News Politics IN BRIEF
Details of riot suspects released One in four people charged over the riots in English cities last month had committed more than ten previous offences, it has been claimed.
Midwife shortages Parts of England are facing big midwife shortages, putting mothers and babies at risk, midwives have said. The Royal College of Midwives says a
22 per cent rise in births over 20 years has led to shortfalls across England, but some areas are worse than others – it highlights the East Midlands and East.
EU growth at ‘standstill’ The European Commission has predicted that economic growth in the eurozone will come “to a virtual standstill” in the second half of 2011. It halved its forecast for July to
September to growth of just 0.2 per cent, while the forecast for the last three months of the year is down from 0.4 per cent to 0.1 per cent. The commission blamed financial
market problems over the summer as well as weakening demand from outside Europe.
Trump opposes farm plans US tycoon Donald Trump has written to Scotland’s First Minister objecting to plans to build an offshore wind farm near his luxury golf resort in Aberdeenshire. The billionaire described the
wind turbines as “environmentally irresponsible”. The Trump Organisation also filed an
objection to the planning application. A planning application for an
11-turbine wind farm off Aberdeen Bay, 1.2 miles from his golf course, was submitted to Marine Scotland in August.
Widow condemns ban The widow of a murdered policeman has condemned the Orange Order ban on members attending Catholic funerals as “antiquated”. Kate Carroll was responding to
news that two Ulster Unionists, including leader Tom Elliot, are to face disciplinary proceedings by the order. It follows their presence at the
Catholic funeral of murdered policeman Ronan Kerr. Mrs Carroll said the men had attended
Mass for her murdered husband, Stephen.
Labour needs united effort
Ross Reid Staff Reporter
Tribalism within the Labour Party in Scotland needs to be eradicated if the battered and bruised group is to recover from its humiliating defeat at the last election, a leading MP has said. Jim Murphy, who led a review into
the party following the SNP’s victory at the Scottish Parliament election in May, said the group north of the border will undergo its “biggest overhaul in living memory”. Murphy, who carried out the
review along with Sarah Boyack MSP, said the party needs a radical shake-up after the SNP achieved an unprecedented overall majority, taking 69 of the 129 seats at Holyrood. Labour went down from 46 seats to 37, losing some of its most senior figures. In an interview with Holyrood,
Murphy concedes the Labour defeat was “shocking”. He said people in the party have become frustrated by the three tiers of tribalism that have formed consisting of MPs, MSPs and councillors.
“Tat is destructive and has to finish,” he said. “We need to put that tribalism within the party to one side with MP vs. MSP and councillor vs. MSP and what the review is doing is taking on the three tribes to make it one party. “We can’t afford to continue with the tribalism within the party. So shocking was our defeat that it is no longer about left-wing Labour or right-wing Labour or New Labour or Old Labour, the only people I am against is lazy Labour, that’s it.
“I want to root out lazy Labour and I want candidates that we are proud of, who have a sense of pride at carrying a flag and that our standard becomes the Scottish flag and that is what we are working on.” Plans to come from the review,
revealed last week, include fully devolving the party from the UK group on all Scottish matters. Other proposals include creating an elected leader of the party, a post open to all Labour MSPs, MPs and MEPs. Previously the post was leader of the parliamentary group at Holyrood, and was only open to members of the Scottish Parliament. Following May’s election, the Scottish leader Iain Gray
announced he would stand down – but not until a new strategy was in place to revive the party. In the Holyrood interview,
Murphy concedes that he needs to shoulder some of the responsibility for the party’s failings. Referring to the conflicts in Downing Street at the heart of the Blair/Brown government, he said: “Yes, it all saddens me and, as you say, I was part of it and I didn’t stop it and that’s a regret. “But one of the things about the Labour Party is that it genuinely has people from all sorts of different political philosophies: student socialists, socialism, social democracy, liberalism, relative social libertarianism, economic liberals, social libertarianism, social conservatives, geographies, personalities and so on and that leads to frictions and that kind of friction can be healthy but it became all consuming for a while from 2004 onwards and people, real people, in the Labour Party in 100 years’ time will look back on it and wonder why that was allowed to happen. “In 20 years’ time, probably, there will be a sense of embarrassment about it.”
Read the full interview on page 18
Scotland’s universities and colleges to merge to save cash
Keri Sutherland Education Correspondent
Serious questions were raised last week over government proposals to merge colleges and universities in Scotland. Mike Russell last week insisted on a shake-up of post-16 education in order to “provide the best opportunities” for young people. Te Education Secretary also
revealed plans to deliver a minimum income of £7,000 to those in higher and further education. But critics said the plans, revealed
6
www.holyrood.com 19 September 2011
to MSPs in a statement, failed to deliver a clear solution to post-16 reform.
Alistair Sim, of Universities Scotland, said: “Tere’s a real lack of detail in his statement and he should bring forward some real answers for the further education sector without delay.” And John Spencer, convener of Scotland’s Colleges’ Principals’ Convention, said it was a “radical agenda with a challenging timescale”. But Mr Russell said he believed
his proposals would improve opportunities for young people and better support jobs and growth. Te reforms would also see Scotland being maintained as a world leader in university research
and skills. Called ‘Putting Learners at the Centre: Delivering our Ambitions for Post-16 Education’, the plan also proposes giving ministers extra power to enforce mergers. Te minister said that reform was “long overdue”. He added: “Every young person going through school and benefiting from Curriculum for Excellence should have the opportunity to realise their ambitions and improve their life chances. “Tis is why we have made a pledge to provide every 16 to 19-year-old with a learning or training opportunity. “Enabling our young people to
reach their full potential and realise their ambitions must sit at the very heart of all post-16 learning.”
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