- Public spending audit: We must focus on NHS
- New Mid Dunbartonshire MP welcomes home Kirkintilloch Roy Roy
Public spending audit: We must focus on NHS
Commenting on the Treasury’s audit into the state of public finances, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:
The shortfalls in public spending announced today are truly shocking, and the result of years of Conservative failure and mismanagement. We have been left with a stalling economy, leaving millions of families struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet.
To get our economy growing, we must focus on the NHS by cutting the waiting lists, giving the people the care they desperately need so they can get back to work. That’s why we are urging the Government to invest in healthcare, in GPs, dentists and hospitals to kickstart the economy after years of Conservative chaos.
New Mid Dunbartonshire MP welcomes home Kirkintilloch Roy Roy
Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dunbartonshire Susan Murray has joined players, supporters and staff of Kirkintilloch Rob Roy football club to open the Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex and welcome the club to its new home.
Since 2014, the club have shared a ground with Cumbernauld United following the closure and sale of their previous ground Adamslie Park.
The new facility was built by East Dunbartonshire council with cross party support and transferred to Kirkintilloch Community Sports Club SCIO which holds the lease on the facility. The club has agreed with Kirkintilloch Community Sports that Rob Roy will play its home games at the facility commencing in the 2024/25 season.
Susan has also filed a motion in the House of Commons congratulating the club on its new home.
Susan Murray said:
Rob Roy is back in Kirkintilloch for a home game!
From my time on the council, I know that Rob Roy always wanted to share the benefits from the sale of the Adamslie ground with the community of Kirkintilloch and the wider area. After many challenges, and working with Kirkintilloch Community Sports Club charity, the committee, led by President Neil Anderson has succeeded in bringing Rob Roy home.
I would like to say well done to all Rob Roy supporters for never losing faith in your team. Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club is a very important part of our heritage and it is going forward to a bright future.
I would like to thank the charity and its volunteers for their sustained commitment to providing sports facilities in Kirkintilloch. This is a fantastic facility which will improve health and wellbeing in East Dunbartonshire and provide a variety of activities for the community to take part in.
Congratulations to everyone involved in making this happen. It’s a privilege to represent you as your member of parliament for Mid Dunbartonshire.
Neil Anderson, President of Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club, said:
It was a pleasure to have Susan open our amazing new stadium that brings Rob Roy FC home to Kirkintilloch.
Susan has been a key supporter of our club and our project and we thank her for her backing and for being there for us.
The club plays a crucial role in our community and it is very encouraging to have a fan of ours as our MP.
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7 Comments
“Labour’s fiscal rules are a dead end for the party and for society. Being a good steward of public money isn’t about closing “fiscal holes” and “paying it back.” It’s about closing real deficits—health, infrastructure, education, etc—-and paying it forward for future generations.”……S Kelton..
This is tragic stuff from Reeves & Labour …
They’ve just took one big step in losing the next election …And to cap it all a pensioner who’s sole income is the state pension of £221 a week – as opposed to a pensioner who’s pension credit is £218 a week – will get nothing while the latter will get £300 winter fuel allowance…Labour have just announced austerity on steroids…
So yesterday the Chancellor:
1. Ditched Dilnot
2. Extended the yawning pay gap between health and social care workers
3. Took fuel payments away from pensioners on over 10K annual income
Are we saying anything on any of these things? Hope so.
“3. Took fuel payments away from pensioners on over 10K annual income”
I’m a comfortably off pensioner with large company pension income as well as state pension.
I have been receiving the fuel supplement but I can’t see the justification for it.
Is the problem a ‘cliff edge’ one? If the system was graduated so that pensioners with small amounts of non-state pension income only forfeited a small portion of the fuel supplement might that be better?
Or I would have thought it wouldn’t be too difficult to include the fuel supplement as part of one’s potentially taxable income so that the better off would be taxed on it.
And is there a dire lack of joined up thinking between HMRC and DWP. If they’re working in silos they’ll never understand the problems fully and if the problems aren’t understood fully they won’t be fixed properly
A large majority of fuel accounts are smoothed out across the year. Pensioners may spend more in Winter on many items: food, postage but fuel is not one of them unless they use solid fuels or bottled gas.
So it seems that Mrs Smith who lives in a damp flat, and just about gets by on her State pension, can’t have her usual Winter heating allowance because Alan Sugar and some other wealthy individuals have let it be known that they don’t actually need it.
Is this the best that a supposedly Labour government can do?
How about we put a 1% wealth tax on everyone with assets over £10 million? They probably won’t notice this. But, if it does cause them any hardship and they are worried about how to pay their heating bills we can even let them keep their winter heating allowance.
Absolutely agree with the indignant comments above. These cuts shouldn’t happen, and I hope our Leader will speak out about them. We have to take the lead on commitments to reducing poverty and helping ordinary people get a better standard of living, and oppose the financial straitjacket the new government accepts. (See the new OpEd article from myself and Michael Berwick-Gooding.)