Views
Gordon needs to ask the right question - for the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald
THE next 12 months or so are going to be crucial for the economy, locally and nationally.
Whilst it has seemed over the past few months that economic decline has stopped – and some sectors are doing well – there is a widespread expectation that the economy will slow down again and so the recession will continue for some time yet.
Locally, it has been heartening to see construction starting to get going again as well as the good summer that our tourism industry has been having.
But the tough times for business are still not over, and the tough times for public sector budgets are only just beginning.
We need to do all we can to maintain public investment until the recovery is clearly well under way. But once that is clear, there is a huge job to be done to bring the government's books back into balance and reduce the huge deficit that has been built up over the past year or so.
As Vince Cable nationally and Highland councillor David Alston locally have been saying, it is important to be honest about the scale of the challenge that this poses and the scale of the savings that will need to be made over the next few years.
An unfair funding formula set in Edinburgh already puts Highland Council under pressure, and so there will be important decisions to be made.
At a national level, I would prefer to see savings made by finding things that government doesn't really need to do – or are wrong – and stopping them.
If the Government were to drop the replacement of Trident, completely end the ID card project, and stop many wasteful IT schemes then a good start could be made.
An initiative Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg launched last week could really help to find appropriate savings – by asking the people in the know, public sector workers themselves.
Locally, hard-working nurses and teachers tell me how frustrated they are by the money which is being wasted on needless paperwork, administration and computer systems that don't work. The government should be listening to these professionals.
Every week at Prime Minister's questions, David Cameron and Gordon Brown are having a sterile debate about the size of the total Whitehall budget. But they're asking the wrong question: we first need to find out if money is being spent on the right things.
It can't be right that billions of pounds are being spent on NHS computer systems which don't work, yet basic help for people with serious mental health conditions is still lacking because of a shortage of money.
The people who are best placed to tell us where money is not being well spent are the teachers, nurses, social workers and other public servants who work so hard day and night on our behalf.
We need to listen to the people in the know on how we can better-run public services, making sure that every penny of taxpayers' money is well spent.
Anyone with ideas can contribute them – in complete confidence – at a special website www.nickclegg.com/intheknow.
Comments about spending locally or nationally are welcome. We will use the ideas that come forward to try to inject some commonsense into this debate.
Strathspey railway
THE extension of the Strathspey railway to Grantown is one of the most exciting projects being planned in the strath.
As I found out during a visit to the railway last week, there is a huge amount of work done by volunteers to operate the railway – not just operating the trains, but maintenance behind the scenes to keep the trains running and bringing others into service.
The extension to Grantown is a major project, with significant costs involved. It is very welcome that the Scottish Government has maintained its commitment to re-align the A95 at Gaich to allow the railway to pass under the road.
But the railway company will have to raise the funds to pay for the tunnel as well as a new station.
When the fundraising campaign is launched, I hope it will attract widespread support.
Posted on: 16/09/2009
