The Grand Canyon of Scottish politics.....

That gap between what the SNP says and what the SNP does gets wider all the time.

Remember how they've spent years slagging successive Westminster Governments for doing business with ATOS and G4S?

Well, now they've awarded G4S £13 million for managing electronic tagging and given £3 million towards ATOS offices in Moray.

What they say

They can't have been listening to what Moray's next door neighbour MP Eilidh Whiteford has been saying about both companies.

It is astonishing that the UK Government have awarded ATOS Healthcare these contracts given the widespread concerns around the operation of the work capability assessments and before the independent review has even been completed.

While the UK Government have properly promised a moratorium over future G4S contracts after the Olympic security shambles, a similar robust approach should be taken with other private partners who have failed to deliver on multi-million pound public contracts.

What they do 

Kenny MacAskill piled praise on G4S when he awarded the tagging contract. 

It gives our law enforcement agencies greater tools in their armoury and as the world's leading provider of this technology, G4S have a proven track record in this area.

The SNP has dug itself into a hole 

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie criticised their hypocrisy:

After publically criticising Atos, the SNP dug itself into a hole by awarding a multi-million pound contract to the company. That hole has got a little deeper now the SNP has awarded a multi-million contract to G4S, after previously supporting a moratorium on government contracts until the Olympic security debacle had been investigated. The SNP continue to say one thing in public but do the opposite using public funds.
 The SNP must explain why they continue to award contracts to companies they have previously slammed.

More of a canyon than a hole, I'd say...

 

Ian Davidson is the wrong person to chair the Scottish Affairs Committee

I've thought for some time that Glasgow South West MP Ian Davidson is the wrong person to chair the Scottish Affairs  Committee of the Westminster Parliament. Any Parliamentary Committee is there to hold the Government to account and so its chair must be capable of ensuring that evidence is heard and conclusions made in a credible and fair manner.

It's hard to do that when you have a huge chip on your shoulder about the SNP. Yes, they can be darned annoying, their constant picking of fights with institutions on the basis of location rather than efficacy is tiresome and the narrowness of their nationalism is at times the political equivalent of nails on a blackboard as far as my liberal sensibilities are concerned.  However I would never, ever describe them as neo-fascists. Not even in jest - and Ian Davidson did not appear to be struck with mirth when he so described the SNP during the Scotland Bill debate earlier this year. He later said that he meant that they were thuggish. Well, with his pugnacious manner, it's a bit like the old pot and kettle scenario. And I could tell you stories about how I've had dogs' abuse and been chased out of streets by burly Labour thugs in my time. Let's not pretend that the Labour party are a bunch of cuddly teddy bears.

And now the latest incident to involve Ian Davidson has resulted in the withdrawal from the Committee of Dr Eilidh Whiteford, SNP MP for Banff and Buchan. She alleges that Ian Davidson threatened her with "a doing" if details of a private meeting of the Committee last week were leaked to the media. Clearly I wasn't there. I have seen Ian Davidson use strong and pugnacious language on many occasions, though.  I also know and like Eilidh Whiteford and am absolutely certain that she would not make something like that up. I have enough faith in her as a person to trust what she says on this.

The BBC states that concerns about Ian Davidson's language were first raised by officials, which may explain why this has not been made public until now. I can't imagine that Eilidh will have made the decision to do so lightly, either - for precisely the reason of the pasting she's getting from Labour. Their response has been gruff and churlish. We'll see what they have to say in a fuller statement later.

In my local Health Centre, there's a sign saying that anyone raising their voice or using aggressive language to staff will be struck off the patients' list. In most places of work, aggression and violence towards people is just not tolerated. An allegation of this nature would normally mean suspension pending an investigation. The political environment is tough - but MPs should be able to go about their business without threats of violence from their colleagues.

There was already enough doubt in my mind about Davidson's performance before what happened to Eilidh and I really think the Committee needs a more effective chair. Therefore, I want to see Ian Davidson step down and hand over to someone else who can be a more credible and calm leader of the committee.