McConnell tackles football critics

By John Knox
BBC Scotland political reporter

The reform of the pension system has caused shock waves at Holyrood. So too has the decision to allow the police to keep DNA samples.

And there's been consternation over the first minister's revelation that he won't be supporting England in the World Cup. What a week.

The retirement age will now rise to 68 in 2046

The SNP's Nicola Sturgeon started it all off at question time by asking the first minister to reject the Westminster idea of increasing the retirement age from 65 to 68.

"It is simply wrong," she said.

And she pointed out that Scots die earlier than the English and Welsh - three years earlier on average - so it was unfair on Scots to increase the age at which they can benefit from the state pension.

Jack McConnell said Ms Sturgeon had to face up to some tough realities.

"If she ever aspires to public office, she will not be able to avoid the hard question of how do we prepare for an ageing population and ensure that our pension system is appropriate," he said.

We have been given a long time to get used to the pension changes. They won't come into effect till 2046.

But the first minister has been thinking about the long term future this week. On Tuesday he published a 280-page report on the state of the Scottish nation in 20 years' time.

For too long in this chamber we have tried to balance the rights of civil liberties with the rights of victims Paul Martin Labour MSP

The population is expected to rise slightly to 5.13 million but nearly a third will be over the age of 60.

The health and poverty gap will remain much as it is at the moment and the Scottish economy will face fierce competition from abroad.

Mr McConnell told an audience of students and public sector workers at a "Futures Project " conference at Stirling University that the long-term answer to most of these challenges was an education revolution as profound as the expansion of the universities in the 1960s or the introduction of universal free education in the 1890s.

Not to be outdone on long-term thinking, Conservative leader Annabel Goldie delivered a lecture on Scotland's future to students at Strathclyde University on Monday evening.

She argued for the "localisation" of political power and said the Scottish Parliament should raise more of its own revenue.

Postcode lotteries

She said many of our state agencies or quangos should be abolished and their powers handed to local councils.

"Councils should raise more of their own funds," she said. "And people should get used to the idea of a local variation in services.

"The public has become obsessed with so-called postcode lotteries."

Back at Holyrood on Thursday, MSPs voted by 63 votes to 44 to allow the police to keep DNA samples of all those accused of sexual or violent crimes, even if they are subsequently cleared.

The SNP, the Conservatives, the Greens and the Socialists voted against.

The MSP who moved the successful amendment to the police bill, Labour's Paul Martin, said: "For too long in this chamber we have tried to balance the rights of civil liberties with the rights of victims. I make no apology for presenting the case for victims."

Shirley McKie said MSPs' questioning at the inquiry was unfair

Mr Martin wanted DNA from all suspects to be kept for an indefinite period, as has been the practice in England and Wales since 2001.

But this was opposed by the Liberal Democrats, so the executive parties ended up voting for a compromise.

Only the DNA of those accused of serious crimes will be kept and only for thee years - though that can be extended to five years with the agreement of a sheriff.

The police bill went through it's final stage by 111 votes to five, only the Socialists voted against.

The rest of the bill includes doubling the sentence for knife crime, introducing orders banning known troublemakers from football grounds and introducing a 28-day period of notice for sectarian marches.

There will also be a new police complaints commission and a stronger crime and drugs enforcement agency.

On Wednesday afternoon MSPs began the complex process up-dating Scots law on bankruptcy and diligence, some of which dates back to the 17th century.

The "diligence" we are talking about here is diligence in repaying one's debts.

Bankruptcy has increased by 30% in the last 10 years to 3,500 cases a year.

Personal insolvency has soared by 170% to 9,600.

Good credit can turn into bad debt Minister Allan Wilson

It's not much wonder, considering the amount of easy credit swilling around the system from the banks and department stores.

"Good credit can turn into bad debt," minister Allan Wilson declared, "because of bad luck, or bad judgement or bad behaviour."

He was keen to encourage the enterprise spirit, so the period a bankrupt person is banned from running a company is to be reduced from three years to one year.

On the question of personal debt, we learned this week that the average debt of people going to Citizens Advice Bureaux is £13,500.

The Scottish Executive already has a debt management scheme and Mr Wilson announced it would be interest free from the point that repayments begin.

Loan sharks

But he ran into controversy with his proposal that, for people who "won't pay", creditors will be able to seize the family home if the debt they are owed is more than £1,500.

Socialist Tommy Sheridan said these so-called "land attachment orders" would be used as a threat to "frighten the living daylights" out of poor people, and they would be forced to turn to loan sharks and run even further into debt.

Mr Wilson said he would be amending the bill at stage two to build in more safeguards to protect the poor.

Only the DNA of those accused of serious crimes will be kept

He doubted that land attachment orders would actually result in people being evicted from their homes.

The sheriff would always take into account the family's circumstances before granting an order.

The bill went through to stage two by 95 votes to five, with the Conservatives abstaining.

Shirley McKie made a dramatic appearance at the justice committee on Tuesday afternoon.

In an emotional outburst she accused MSPs Ken Mackintosh and Des McNulty of putting her on trial again for perjury.

"I am totally insulted by your questions," she told them. "You're being extremely unfair".

This was not their intension, they said. They just wanted to get at the truth of what happened in the Kilmarnock fingerprint case back in 1997.

World Cup

"I was hung out to dry", she told the committee.

Miss McKie was, of course, cleared in court of the allegation that her fingerprint was found at the murder scene and earlier this year she was given £750,000 in compensation by the Scottish Executive.

The four experts at the Glasgow fingerprint office will take the stand next week. They insist their original identification was correct.

Mr McConnell said he would not be backing England in the World Cup

All of which has cast a shadow of doubt over the office, not helped by the fact that other apparent misidentifications have come to light, the most recent this week in a housebreaking case at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Finally, to that vexed question of which team the first minister will be supporting in the World Cup.

He caused eyebrows to rise -and cheers on the terraces - when he announced he was supporting Trinidad and Tobago.

"What ?," asked his Westminster colleagues, "not England?"

Well, Mr McConnell explained, several of the Trinidad and Tobago team play for Scottish clubs.

"And I don't link my football with my politics. I'll enjoy the small teams giving the big teams a beating from time to time during the competition," he said. But what happens if Trinidad and Tobago don't win the World Cup?

The first minister may suddenly lose his credibility. He may find himself taking more of an interest in the pension debate after all.