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"...her campaigning against education cuts is good news for parents" - Rachael Ewing, Seedhill
"...her campaigning against education cuts is good news for parents" - Rachael Ewing, Seedhill
Wendy Alexander welcomed the news that the New Tannahill Centre has been awarded a grant of nearly a £1million from the Big Lottery Fund.
The grant will support will support plans for major refurbishment and improvements to the Tannahill Centre in Ferguslie Park in Paisley. This will enable the Centre to provide attractive facilities to support a range of activities and also provide office premises for Ferguslie Park Housing Association and various community groups. Read more »
Wendy Alexander hit out at the SNP government for their delays in introducing the Boiler Scrappage Scheme in Scotland.
The scheme was introduced in England in January, and the SNP government were given additional funds to operate it here. They refused to commit to the scheme until a huge internet-campaign led by Labour forced them to change their mind and agree to it at the time of the Scottish budget two weeks ago. Read more »
WENDY ALEXANDER MSP has demanded an emergency statement from the Finance Secretary John Swinney after it emerged that the SNP rejected an offer by Network Rail to salvage the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) immediately after the vital project was cancelled by the SNP last September.
The report in yesterday’s Herald newspaper said that John Swinney was approached by Network Rail around the time that Garl was cancelled with an offer to use its own borrowing powers to fund it. Read more »
Scottish Labour in Holyrood today formally lodged their bid to introduce mandatory minimum sentences for knife criminals.
Labour’s amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill was lodged at Holyrood on Wednesday after the party’s ‘Carry A Knife – Go To Jail’ campaign was supported by almost 30,000 Scots.
The amendment – if passed – will ensure that anyone found guilty of carrying a knife would get a mandatory minimum sentence of at least six months but judges could jail knife criminals up to a four year maximum. Read more »
This week’s postbag
My postbag has been very busy lately. This week has had a typical spread of issues arising including an elderly constituent needing a quicker Occupational Therapy Assessment, action on dog fouling, the overcrowding faced by a expanding family, a pregnant woman looking for a H1N1 vaccination, a request for speed cameras on a rat run road, an appeal for bus passes by workers at Haven Products a local social enterprise, and concerns about the timing of lights in centre of Paisley.
Sometimes the public pronouncements of politicians that get reported can give the impression that all our energies go into disputing the big issues of the day. But behind the scenes most elected politicians and their staff try and deliver a really high quality service to constituents. Read more »
Wendy Alexander MSP has welcomed the first official hearing of the inquiry into the outbreak of C. Difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital, which claimed 18 lives between December 2007 and June 2008.
Wendy Alexander said:
“It is essential that the NHS learns lessons from what happened at the Vale of Leven. The recent outbreaks in other Scottish hospitals, including Ninewells in Dundee, shows that there is much more to be done in the fight against superbugs. Read more »
Wendy Alexander MSP and Jim Sheridan MP met with the Linwood Seniors Forum this morning in the Tweedie Halls. The group of nearly 100 Linwood pensioners were demanding that Tesco make good on their promises now three years old. The was an air of anxiety within the Seniors about whether Tesco would actually go ahead with Linwood or start looking more towards their plans of a ‘Silverburn’ type store at Wallneuk in Paisley. The large disillusioned crowd were keen to hear news of Wendy’s recent stronger moves to spur Tesco into action.
Shortrood pensioners gathered at the Beechwood Community Centre on Friday 29th of January for their, now traditional, ‘Late late Christmas lunch’ . With the December Christmas rush on and everyone so busy then, a few years ago these Shortroods seniors decided to postpone their Christmas Festive Lunch Party to later in the New Year – and give the community’s pensioners something to look forward to in the quieter long month of January.
Wendy Alexander MSP is backing a campaign to support local newspapers. Labour will be using a Holyrood debate this week to demand that the Scottish Government drop its proposals to allow local councils to put public notices online instead of in newspapers.
This proposal from the Finance Secretary John Swinney is undemocratic because many people still do not have access to the internet and it could mean changes being introduced without proper scrutiny. Read more »
DON’T LEAVE SCOTLAND OUT IN THE COLD
Many readers may have seen articles, including in the PDE, offering money off a replacement boiler. The problem is the scheme only applies in England and Wales because the SNP Government have so far refused to introduce it in Scotland despite our colder weather up here.
Ten years ago with Donald Dewar I helped create the free central heating systems scheme for pensioners which ran for a decade. I was proud of the fact there was no means-testing involved. I reasoned if an elderly person does not have a central heating system it is because they cannot afford it. This scheme was scrapped by the SNP Government last year. Read more »