 30 before.

The figures reveal that one in three retiring workers will be paid a state pension of no more than £133.56 a week rather than the £150 many have been led to expect.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/01/12/392794/UK

20 February 2016: Experts say low-earners will bear the cost of reform that promised to be fairer and simpler – and its impact will be greater than that of tax credits.

Twenty million people will lose out from the introduction of a new flat-rate state pension with the burden falling most heavily on low-paid private sector workers, according to analysis by leading pension experts.

The startling figure, part of research by pension consultants Hymans Robertson, comes just before the new deal for pensioners is to be introduced in April. It appears to undermine government claims that the reforms will create a fairer, as well as a simpler, system.

The company also warns that the policy could have wider and graver repercussions for government than its attempts to slash credits for working people, which forced chancellor George Osborne to perform a spectacular U-turn in his budget last November.

Research has revealed that while there would be winners among middle-to-higher earners from this April, the costs of these rises would fall on lower earners in the form of lower pensions in years to come for about 20 million people. “Within the private sector, it’s the low paid – those earning less than around £15,000 – that will be hit hardest.

Gordon Brown made changes to the way the low paid accrue state pension, which resulted in employees with earnings below around £15,000 accruing relatively large amounts. “Under the new rules, this population will be significantly affected.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/20/20-million-lose-out-pension-reform

Mortality Rates & Pensions

Up to the early 1950’s, Scottish mortality rates were broadly comparable with the rest of the UK.

But from that time, (attributed to increased levels of deprivation) life expectancy, in Scotland has hardly increased over a period of 60+ years.

In England, (over the same period) rates steadily increased year on year and there is now a very significant gap in life expectancy between England & Scotland.

Male pensioners, (approximately 1 million) of affluent areas of London & the South East of England enjoy a life expectancy of approximately 80 years. Female life expectancy, (similar in total)is approximately 84 years.

In Scotland, male life expectancy is approximately 72 years. Female life expectancy is approximately 78 years.

Allow individual pension contribution payments, (through taxation) approximately £60,000, (assume 40 years @ £1500 per annum) are the same for all taxpayers.

Maximum pension payments to male Scots. £6k x 7 years = £42K

Maximum pension payments to male English. £6K x 15 years = £90K

Maximum pension payments to female Scots. £4k x 13 years = £52K

Maximum pension payments to male English. £6K x 19 years = £76K

Summary.

Scottish pensioners are heavily subsidizing pension payments of English pensioners.

In his article the, “Artful Dodger”, (Gordon Brown) proves once more that, “liars can figure but, “figures don’t lie”.

Ignore the negative hype of the, “No” campaigners we should not be subsidizing pension payments for the rest of the UK. Vote, “Yes” to independence.

Worrying Statistics

The Office of National Statistics provides, age expectancy for 2010-2012, the years most favourable to England;

London & SE England: Males 80y,  Females 84y.

Glasgow & West of Scotland; Males 73y Females 78y.

Babies born in Glasgow & West of Scotland that reach age 65y; Males 73% Females 79%, (attrition rates much higher than those enjoyed by males and females in London & S/East England)

Note-worthy is the fact that 27% of males and 22% of females in Glasgow & West of Scotland will contribute to a pension all of their working lives and get NOTHING in return by way of pension, (Nice saving Mr Brown).

Scotland is poorly served by the United Kingdom. We will be much better off running our own affairs.

So as to be fair, I selected one, (similar in population density) conurbation in each country, namely ,”Glasgow & West of Scotland & London & S/East England”. Statistics extracted reflect an accurate snapshot of age expectancy in both countries.

Scotland is much worse off in the UK. Our people are dying much earlier than those in England and life expectancy for 25%+ of our children indicates they may not survive beyond age 65y.

A damming indictment of the so called fair and equal distribution of resources in the UK. Time we were out of it.

Lord Bichard – Retired people Should do work for pensions

The former head of the Benefits Agency said “imaginative” ideas were needed to meet the cost of an ageing society.

And although such a move might be controversial, it would stop older people being a “burden on the state”.

He added “the debate on rising healthcare and pension costs needs to be broadened out.

Are there ways in which we could use incentives to encourage older people, if not to be in full time work, to be making a contribution?,” he asked the committee investigating demographic changes and their impact on public services.

The 65-year-old cross-bench peer, suggested the government should use the pensions system to “incentivise” retired people.

“We are now prepared to say to people who are not looking for work, if you don’t look for work you don’t get benefits, so if you are old and you are not contributing in some way or another maybe there is some penalty attached to that.”

He asked: “Are we using all of the incentives at our disposal to encourage older people not just to be a negative burden on the state but actually be a positive part of society?” He acknowledged it would be difficult for politicians to sell to the public, but added: “So was tuition fees.”

UK merit a place amongst the lowest pensions in Europe

The General Secretary of the “National Pensioners Convention”, Director General’s of the charity “Age UK” and “Saga” reacted angrily to Lord Bichard’s idea claiming that:

* “This amounts to little more than national service for the over 60s and is absolutely outrageous. “Those who have paid their national insurance contributions for 30 or more years are entitled to receive their state pension and there should be no attempt to put further barriers in their way.”

* “Older people are a hugely positive part of society – over a third of people aged between 65 and 74 volunteer, a percentage that only drops slightly for the over 75s. “In addition, nearly a million older people provide unpaid care to family or friends saving the state millions of pounds.”

* “Almost a third of working age parents rely on grandparents to provide childcare – and more than 900,000 people are working past the traditional retirement age “either because they want to or because they can’t afford to retire”.

* “We must not forget that retirement is a vastly different experience depending on your personal circumstances. For example, 40% of all people over 65 have a serious long-standing illness and 1.7m of our pensioners live in poverty. “For many of those, retirement can be an unrelenting struggle of trying to survive on a low income in poor health.”

* Those who have retired have already made huge contributions to our society and are already the largest group of charity and community volunteers.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20044862

 

 

Treasury Mandarin, Sir Nick MacPherson Changes His Tune – Scotland Leaving the UK Post Brexit is a Golden Opportunity

Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the former permanent secretary to the Treasury  has claimed Brexit means Scotland leaving the UK now would present it with “an extraordinary opportunity” to attract skills and investment. In a column in The Financial Times, Sir Nicholas said the UK’s decision to leave Europe:

“changes terms of debate north of the Border” and that Scotland could “develop further as a financial centre”.

But he stabbed Scotland in the back in the 2014 referendum by strongly supporting the Westminster Government’s underhand tactics. See below

 

The Civil Service Code: Political Impartiality:

You must carry out your responsibilities in a way that is fair, just and equitable and reflects the Civil Service commitment to equality and diversity.

You must not act in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular individuals or interests.

You must not act in a way that is determined by party political considerations, or use official resources for party political purposes, or allow your personal political views to determine any advice you give or your action.

(http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/civil-service-code-2010.pdf)

 

Feb 2014: Sir Nicholas Macpherson – Permanent Secretary to the Treasury  snubs the Civil Service Code

Macpherson breached the “Civil Service Code” when he released to the public his personal views and political advice regarding sharing of sterling in the event the Scottish Referendum returned a Yes vote.

His unsolicited written advice to George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer was also at odds with the public position of the Governor of the Bank of England who had previously advised that an effective union of currencies was feasible, subject to agreement on a number of conditions.

Asked to clarify his actions  Macpherson said:

“throughout the debate on economic issues the Scottish Government has sought to cast doubt on the British Government’s position. It claimed we were blustering, bluffing – in effect casting aspersions on the UK Government’s integrity. My view is that if publishing advice could strengthen the credibility of the Government’s position, then it was my duty to do it.”

It was later revealed his intervention had been coordinated with senior government officials and members of the “Better Together” campaign forming part of a carefully choreographed exercise in political destabilisation, titled “the Dambusters strategy” by insiders. Noteworthy was his use of the words “we were” indicating his actions were politically driven, which he did not deny. Disgraceful conduct from a senior civil servant.

 

March 2014;  “Better Together” Scare Tactic Bang On the Money

On February 13th, in a flying visit to Edinburgh, the UK Chancellor, George Osborne, declared that Scotland would be denied use of the pound, if it voted “Yes” in the referendum. What followed was a carefully choreographed exercise in political destabilisation, titled the “Dambusters strategy” by Unionist insiders, which shook the “Yes” campaign.

 

March 7 2014; Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury – Says currency union decision is final

Calls for a monetary union between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK were akin to “embarking on a damaging divorce” but insisting on sharing a credit card, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander  said. Setting out his reasons for rejecting the Scottish Government’s preferred currency solution  he insisted that the decision to rule it out was final.

 

 

Feb 2015: Macpherson Takes Pride in The Actions of the Civil Service

Macpherson waxed lyrical about the effort put in by the Treasury to thwart Scottish independence;

“The project was run by a standing Treasury team of six officials, though during the course of two years’ work some 50 officials contributed to the analytic work.”

Full costs, about £2.5million was charged to the office of the Secretary of State for Scotland. So Scotland met the bill for advice it never asked for.