Holyrood cleaned out for summer

By John Knox
Political reporter, BBC Scotland

Holyrood came rollicking to the end of term with a good going row over money.

It centred on the money Scotland contributes to the UK, and the £800m the Scottish Executive is "drawing down" from the Treasury in London.

The SNP said Scotland was not subsidised by the Treasury

At question time, the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon asked: "Does the first minister agree with those who think Scotland is subsidised by the rest of the United Kingdom?".

She pointed out that when oil revenues are taken into account - £1bn-a-month - Scotland more than pays its way.

Jack McConnell said it wasn't a question of "subsidy". The formula giving the Scottish Executive its budget of £26.5bn last year, he explained, was based on Scotland's needs.

It was more per head than in England and that was because we have an older, poorer population, spread across a wilder territory. It was one of the advantages of belonging to the United Kingdom.

"The slogan 'It's Scotland's Oil' may be more exciting for Ms Sturgeon than the rest of us," said Mr McConnell.

"But we've heard it all before, in the 1970s. It failed then for the SNP and it will fail again now."

Football fan

Ms Sturgeon replied with her own line in patronising put-down.

"I know the first minister is a bit of a beginner when it comes to standing up for Scotland," she said.

"So can I offer him some advice - there is a lot more to standing up for Scotland than not supporting England in the World Cup!"

Earlier in the week, Finance Minister Tom McCabe announced that he was dipping into Scotland's reserves in the Treasury at Westminster, with £800m to be drawn down over the next two years.

Money from Scotland's reserves is to pay for the M74 extension

The SNP called it "a war chest" to fight the Scottish elections in May next year.

Mr McCabe said it would be spent on important infrastructure projects like the M74 extension and a new prison.

He also announced that last year's underspend was £235m, or 0.9% of the Scottish Executive's budget. It was "the best since devolution began" and compared well with the £700m underspend in 2001.

The Conservative leader Annabel Goldie asked why, with all this extra spending, the public services were not improving?

She said: "We have seen a troubling pattern, for example, of numerous hospitals being closed down or downgraded or placed under threat...Stobhill, Vale of Leven, Perth Royal, St John's in Ayr, Jedburgh and Coldstream cottage hospitals, and that's just a few!"

The first minister said paramedics were now providing a much better first aid service and, best modern medical practice meant that specialised treatments needed to be centralised.

'No comment'

Mr McConnell was put on the spot however by one of his own backbenchers Karen Whitefield over the planned closure of the accident and emergency unit at Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire.

"It's a disastrous decision," she declared, and the consultation exercise had been a "deceitful sham".

The first minister said he couldn't comment on the Monklands case because he was himself a Lanarkshire MSP. So too is Health Minister Andy Kerr.

So the final decision, on whether to accept the local health board's recommendation, will be left to Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald. Poor man.

One of the most moving moments of the week was seeing the men from the Clydebank Asbestos Group making their way slowly and painfully into the public gallery as MSPs debated an emergency motion to remove some of the legal obstacles preventing them claiming full compensation for their illness.

MSPs approved a change in the law on asbestos compensation

Some 2,000 former shipyard workers on the Clyde have fallen victim to the lung disease mesothelioma as a result of breathing in asbestos dust, sometimes 20 years ago.

The so-called Sewel motion passed unanimously by MSPs brings into Scots Law a change being put through at Westminster to make it easier to claim compensation when several different employers are involved.

The Clydebank MSP Des McNulty has also persuaded the executive to take over his bill to change the law further in Scotland and allow the families of men who die from the disease to claim compensation for their early death.

"The Scottish Parliament gains credit when it does the right thing," said Mr McNulty.

"The employers knew there was a hazard but they didn't protect their workers."

The last debate of the term was on Malawi.

It brought to mind events of a year ago when parliament was breaking up for the summer just as 250,000 people were gathering for the Make Poverty History march on the G8 summit.

Aid promises

Minister for International Development Patricia Ferguson said: "It is no longer acceptable that half the world goes hungry while the other half prospers."

She's now drawing up a detailed action plan under which Scotland will give further help to Malawi to develop its health and education services.

Over the last three years the Scottish Executive's international development fund has distributed almost £5m to 34 projects.

It's a drop in the ocean of poverty , of course, as Bob Geldof has been reminding us this week.

Geldof said countries were behind on promises to boost aid to Africa

He pointed out that while British aid to Africa rose by £116m to £1bn last year, the Treasury still needs to find £429m more to fulfil its promise of 0.7% of GDP going to aid.

Earlier in the week there were debates on racism and on the executive's bill to merge the 14 area tourist boards with the central agency Visit Scotland.

The committees have ended the season with another session on the McKie fingerprint case, a favourable report from the education committee on the new adoption law, and an outing for the petitions committee to Jedburgh.

This has been a sort of hedge trimming term at Holyrood. The garden has been tidied up with the passing of the members interests bill, the police bill, the animal welfare bill.

There have been important rows over free personal care, pensions, foreign prisoners, nuclear power and nuclear arms.

There has been much self congratulation too over the successful implementation of the smoking ban.

New shoes

The place is ready for a quiet summer. The 129 MSPs are going back to their constituencies to prepare for the final race towards the elections on 3 May next year. Expect to see them at your local village fair.

The only excitements are likely to be Tommy Sheridan's court battle against the capitalist press and the Festival of Politics - without Sir Sean Connery alas - running from 23 - 26 August.

Oh and we're going to have our roof repaired. Already the workmen have moved in to erect scaffolding in the debating chamber.

All 60 wooden beams are to be given new "shoes" to make sure none of them swings loose again.

Then there will be another row over money...who is to pay the £130,000 repair costs and the £280,000 it cost to fit out alternative venues?

The long saga of democracy will resume on 4 September.