(Monday 03 March 2008)
MALCOLM BURNS reviews the latest goings on in Scotland.
Power challenge is up to us
EMBATTLED Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander appears to have lost all momentum with her manoeuvre to outflank the Scottish National Party, otherwise known as the cross-party constitutional commission.
Having got agreement from the Lib Dems and Tories on terms of reference that strictly excluded the issue of independence, Alexander found herself embroiled in another commission, of the electoral variety, after admitting to breaking the law - Labour's law - on raising political funds.
The argument that pursuing this was not in the public interest won the day for Wendy with the Electoral Commission.
After weeks of toiling, Wendy was clear to proceed - until her Westminster friends rained on her devolutionary parade. First, Scotland Office Minister David Cairns rubbished the commission, saying that it was of interest only to the "McChattering classes."
Then, the Prime Minister, ostensibly supporting Alexander, announced that the commission would in fact merely be a "review" and that its remit would seemingly be less to do with how much power could be transferred to Scotland and more with what powers could be transferred back to Westminster.
Meanwhile, the SNP government's National Conversation, which naturally includes the independence option, seems to be following its new Labour namesake - anyone remember the Big Conversation? - into the long grass.
As Labour and the SNP bicker over whether or not to consider the independence option, no-one is able to mobilise the large majority which clearly supports a significant increase in the powers of the Scottish Parliament.
Surely, it is time for an intervention by the organs of civic society, suitably marshalled by the STUC?
You'll have had your free school dinners
THIS month was due to see the end of the Scottish free school meals pilot which began in October 2007. The good news is that the pilot is being extended until the summer break, as part of the concordat between the Scottish government and local authorities.
Five local authorities were funded by the Holyrood government to make free nutritious meals available to every child in primary classes one to three during the six-month scheme. For all other schoolchildren in Scotland, free school meals provision is means tested.
The councils in Borders, East Ayrshire, Fife, Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire were allocated a total of £4.5 million to run the pilot scheme until March 2008.
A spokesman for the Scottish government said: "The trial was always considered worth extending. As part of the concordat, it was agreed the five local authorities would continue to provide free meals until end of the school year."
A policy of universal free school meals has been campaigned for by trade unions, socialists and communists in Scotland over many years.
The Child Poverty Action Group, single parent charity One Plus and the Poverty Alliance joined in to support Bills introduced by the Scottish Socialist Party in previous Scottish parliamentary terms.
Although these Bills failed to gain the votes of the other parties, the minority SNP government initiated the pilot scheme when it took office last year.
Going coastal over pay
ON Thursday, Scotland's coastguards will be among hundreds around Britain on strike over pay, following an 80 per cent vote in favour of action by PCS members.
The strike ballot was the culmination of a long-running dispute dating back to May 2007 over pay levels in the Marine and Coastguard Agency, which have fallen far behind other emergency services.
Coastguard watch assistants actively participate in search planning and other duties along Scotland's 8,000-mile coastline in response to 999 calls, yet they only earn the national minimum wage.
Despite starting salaries of just £12,097, staff have also been expected to take a pay cut in real terms with pay rises averaging just 2.5 per cent for many and the most experienced staff receiving pay increases of less than 1 per cent.
Which side are you on?
THE public interest argument which got Wendy Alexander off the electoral law hook appears not to apply in quite the same way to poor old Tommy Sheridan and comrades, who have been charged with the serious offence of lying in court, but over something that many might find trivial - Tommy's alleged sex and drugs life.
The public definitely has a large, if mainly prurient, interest in the case, of course. The recent intervention of Lothian and Borders' finest in reporting Tommy's wife Gail to her employers British Airways for possession of a couple of spirits miniatures may have been a defining moment.
The public probably knows which side it is on in the Sheridan perjury case by now, even if it didn't before.
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