Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

TRADITIONS

Every time I drive into Plymouth another building has been demolished. This week it was the turn of Greenbank Fire station to fall. It has already taken me years to get over the fact that the hospital in which our kids were born (Freedom Fields) is now a rather smart housing estate. Drake Circus and that ugly multi-storey car park are but fading memories and our truly appalling Civic Centre has already been read its last rites. Where next?

Well, the bulldozers are unlikely to visit St. Andrews church, or Saltram House or even the home at Newnham where we are privileged to live: an old granite Tudor house that has seen centuries of change, but still stands proud and strong. It has been modernised of course, there is even an inside bathroom these days.
Some buildings last and others don’t. Some outlive their usefulness and get pulled down; fashions change and architects push back the boundaries; others stand for centuries and provide a sense of continuity from generation to generation. They are rightly cherished and protected.

It is the same way with some of our great national institutions.
Our Parliamentary democracy has survived, even though it has twisted through many changes with no doubt more to come. Our Royal Family has survived, even though it has come through some bleak years. Our House of Lords keeps going even though some would like to send the demolition experts into this place full of wisdom and safeguards.

Other traditions have outlived their usefulness and disappear. Ladies can wear trousers if they want, we no longer have to get married in church, doff our hat to the squire, wear a suit and tie to work, but somehow life goes on. I am in favour of change.

But some of our traditions are important and need to be kept.
This week I voted against the new powers that would allow the Home Secretary decide to place people under house arrest or restrict a person’s movements. I salute the government’s determination to crack down on terrorists, but we also have to safeguard our traditional freedoms. I believe it is important to maintain the convention in this country that our courts decide on issues of individual liberty, not elected politicians. Let us make the law, and judges decide in specific cases. Why? Judges are independent, experienced in sifting evidence and do not need to play to the gallery.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

DML

I feel another campaign coming on. Not the general election, that will snake its way into our lives soon enough; no I am referring to a campaign to make sure that Devonport Dockyard gets a fair crack of the whip in competing for work from the Ministry of Defence.

You may live in a rural community far from the dockyard walls; you may know no one who works in there anymore. No matter: this affects you.

The Dockyard may not be the monolithic employer of old, but it remains absolutely crucial to the economic well being of this entire region. Over 5,000 people work in the yard, making it by far the largest company locally, and many local businesses have important contracts for the supply of goods and services to DML. It is the dynamo that drives the Plymouth economy, that drives the economy if this entire sub-region.

It is ironic that news of the severe turn down in future workload comes during the same week that David Jamieson announced his impending retirement from politics. When we were both first elected in 1992, the struggle to persuade the then Conservative government to award the Trident refit work to Devonport rather than Rosyth in Scotland was the first big campaign we worked on together. And through a lot of hard work by a lot of people, we won!

Now a new battle seems inevitable. The settlement between the two yards meant that DML got Trident and Rosyth had an allocated surface ship programme to keep it alive for a number of years. But outside of that guaranteed programme the two yards and others were free to bid for future surface ship work. For the past decade, DML have been successful in attracting sufficient work to Plymouth because of the quality of their tenders and skill of their workforce. But recently, work that seemed destined to Devonport has been awarded to Rosyth. There are now fears that political influence, by very senior government figures, is being exerted to divert work to the Dunfermline yard, to keep jobs in Scotland. The impact for DML, and on the local economy could be extremely serious.

If Rosyth wins on merit, fair enough, we can hardly grumble. But if contracts are allocated to the second best bid, just because of heavyweight political pressure, that is not acceptable.

It is time to make a fuss about this at Westminster. We are entitled to fair treatment.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

SPANISH OMELETTE

Last weekend the Spanish people were the first to ratify the new EU Constitution. There were no surprises. The turnout was low: less than 50%, the majority voted yes, and 9 out of 10 people when questioned admitted they did not have the foggiest idea what was contained within it!

And that is my real concern about the path the EU is taking. We are in danger of sleepwalking, salami slice by salami slice, into a constitutional settlement that we do not want. There is a small political elite at the heart of Europe that is driving this outdated project on, whilst the vast majority are broadly agnostic, understandably getting on with their real lives.

The Constitution itself is not evil; it will not bring the world to its an end or the country to its knees. But it is unnecessary; contains some daft provisions – for example a European Foreign Minister (we couldn’t agree over Gibraltar, Kosovo, Afghanistan or Iraq so good luck to poor soul who gets that job); and above all it is another step in the onward march towards a centralised United States of Europe with more decisions made at the centre, rather than nation state level.

The British people are promised a referendum on the Constitution. This is very welcome and extremely significant. But there is a catch. The government propose to hold this plebiscite in late 2006; almost certainly after every other member state will have done so. Imagine the pressure we will come under if everyone else says yes!

We should resist that pressure. We should make our own decision. If we reject it, the legal position is the same as if ten countries reject it: the Constitution falls. In that situation, the heads of government in the EU would simply have to meet again and thrash out a better way forward.

Does that better way exist? I believe so: a more flexible EU where not every state has to sign up for every centralising scheme, a Europe where decision-making is handed back to the nation states wherever possible.

Can such a Europe emerge from a failed Constitution? I believe so: because many of the new countries share our vision for a flexible EU. They did not escape the yoke of their Soviet masters only to bow the knee to diktat from Brussels.

But this is only possible if we reject the Constitution when we get the chance. Let’s do it!

posted by Nigel on Thursday, March 03, 2005