17th May 2021: A Week in Parliament

Covid Public Inquiry

I am glad Boris Johnson agreed that a public enquiry into covid will happen. It is important that this is judge-led though and not a Tory stooge. At his ministerial statement I put it to him that the enquiry will need to consider serious matters such as why the UK Government refused to control the borders; why they delayed the first lockdown while they had advisors talking about creating herd immunity; how Dido Harding (wife of a Tory MP and closely linked to the party) was directly appointed as chair of the body to create the £37billion English Track and Trace system; about all the PPE contracts awarded directly to Tory chums with companies that had no experience in this field and importantly that such an enquiry needs access to all electronic communications between these people and Government Ministers because of all the lobbying.

Being cynical I would say it is clever politics for Boris Johnson to be seen to be keen to understand the lessons to be learned, just a couple of weeks after it emerged he had said he would rather “let the bodies pile up than have another lockdown”. Whatever, I hope this inquiry does get to the bottom of the decision making and make sure any mistakes are not repeated.

Crossroads Community Hub

While out and about for the election campaign I was delighted to pop into the newly opened Crossroads Hub and Café, aka Ayrshire Food Hub. It is a fantastic facility and testament to a group of people who were determined to see a community legacy replace the former primary school there. There is a fantastic selection of produce, including meats, fresh vegetables and fine cheeses. There are also cooking ingredients and relishes and likes as part of the delicatessen selection. I thoroughly recommend a visit and if you are anything like me you will fill your shopping basket!  

Election Analysis

In the aftermath of the Scottish Parliament elections, it has transpired that a party called “Independent Green Voice” picked up a lot of votes which could only have been intended for the Scottish Green Party. This prevented the Greens from getting an additional seat in Glasgow and a seat in the South Scotland region. So really, there should be 74 pro-independence MSPs and only 55 unionist MSPs. It has also been highlighted that unionist affiliated organisations were promoting tactical voting techniques without having a political imprint on them. This is illegal, and while it is difficult to quantify if these posts had any impact on the election, action needs to be taken to stop such illegal activities. I have submitted questions to the Electoral Commission on these matters.

Killie FC

It has been a rollercoaster of a season for sure, and sadly more downs than ups. We are good enough to come through the play-offs so hopefully, we will – it’s good for businesses in the town that we are a Premiership team. It is also astounding you have to be over 30 to remember us in the lower leagues.