A Week in Parliament

Why Tier 4 for East Ayrshire? 

I have to admit I was initially angry that East Ayrshire was put into Tier 4 restrictions when North Ayrshire wasn’t. However, when I studied the statistics more – there are 11 council areas put into Tier 4. The 11 have the highest transmission rates in Scotland. East Ayrshire had the 11th worst rate in Scotland. North Ayrshire’s 7-day average is much better than the other two Ayrshire authorities. So, statistics back up the decisions. My one concern though is that the lockdown is to protect the NHS and Ayrshire and Arran predicts that unless transmission rates come down, both the general and intensive care departments will have capacity issues. Given North Ayrshire relies on Crosshouse, we really need comfort they will not put bigger pressures on Crosshouse.  

Why Tier 4 at all? 

Since the start of October, there have been 1000 covid related deaths in the worst affected local authorities. Approximately 40 such deaths are in East Ayrshire. As numbers in hospital are staying steady this would suggest that the Tier 3 restrictions had stopped the spread of the virus getting any worse. However, it is still too high, so this means taking further action to lower rates. The near lockdown is severe. However, Wales, Northern Ireland and England are doing similar nationwide. My office is inundated with people making cases for why their business should remain open. I sympathise with them all, and I agree with people that sport and exercise is good for physical and mental wellbeing. However, the reality is too many people are not adhering to the rules and with so many people contracting the virus we need to minimise ways to stop it spreading. Lockdown is the most extreme way of doing so. Let us work together and beat this, especially now a vaccine is close to being rolled out.  

Ayrshire Growth Deal 

It was fantastic to see the sign off of the Ayrshire Growth Deal. This will bring welcome investment at a much-needed time as we look to rebalance the economy post covid-19.  

PM and Devolution 

Boris Johnston has called Scottish devolution a disaster and Tony Blair’s greatest mistake. I have repeatedly pointed out that the man is anti-Scottish in general and it is clear he hates the Scottish Parliament having powers to do their own thing. No wonder he is trying to do a power grab. He truly believes that Westminster should be able to tell Scotland what to do. He can’t help making these comments and why he coined the term “Jockalypse”. It is ingrained to him. 

Priti Patel 

The Prime Minster’s Standards Advisor conducted an investigation into the conduct of Priti Patel and concluded she was guilty of bullying and broke the Ministerial Code. Because Johnson refused to act on the findings he had to resign his position and Patel carries on as if nothing happened. It is clear that shouting and swearing repeatedly at staff is bullying, but she uses the politicians’ pretend apology of “sorry for causing offence”. Another illustration of the cabal running Westminster.