And the Labour Party view on RET
LABOUR SAYS SNP HAS FAILED ISLANDS ON RET
The Western Isles Labour Party claims that SNP representatives have failed the islands following the meeting between Transport Minister Keith Brown and island hauliers.
Matt Bruce, Chairman of the Western Isles CLP said: " On such a crucial economic issue that will affect every household in the islands Alasdair Allan, Angus MacNeil and Donald Manford failed to convince their own Transport Minister of the consequences of withdrawing the RET scheme for lorries.
As usual the blame is directed elsewhere and no responsibility is taken for what has been a mitigated disaster from start to finish. If Mr Allan had any influence at all in government this issue would not have seen the light of day. We now have a situation where SNP representatives are caught between their loyalty to the Scottish Government and the people of the Western Isles, who will suffer directly as a result of their failure."
He continued: " If RET was the jewel in their policy crown they have now gone to great lengths to dismantle it and as a result the haulage, shellfish,crofting industries and ultimately every person in the Western Isles will suffer immeasurably.
If the plan of having SNP Councillors after the next election was to put the Western Isles in a more favourable position with the Scottish Government the idea has failed before it has even begun. Mr Manford has proved that this week.
At least one of their candidates has had the courage of his convictions and resigned in protest over this issue. As for the other announced SNP candidates their silence has been deafening an indication of what to expect should they ever be elected. They would be apologists for the Scottish Government at the expense of the interests of the people of the Western Isles."
9 comments:
The Labour Party know a lot about failure and are experts on it. Remember the banking disaster, this is us paying.
I lost my job thanks to Gordon Brown the greatest chancer of all times. I'm sick of Labour and their loud mouths. Time somebody stood up for the poor people.
Down with democracy. Let's have meritocracy for a change
Remind me what the Labour party had to say about RET while they were in power in Edinburgh. Remind me what they had to say about RET when the SNP government introduced the RET Pilot Scheme.
Remind us exactly how did people in the Western Isles benefit from hauliers being included in the RET.
Did hauliers pass on savings they made by being included in the RET to islanders - No.
Did their inclusion in the RET bring prices down - No.
When the pilot scheme was introduced some conditions should have been introduced about how hauliers could pass on the savings to customers.
Re - 10.18
Surely they did ...
I'll give you just one example. There are businesses that export shellfish etc to the mainland. RET kept their costs down, allowing people to obtain employment in areas like Uist.
The withdrawal of RET on lorries will have a serious effect on them.
I am not a labour supporter and never have been but it seems to me that their past disasters should not prevent them from speaking out on current and future issues if it is done in a genuine and positive way. It is entirely pertinent to shine a light on the lack of stance of current elected representatives. There is far too much fence sitting on most issues no doubt under instructions from Edinburgh to keep quiet and toe the party line. This is becoming more and more obvious to anyone employing the little grey cells. It is time to grow up and smell the coffee i.e. stop recriminating and make the right choices because they are right and not because they fall under party policy.
Like it or not increases in freight costs will affect everyone in the isles (importer or exporter alike) as we are not self sufficient. Whether RET savings were passed on is not a very useful argument, if freight costs go up then so will prices, that is how the world works as anyone with a mortgage and utility bills well knows.
I'm disappointed at the withdrawl of commercial RET. Unfortunately the hauliers themselves caused this problem. I believe an extensive study was carried out and numerous customers contacted with 92% saying the saving was not passed on. The hauliers interviewed couldn't show evidence of the savings being passed on. We shot ourselves in the foot.
Some Hauliers did not pass on the savings
The largest Haulier in the Western Isles made no secret of the fact that he was not passing on the savings
The introduction of RET was not in their favour as the largest Haulier they were reaping the benefit of large discounts of up to 40 percent before RET
At a recent meeting in regards to RET he again was adamant that as the Largest Haulier he should get the largest discount
It was pointed out that the goods had to come across on the ferry the only difference was who's name would be on the truck that carried it
Re - 11.59
'Some hauliers ...'
Clearly you believe in punishing the innocent along with the guilty.
Clearly a slave to the cause!
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