A Week in Parliament

Foreign Aid Budget

Less than a year into Government and the Tories have deliberately broken a manifesto commitment – the Chancellor has cut the foreign aid budget from the commitment of 0.7% of gross income to just 0.5%. Now we all know these are difficult times – as the gross income goes down, the budget automatically reduces anyway, but to do a deliberate cut is shameful. I know there can be a sentiment that charity begins at home. However, Foreign Aid can also help bring stability and security to countries which is beneficial to UK security and reduces the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. Cutting the foreign aid budget during the pandemic will reduce access to vaccinations in many countries – it is safe to say the Chancellor is making a decision will result in thousands of deaths that could be prevented.

Virtual Parliament

Despite a national lockdown in England and many areas of Scotland in Tier 4, the Tory Government has refused to extend the virtual parliament to cover debates. It has meant that while I would rather not travel at times, I have had to do so to cover part of my Spokesperson role. However, some MPs are excluded completely from debates as they cannot travel, sometimes to protect family members. The Tory Government’s only concession was that for MPs who got certification that they were “extremely clinically vulnerable” then they would be able to participate virtually. This had lots of connotations – it would mean MPs being willing to state publicly that they are so clinically ill. This would lead to some public debate and speculation about what their condition is. A more sensible amendment that would allow MPs to participate virtually for “public health reasons” was not accepted by the Government. Their intransigence is baffling – they brag about having a world-leading system and don’t use it. Meanwhile, Holyrood does, and it seems to work fine.

SNP Conference

Like all such events, this took place virtually. It is safe to say that the same passion and enthusiasm that comes from having a crowd cannot be generated online. That’s not to take away from several fantastic contributions and policy announcements. I also took part in a number of speaking events which involved using yet another IT platform. I could never have envisaged myself having to use so much technology as a consequence of the pandemic! I am sure I am not alone in that aspect.

National Infrastructure Plan

The UK Government launched this, which should just cover England only. However, the document has a boast that the Internal Market Bill allows them to by-pass the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments to spend money in the other nations. This is outrageous – a national audit office report on the English Towns Fund found that too much of the money was allocated to towns who did not meet the need criteria but were chosen because they were Tory seats with small majorities. We know then that any additional spending in Scotland won’t be to help national need but political projects to help Tory areas. They are shameless!