4th April 2022: A Week in Parliament

BEIS Trip

As part of a BEIS Committee enquiry into digital market laws, I was part of a group trip to the United States. In what sounds like a holiday, we visited San Francisco, Washington DC and New York over five days. It was genuinely exhausting because of the time difference and our days starting just after 7am each day. However, it was also very useful and insightful. The bug tech boys for mobile phones – Apple and Google control digital access via their app store access and get to dictate terms to new entrants. Basically, they operate as monopolies and utilise unfair tactics. Of course, they profess no such things. We heard plenty of counter-evidence including from the Justice Department in the States. What this means for us as consumers is that we do not necessarily get the choice we would want, and it is costing way more in subscription fees than it would otherwise. It was made clear that the UK can actually put in place regulations that make it much more difficult to employ nefarious tactics. However, you also need to be able to enforce the regulations which mean properly funding enforcement and a willingness to fight the big boys in court if need be. We were advised that Facebook employs 100 lawyers for every lawyer the Justice department utilises in a case. Their profit in a day and a half is equivalent to the Federal Trade Commission’s entire annual budget. These companies make so much money that they are more powerful than many countries' entire economies. Frightening really and we need to do as much as possible to keep them right.

Energy Cost Crisis

As if things are not bad enough with the rising cost of energy, the new standing charges have been announced, and sadly, with no surprise, Scotland is getting ripped off in the new pricing structure announced by Ofgem. South West England is the only region in the UK higher, but on average Scottish standing charges are higher than every other region, and compared to London, in East Ayrshire we pay 52% more in the daily standing charge. How is this levelling up?

Brownings’ Energy Update

After I raised the case of the crippling electricity prices inflicted on Brownings’ the Bakers, John Gall advised that several brokers were in touch and he has secured a deal that is more affordable [still a huge increase]. Despite the Government doing nothing to help, it is always pleasing that some form of outcome is derived from myself being willing to take a case up in Parliament. Some people question the validity of being at Westminster where Scottish MPs and the SNP, in particular, can be treated with disdain by the Tory Government. Getting outcomes for constituents is the whole reason for being there. While I want independence and the end of Westminster rule, while elected there I will always do my best to secure the right outcomes for constituents or try and influence energy policy to make it better.