Report to the People
All the Best for 2002
I am assuming that if you are reading this then everything is done. The bun is sliced, the shortbread out, the ginger wine in the decanter and the good whisky hidden away.
After the hassle and demands of the Christmas week – tantrums in shops, long and expensive letters to Santa, hearing nothing but "I want, I want, I want" (the kids being even worse, boom boom) – Hogmanay is altogether more relaxing.
It also gives us time to reflect on the past year. And, for the Scottish Parliament, it was as eventful as ever.
The departure of former First Minister, Henry McLeish, undoubtedly came as a shock. As I said at the time, the events which led up to his resignation gave us plenty of food for thought. But the work goes on and new First Minister, Jack McConnell, has certainly hit the ground with his feet running.
The Scottish Parliament has now passed some 28 Acts in its two and a half year life – from measures to the abolition of tuition fees and the reintroduction of grants to the introduction of a national system of concessionary travel for pensioners.
Indeed on our final sitting day of 2001, the Parliament passed another two bills into law. The first was on local government, with a range of measures designed to reinvigorate local democracy – including allowing councils to make it easier for us to take part in the democratic process by letting us, for example, vote from home or at the weekend.
The second was a short education bill, which will help the landmark "McCrone" agreement, which increases teachers pay by 23% in real terms over 3 years, be implemented in full.
At a local level, we are seeing the effects of the work being done at Holyrood. Inverclyde’s council and housing association tenants are receiving their free central heating and the council has published its bid for £100 Million to revitalise our schools.
But there is no room for slacking. We need to keep up the hard work if we are to put all our plans into action.
2002 will be a busy year, but I am looking forward to delivering on our priorities: eradicating child poverty; improving housing; providing good patient care and create safer communities.
If we can achieve in these areas, then it will be a better New Year for us all.
All the best for tonight and the New Year.
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