It's payback time

Calton is not convinced that more college places is the answer to our youth unemployment problem. Let's face it - we've tried it, with a huge increase in the number of young people going on to higher education in the last 20 years, and we still have a problem. What we really need is a return to good, old-fashioned apprenticeships, where school leavers learn a trade, and the discipline of working, while earning at the same time. Ploughing money into supporting businesses to provide such places would be worthwhile and Gavin Brown's idea of raising it by introducing a graduate tax is worth considering. If you have received free higher education and are now earning a good salary as a result, why shouldn't you pay a little back? Calton also thinks that free bus passes should only be handed out to those who have reached state pension age - it's a nonsense giving them to 60 year-olds who are still working. However, Calton parts company with Tory MSP Brown on limiting free prescriptions, as regular readers of this blog will know well.

We need to talk about immigration

The publication of The Prince's Trust Youth Index 2013 Report yesterday has triggered quite a bit of debate about the plight of our young NEETs. Basically, young people who are Not in Employment, Education or Training are twice as likely to feel that they can't cope with life compared with their employed peers and many young people despair of ever finding a job. There has been much discussion on the part family breakdown plays in all this (major) and the effects of the recession (great) however no-one seems to be mentioning the obvious elephant in the room - immigration. Easy availability of hard working young people from other EU countries who are willing to work here for low pay has kept businesses going and has allowed our politicians to ignore for too long the fact that many of our own young people are unemployable. No wonder politicians think that immigration is a good thing! They have been hiding the failings of our education system and the bitter fruit of easier divorce laws behind it and our youngsters are now paying the price. Youth unemployment has rocketed and won't get any better once the Bulgarians and Romanians are also allowed to come and work here. How can any country control its economy when it can't control its borders? Unfortunately, immigration has become the new taboo subject - if you don't believe Calton, just try mentioning it at the next dinner party you go to!

Optimism triumphs over experience

Calton thoroughly agrees with David Watt of the Institute of Directors in Scotland, who has said in his New Year Message that Scottish politicians are spending too much time on unnecessary legislation and debating independence instead of focusing on economic growth. Calton would include legislation on gay marriage in the category of 'unneccessary' given that civil partnerships already give homosexual couples all the legal rights of married couples. Instead, the Scottish Government have embarked on a second public consultation on the implementation of gay marriage, at a cost of goodness knows how much, when it wasn't in the SNP's manifesto and, quite frankly, the state of our economy is far more important at this moment in time. Businesses are struggling with the uncertainty produced by the prospect of independence and yet the SNP's response is to tell them to wait until November 2013 for answers to their many questions. CBI Scotland have produced an excellent paper listing all the issues which need to be considered if Scotland is to become independent, including the cost of setting up our own regulators for things like pensions, telecoms and energy and the cost in jobs of closing down Faslane, and they are hopeful that the Scottish Government's white paper will "address these questions in full and provide the necessary supporting evidence". Sounds like a triumph of optimism over experience to Calton.

It's the economy, stupid!

It's a pity Alex Salmond doesn't read this blog - if he did, he would have known that the renewables industry only provides 11,000 jobs in Scotland, thus saving him another embarrassing climbdown. The First Minister also doesn't seem to listen to Radio Scotland's Business Scotland program on a Sunday morning. Calton would have thought that that would be mandatory listening for any politician keen to help the Scottish economy. Perhaps Salmond thinks he has more important things to think about although Calton finds it hard to imagine what. Standard Life are axing 130 Edinburgh jobs, Vion are pulling out of Scotland throwing more jobs in the meat processing industry in doubt (in addition to the hundreds going at Broxburn) and, while the announcement that Areva is bringing turbine manufacturing jobs to Scotland is welcome, we'll need to wait and see just how many actually materialise. The biggest issue on most voters' minds is jobs. Is it too much to ask that our First Minister also makes it his top priority?

Heading for the buffers

John 'The Signalman' Swinney is just itching to get his hands on the economic levers he thinks independence will give him. Trouble is, there's only going to be one lever - oil - and a pretty dodgy one at that. Calton wouldn't like to depend on it to stop the Flying Scotsman heading down the wrong track towards the buffers. Scotland is a one-commodity economy (or will be when Alex Salmond has trashed tourism with all his windfarms) with a high level of public spending. Can the SNP not recognise an imminent train crash when they see one?

Working for a living wage

There is an argument which says that paying workers a 'living wage', as Angus Council has just pledged to do, will cost jobs however, on balance, Calton thinks it is a good idea. It is true that some workers on minimum wage can get their income topped up by tax credits however there are stringent rules which prevent many part-time workers being able to claim working tax credit which disproportionately affect women, since they are more likely to be in part-time, low-paid jobs. The living wage will therefore benefit those women and that is to be welcomed. After all, let us not forget that the burden of caring, not just for children but also for the elderly, falls on women and often prevents them from taking full-time employment or from progressing in their career beyond low-paid work. It is also a fact that, if you give more money to low-income families, they spend it, with a resultant boost to the local economy. And a rise in wages means a drop in the need for top-ups from the state. Sounds like a win-win situation to Calton.

Twenty questions

Calton is not a fan of the great Broon, however the former Prime Minister is quite right to call on the SNP to comment on "twenty unanswered questions" about independence and its effect on the Scottish nation. His reason for wanting to stay in the UK is obvious - he wants to avoid the "massive rupture" which leaving the union would undoubtedly cause and which the SNP are playing down for all they are worth. It would be helpful if the SNP would actually answer some of the questions posed by Brown instead of trotting out that old chestnut about not having the power over jobs, the economy and welfare. We'll be lucky if we have any jobs and economy to speak of in 2014 after two years of uncertainty.

A chill wind

It's all very well for Nicola Sturgeon to say that the people best placed to decide on issues such as Scotland's economy are the people who live and work in Scotland. Given the SNP's current track record of ignoring the people of Scotland when it comes to issues such as windfarms and same-sex marriage, why should we believe that they will listen to us on any other issue? The Deputy First Minister thinks 'it is right' that the people of Scotland should be in control of their own destiny. Is it not also 'right' that their elected politicians should listen to them? Conviction politics is all very well but, with each successive use of the phrase 'it is right' from the SNP, Calton feels the chill wind of the Scottish Autumn blowing.

The three monkeys

If anyone was in any doubt as to which party Pete Wishart belongs to, his performance in Brian's Big Debate earlier today in Aberfeldy, when he refused to answer questions on what independence would actually mean for Scotland, confirmed him as a fully paid-up member of the SNP. (That's the See No Problems with independence because we've got our hands firmly clamped over our eyes party). Fortunately the electorate are not so daft, or not in Aberfeldy at any rate.

Meanwhile, John Swinney emulated his dear leader by not-answering-the-question-by-going-on-the-attack in response to George Osborne's comments to the BBC on the effect of independence on the Scottish economy. Calton wonders just how cast-iron the SNP's position is that an independent Scotland will keep the pound - they seem to be back-tracking on some of their other policies at the moment, policies which seemed to pretty cast-iron a few months ago but are now full of rust.

Perhaps the SNP's new symbol should be the three monkeys with their hands over their ears, eyes and mouth - because they ain't listening, they can't see any problems with the way they are heading and they certainly aren't answering the questions the voters want answered.

QE costing Scottish jobs?

Not only is the Bank of England's policy of keeping interest rates low hitting savers hard, it now seems that their policy of quantitative easing (QE) may be partly to blame for the collapse of Dawson International last week. The BofE itself admits that while QE "has a broadly neutral impact on a fully funded defined benefit scheme", "schemes that were already in substantial deficit before the financial crisis are likely to have seen those deficits increased". Quite. Exactly what has happened to the Dawson pension scheme, resulting in the company going into administration and putting 180 Scottish jobs at risk. The idea of a Scottish bank, based on old-fashioned values of thrift and probity, and our own currency should we become independent, is becoming more attractive by the day.

Bank charge evasion

Of course it's morally wrong to collude with a tradesman in tax evasion by paying cash. Let us not forget that one of the things that has turned the Greek economy into a basket case has been large scale tax evasion and a burgeoning black economy. It's time we stopped seeing dodging the taxman as a faceless, victimless crime because, in the end, we are all the victims of it. That said, it's also time we stopped taxing low earners and small businesses to death. The Libdem policy of raising the personal allowance has been a welcome step in that direction. Increasing the mileage allowance for businesses would be another step in the right direction, one which is long overdue. And we need to remember that businesses pay through the nose in bank charges for every cheque they pay into their business account, which is why many prefer cash. They are not necessarily on the fiddle. Just trying to avoid lining the pockets of bankers.

Are you listening George?

Someone from the SNP must be reading this blog because, less than a month ago, Calton's response to the budget was 'give us a break George', relating to the cost of petrol. Now the SNP, along with Plaid Cymru, have tabled an amendment which opposes the Finance Bill at second reading on the basis that it 'fails to tackle the crucial issue of high fuel costs which is damaging jobs and economic growth'. Quite. Regular readers will know that the SNP comes in for a lot of stick from Calton however, on this, they are right on the money. Whether or not George Osborne will listen to them is another matter.

Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs

According to Radio Scotland's Business Scotland programme yesterday, the tourist industry provides 175,000 jobs in Scotland whereas the renewable energy sector only provides 11,000. Even if 100% of our energy were to come from renewable sources, the number of jobs involved would only be about 33,000, since, at the moment, renewables provides around one-third of our energy needs. Calton is admittedly employing some very simple arithmetic here but you can see the drift. Given that the self-same radio programme also stated that Scotland is becoming increasingly reliant on the tourism sector, does it make sense to put 175,000 jobs at risk for the sake of 33,000 jobs, ie less than a fifth of that number, by spoiling our beautiful sea and landscapes with wind turbines? Tourism is one of the few growth industries we have at the moment however it seems that the SNP are quite happy to see the goose that lays the golden eggs decapitated by a windmill blade. It will be interesting to see if this view is shared by the electorate in the forthcoming local council elections.

Give us a break George!

Calton is up North at the moment, where the hills are rugged and the broadband is super-slow, so don't expect too much scintillating comment for the next few days, however he does want to take the opportunity to say how disappointed he is that the Chancellor refused to give hard-working families and small businesses a helping hand in the budget by reducing the cost of diesel. Not only that, but the planned increase of 3p per litre in August is still going ahead! How can George Osborne possibly justify this? We are an oil-producing nation and yet our pump prices are among the highest in the world! And the only solution Labour can come up with is to cut VAT, like that will make much difference. If the SNP want to win votes for independence, all they need to do is to promise to slash petrol prices. It would be a shoo-in.

Credit card max

In her analogy of Scotland being the talented, well-educated wife with her own income, Joan McAlpine forgot to mention that she (the wife) is also maxed out on her credit card, along with her husband (the UK). Time for a reality check for both?

The buckie stops here

There is so much going on in the news at the moment that Calton hardly knows where to start, however he is pleased to see that the Scottish Tories under Ruth Davidson have decided to support the minimum alcohol pricing bill. As he said in an earlier post, anything that deters people getting tanked up on cheap booze has to be a good thing.

It has also been good, albeit rather depressing, to see some up-to-date economic figures this week. Good, because it stops the SNP hiding behind 4-year old data, depressing because it confirms that Scotland is spending more than she earns, even taking oil and gas income into account. That means that the SNP policy of continuing to spend during the recession is looking even more threadbare. It's very convenient for Alex Salmond to blame Westminster cuts when put on the spot at FMQs - what's he going to do if he does succeed in becoming the leader of an independent nation? Who's he going to blame when the buck stops with him?

All new hooses and nae work?

After the doom and gloom of this week's jobs figures, it was good to hear some positive news on Radio Scotland's Business Scotland this morning. Not only has Global Energy Group bought the old Highland Fabricators yard at Nigg with plans to get it working again for the renewables sector but Ross County FC are also hopefully looking ahead with promotion to the SPL in mind. Calton sincerely hopes they get it. He also hopes that Global Energy succeeds in bringing long-term jobs to Nigg, which has lain unproductive for 10 years. On his forays around Scotland Calton has noticed a growing replacement of industrial sites with housing developments e.g. the former Alcan site at Burntisland, Ravenscraig steelworks in Motherwell, the old Motorola plant at Dunfermline, converted warehouses in Leith. The list is endless. This is all very well but where are all the occupants of these houses going to work? Admittedly it would take some ingenuity to convert a large dry dock into housing, however it is a nice change to see it being brought back into industrial use. Lots of houses and no industry is not a recipe for success.

Old hat from the SNP

Earlier this month Calton highlighted the fact that the SNP were using pre-2008 economic figures in their arguments for independence. Then it was John Swinney. Today Nicola Sturgeon was playing the same game in an interview on Radio Scotland. The question that has to be asked is this - so what if Scotland balanced the books pre-2008? That was then, this is now. The world is an entirely different place today compared to 4 years ago. The statistics which matter when considering whether Scotland will be better off independent are those for 2011, 2012, 2013 and beyond. It's about time the SNP got themselves up to speed on the current economic arguments instead of trotting out 4-year old nonsense.

More on the cost of island life

Further to his earlier post on the cost of island life, Calton is pleased to see that more money has been made available to avoid huge increases to the ferry fares which hauliers have to pay to take goods to the Hebrides. It may seem unfair to those who live in the central belt that we should be subsidising islanders but when the alternative is considered it makes sense. Otherwise the islands will become empty (apart from sheep and windfarms) and there will be even more competition for scarce jobs and scarcer housing in the central belt. Calton is not a fan of large-scale government intervention however there are times when it is necessary. Communities cannot always be left to the mercy of the free market economy.

Advocates for Sea Eagles

Balancing the interests of the various stakeholders in rural areas is not always easy, however Calton was glad to see that a report earlier this year put the damage done to flocks by his west coast cousins at less than 2% of lamb mortality. Sea Eagles eat mainly seabirds and fish, although they also eat carrion, which may explain why Calton likes to get his beak into politicians. It may also explain why they are blamed for taking lambs. Tales of Sea Eagles carrying off children are an unfounded rumour spread by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, who are not exactly a disinterested party. The RSPB are countering this by appointing representatives to teach children more about these wonderful birds. Not forgetting the fact that the Mull Sea Eagles boost the island's economy by £2million. Of course, Calton is biased, but he does think that the reintroduction of his species into Scotland is a good thing. Sarah Boyack seems to agree.