Report to the People
19th November 2007
A
Honest Mistake?
Even
when he was SNP leader, I always said that John Swinney was a decent man.
And I’m not about to change my tune now just because he’s the Finance
Minister.
In
fact, it was probably because of his basic honesty that he looked so
uncomfortable when he delivered his first budget last Wednesday. He clearly knew that what he was announcing was nothing like
what had been promised.
When
a government breaks its promises, some shrug and say, “So?
What do you expect from politicians?”.
Well, you might not believe it, but there are some politicians, like the
late Donald Dewar, who can’t sleep at night if they think they might have
accidentally misled parliament.
But,
let’s leave what was supposed to be in the budget to one side for now. What’s
actually in it? What does it mean
for us?
The
biggest issue for our community is crime and antisocial behaviour.
Worryingly, though, the budget no longer protects the cash for antisocial behaviour and
community safety strategies. And
the promised 1000 extra police are nowhere to be seen.
Also,
there are Inverclyde pensioners who are facing a long, cold winter because of
delays with the free central heating programme, but its budget is to be cut.
And
what effect will a real 5% schools budget cut have on our ambitious plans for
our children’s future?
In
the weeks ahead, we need to ask how the government got their sums so wrong. Was
it an honest mistake? Or something
worse?
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