Monday

I attended the Inverclyde Taskforce in the municipal buildings. Among the items on the agenda were the losing bid for Greenport status, the winning bid for levelling up money and the recent announcement that Amazon are ‘considering’ pulling out of Gourock. It was a well-attended meeting and Ivan McKee MSP was there from the Scottish Government. I took advantage of having Ivan in the room to have a private discussion around other industrial opportunities in Inverclyde.  Having met with Glasgow Airport last week I met Peel Ports in the afternoon. Obviously, they are disappointed about losing out on the Greenport bid and questions must be answered regarding the winning bids, but I was heartened by the investment Peel are making in Inverclyde, much of which goes unnoticed. 

Tuesday

I had an early flight down and spent the morning preparing for my select committee on Thursday as my diary was extremely busy up until then.  The main event of the day for me was the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform who had a joint meeting with Unite which is a parliamentary network for global health. There were representatives from Chile, Mexico, USA, Luxembourg, Malta and Germany as well as the U.K.  We discussed approaches to cannabis laws designed to reduce drug related harm. It is fair to say, as i did in my column in the Greenock Telegraph yesterday that the U.K. is lagging behind and as a result we are experiencing more harm and more crime than other European countries.  We had the last vote of the day on the economic crime and corporate transparency bill at 18:51. 

Wednesday. 

I dropped in on the Collective Voice addiction treatment providers who had many good representatives there, including Change Grow Live, Humankind, Forward Trust and With You. Together they were assessing the level of support provided for people in recovery with a view to the recommendations made in the Dame Carol Black report one year ago. I had a meeting with Kate Winstanley from Community Alcohol Partnerships. That are not active in Inverclyde, but they do a great deal of good work in other parts of Scotland. The weekly display of kindergarten petulance from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition at Prime Minister’s Questions was appalling and I know I am biased but the Westminster leader of the SNP Stephen Flynn wiped the floor with the Prime Minister and did what the leader of the opposition should be doing every week by holding him to account over the gross negligence exhibited day in day out by the Conservative and Unionist U.K. government.  I then met with Together with Refugees and talked to asylum seekers about their lived experiences. The last event before votes was the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drugs, Alcohol and Justice. The focus of the meeting was on woman’s treatment services. Women’s groups testified that many women are forced into addiction as a result of abusive relationships and they lamented the lack of woman only rehabilitation centres.  We voted at 17:40.

Thursday

My select committee took evidence from the Right Honourable Oliver Dowden MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Alex Chisholm, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary and Civil Service Chief Operating Officer. The enquiry is about the work of the Cabinet Office and I questioned the witnesses on the potential changes within the Cabinet Office to make it “better, smaller and fairer”, and the role the Cabinet Office will take in the King’s coronation through the new Coronation Claims Office which has been created in the Cabinet Office. I pressed the view that in times of great austerity when people are struggling to pay their energy bills, many are living in damp housings, one in four kids are living in poverty, foodbanks are on the increase and teachers, nurses, postal workers and civil servants are striking for more pay, that a man wearing a crown and jewels worth a fortune while riding in a gold coach was maybe not appropriate . The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster disagreed with me.

Friday  

Stuart McMillan MSP and I ran joint surgeries in Port Glasgow. The focus was on energy advice, and we had representatives from Social Security Scotland, Advice Direct and Home Energy Scotland. It’s a sad sign of the times that surgeries that specialise on finance and energy are always busy.

Monday

I had a very early start to business today, so I travelled down yesterday. Strategy meetings are ten a penny at this time of year but in politics things can change so quickly that input, output, targets and achievements are often only relevant for a brief moment. The pronouncement from the U.K. Government that it intended to seek a Section 35 order to block the Scottish government’s GRR Bill gaining Royal Ascent changed my working week and in the long term it could change the constitution of the U.K. permanently. The main debate was the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. This is an onslaught on the rights of workers that have been fought for by trade unions for years. And just part of the ongoing suppression of human rights this Conservative and Unionist government has embarked on. Also, the removal of the right to protest and voter Id restrictions are planned, and we are living in a very different sort of democracy. The last vote was at 22:43.

Tuesday

I met with Voltface representatives to discuss emerging medicines. There are several drugs that are used for PTSD and pain relief that are not widely accepted and we hope to engage with the medical professionals and politicians to educate and legislate. I was in the chamber for questions to the Department of Business. I bobbed and bobbed but was not taken. It’s infuriating hearing the government benches field questions that are no more than setups for government propaganda, when I was seeking to engage with the department on the issue of support for those being made redundant by Amazon. The government then made a statement on their Section 35 but didn’t provide the paperwork detailing the reasons for their objection to the GRR bill becoming law in Scotland. It’s hard to make a constructive argument when the U.K. government won’t explain their objections. The SNP then asked for an SO24 (emergency) debate, and the speaker granted it. By the time we got to the first speakers we still didn’t have the ‘statement of reasons’. It eventually appeared during the debate and the reasons why the U.K. government had been so reluctant to provide it earlier were obvious. It is thirteen pages of weak misguided grievances, and it will be challenged in a court of law. My favourite is the assertion that we can’t have different gender recognition laws in Scotland is that the I.T. Systems of the HMRC could not handle it. In thirty-five years of working in I.T. I always thought the computer systems were designed to fit the law, not the other way round. Rather than the changes being “unmanageable, even with considerable time and expense”, I would describe them as a nice little earner for someone. The evening’s business was the Online Safety Bill and votes took place at 20:26. During the debate the Gurkhas brass band performed in the Cabinet car park! Westminster is a strange place.

My office and I signed up for the Inverclyde’s International Women’s Day Challenge. The goal is to walk/run 6,000 miles in 60 days from Inverclyde to Rwanda. Team Inverclyde have just crossed the border into Spain. 4 countries in 11 days! To get involved or donate, please visit iwd.bigteamchallenge.com.  

Wednesday

I caught up with a suicide prevention charity, Papyrus, to discuss their plans to open an office in Scotland. They provide education and support to prevent young suicides in the U.K. This was followed by a planning meeting with the chair of then All-Party Parliamentary Group on CBD products. We need to put in place a secretariat for this year and will be pushing for easier access to psilocybin for medical research. Prime Minster’s Questions was a race to the bottom between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, each blaming the other for the nurses strike in England and Wales. SNP group leader, Stephen Flynn, took the U.K. government to task over their attack on Scotland’s democracy. On Monday, they restricted workers’ rights, on Tuesday they vetoed the Scottish Parliament’s legislation and today they will be scrapping vital European Union protections. This will result in the U.K. parliament taking control of policy areas that are currently devolved to the Scottish Parliament. This includes, workers’ rights and food and health standards. Because of the complexity of tonight’s business and the possibility of many votes I had made plans to stay in London and travel home early tomorrow. As it turned out the last vote was at 18:55 but it was too late to make alternative arrangements. In the evening, I was informed that Inverclyde had been successful in bidding for £19.3 million as part of the U.K. Government’s levelling up fund. This is exciting news. The scheme was introduced to replace the funding Scottish communities received from the European Union and the pot of money is smaller as a result.  Since Brexit households have had to stretch their budgets further and Inverclyde Council is in the same situation.

Thursday

Up with the birds and on the tube by 5:15 to catch the 6:40 flight home. Careful diary manipulation allowed me to make use of my early arrival in Glasgow to meet the Head of Planning for Glasgow Airport for a catch up and then attend the Glasgow Airport jobs fair. I am planning on organising a jobs fair locally and the airport were amongst the first to step up and offer to participate. In the afternoon I had a meeting with the Heritage Lottery Fund to discuss potential fund applications from Inverclyde. I shall be meeting with them again soon to progress local interests. My last meeting was with the GMB union.

Friday

I attended and spoke at an all-day event in Glasgow run by the Simon Community Scotland. We were addressing the situation around homelessness and specifically the gambling harms that can lead to people being made homeless.

Monday

Recess was not as relaxing as I hoped as like many, the dreaded man flu took its toll. But it’s back into the old routine and off to Westminster this morning. It’s a slow day which belies the storm that’s brewing.  News is beginning to filter through that Amazon are closing their fulfilment centre in Gourock. I reached out to them but got no response.

Tuesday

The expected email arrived, and Amazon confirmed that they are in negotiations regarding the closure of their Gourock site. Nationally they are reporting that they are closing sites in Gourock, Doncaster and Hemel Hempstead while opening two news sites in Peddimore and Stockton-on-Tees. The majority of my day was then consumed with satisfying the insatiable appetite from the media to speculate about the future of the site and the outcome for its employees. So, while TV and radio interviews came and went, I also had a meeting with Amazon. What angers me most is that the plans in place have obviously taken a long time to mature and yet last November I was assured there was no risk to jobs in Gourock. Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and PACE stand ready to help as soon as Amazon have provided details pertaining to redundancies. I had an interview with Tortoise Media about paid political lobbyists. Elected members of the U.K. Parliament being paid by the gambling industry to influence the laws around gambling is not healthy and is potentially abuse of the system. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on commercial sexual exploitation had its Annual General Meeting, and we put in place office bearers and a strategy for the year. We will be attempting to amend the online safety bill next Tuesday to allow people to have images of themselves removed from the internet. 

Wednesday

I am delighted with the number and quality of employers that have approached me offering the possibility of employment for those being made redundant at Amazon. It will take a few days for the situation to become clearer but hopefully we will be able to employ as many as possible in inverclyde or as near to 300 as possible. I was on the Order Paper for questions to the Secretary of State for Scotland and I pressed him to clarify if we were working towards a consensus, as he said that was what facilitated a referendum in 2014, or is he content to deny the people of Scotland their right to a democratic voice while we remain part of the U.K.? I met with the landlord of the Amazon site to discuss the future use of the site once it becomes available. It was a far more inspiring meeting than I expected, and we have already identified two possible opportunities. In the evening I attended the Greenock West and Cardwell Bay community council meeting.,

Thursday

Along with meetings with constituents I also met with representatives of companies that have potential vacancies to be filled. While the obvious starting point is the 300 people being made redundant by Amazon, I am well aware that many other people are seeking employment in Inverclyde. To this end, I am organising a jobs fair that will bring together prospective employers under one roof. Hopefully together we can help many people find gainful employment, including those being made redundant by Amazon. In the evening I attended the Inverkip and Wemyss Bay community council.

Friday

The day started with a budget briefing from Inverclyde council followed immediately with a meeting to discuss the situation at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Gourock. At this stage I have engaged with Amazon, their landlords, six local employers, the local college, the GMB, the Scottish government, Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment. I then met with the new Police Chief Inspector Damian Kane. I visited Berry Global in Port Glasgow to discuss their business post covid and moving forward. There are still ongoing issues around the residents of Sir Gabriel Wood Court and their energy supply and my office are helping all involved to come to a better outcome. I met with residents today. In the evening I gave a talk on constituency border changes, the assault on workers’ rights and your ability to legally protest.

I am looking forward to attending the RSNO Viennese Gala at the Beacon Arts Centre on Saturday.