Parliamentary Yearbook: GOVERNMENT AGREEMENT ON ENERGY POLICY

In its report on the Government’s draft Energy Bill in July this year, 2012, the Parliamentary Information Office highlighted the divisions on future energy policy that existed between the Government coalition partners. Yesterday, 22nd November 2012, having reached agreement the Government published details of its long-awaited Energy Bill.

Details of the bill were announced late last night although the bill itself will not be published until next week.

The Energy and Climate Change Secretary, the Rt Hon Ed Davey MP said:

“This is a durable agreement across the Coalition against which companies can invest and support jobs and our economic recovery.

“The decisions we’ve reached are true to the Coalition Agreement, they mean we can introduce the Energy Bill next week and have essential electricity market reforms up and running by 2014 as planned.

“They will allow us to meet our legally binding carbon reduction and renewable energy obligations and will bring on the investment required to keep the lights on and bills affordable for consumers.”

With a fifth of the UK’s electricity generating capacity due to close this decade, reforms are needed to provide certainty to investors to bring forward £110 billion investment in new infrastructure to keep the lights on and continue the shift to a diverse, low carbon economy as cheaply as possible. It will support as many as 250,000 jobs in the energy sector.

Mr Davey announced a package of decisions around the Energy Bill:

o

The creation of a Government-owned company to act as a single counterparty to give investors confidence to enter into new long term Contracts for Difference for low carbon electricity projects.

o

Powers to introduce a capacity market, allowing for capacity auctions from 2014 for delivery of capacity in the winter of 2018/19, if needed, to help ensure the lights stay on even at times of peak demand. The Government is also seeking to provide certainty to gas investors and a Gas Generation Strategy will be published alongside the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

o

An amendment during passage of the Bill to take powers to set a decarbonisation target range for 2030 in secondary legislation. A decision to exercise this power will be taken once the Climate Change Committee has provided advice in 2016 on the 5th Carbon Budget which covers the corresponding period. In the meantime, the Government will issue guidance to National Grid setting out an indicative range of decarbonisation scenarios for the power sector in 2030 consistent with the least cost approach to the UK’s 2050 carbon target and reflecting both the existing fourth carbon budget and a scenario in which it is reviewed up, as outlined when the budget was set.

The amount of market support to be available for low carbon electricity investment (under the Levy Control Framework) up to 2020 has also been agreed. This will be set at £7.6 billion (real 2012 prices) in 2020, which corresponds to around or £9.8 billion (nominal 2020 prices). This will help diversify our energy mix to avoid excessive gas import dependency by increasing the amount of electricity coming from renewables from 11% today to around 30% by 2020, as well as supporting new nuclear power and carbon capture and storage commercialisation. It is broadly consistent with the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation. It will provide certainty to investors in all generation technologies and provide protection to consumers.

The chairman of the Commons Energy Select Committee, Tim Yeo MP, however said that it was worrying that the government had not introduced an emissions goal for 2030:

"There will be concern that the government hasn't accepted the full implications - which are already clear - of the extent to which electricity generation needs to be decarbonised by 2030".

The Bill includes provisions on:

Electricity Market Reform

Electricity Market Reform (EMR) will bring about the biggest transformation of the UK’s electricity sector since privatisation. The reforms introduce two key mechanisms: Contracts for Difference and the powers to implement a Capacity Market that will help to attract the £110 billion of private sector investment we need to replace ageing energy infrastructure with a more diverse and low-carbon energy mix.

Contracts for Difference (CfDs)

A new mechanism that will be introduced via the Energy Bill. CfDs are long term contracts that provide stable revenues for investors in low carbon energy projects at a fixed level known as a strike price. These contracts will help developers secure the large upfront amounts of capital investment required for low carbon infrastructure such as nuclear powers stations, offshore wind farms or carbon capture and storage plants. By providing a fixed price they will help lower the cost of capital. They will protect consumers from high bills by clawing back money from generators if the market price of electricity rises above the strike price.

Counterparty

Government will establish a new body to act as a single counterparty to the CfDs with eligible generators. The counterparty will have levy-raising powers to enable it to raise funds from suppliers to meet its costs, including payments to generators. This was a key recommendation of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.

Capacity Market

A Capacity Market will provide an insurance policy for Government against future supply shortages, helping to ensure that consumers continue to receive reliable electricity supplies at an affordable cost. There is an increased risk to security of electricity supplies towards the end of the decade as a fifth of our existing capacity is set to close and more intermittent (wind) and inflexible (nuclear) generation will be built over time to replace it. Ofgem and National Grid will forecast where there could be shortages in supply and, if needed, auction for capacity in advance to ensure we have enough energy backup to meet consumer demand.

Decarbonisation Target

The Government is committed to meeting the legally binding decarbonisation targets as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008, and economy-wide carbon budgets. The Government will take a power in the forthcoming Energy Bill to set a decarbonisation range in secondary legislation.

The power will provide for flexibility in the setting or reviewing of the range by consideration of wider economic factors. The decision on whether to set a range for carbon emissions in 2030 will be taken when the Committee on Climate Change has provided advice in 2016 on the 5th Carbon Budget which will cover the corresponding period (2028 – 2033), and once the Government has set that budget.

Levy Control Framework

The Levy Control Framework (LCF) forms part of the Government’s public spending framework, which the Treasury has responsibility for. Its purpose is to make sure that DECC achieves its fuel poverty, energy and climate change goals in a way that is consistent with economic recovery and minimising the impact on consumer bills. The LCF budget is currently £2.35 billion for low carbon electricity in 2012/13. Under the agreement announced today low carbon electricity spending under the LCF will rise to £7.6bn in real terms in 2020/21. The final limit will be set in nominal terms on revised ONS and OBR numbers in the New Year. On current figures this would equate to £9.8bn in 2020/21. The spending settlement announced today does not cover the ECO or Warm Homes Discount, which have separate spending limits to 2015.

The Parliamentary Information Office of the Parliamentary Yearbook will continue to report on the progress of the bill as we go through the months ahead.

Web: www.parliamentaryyearbookinformationoffice.co.uk

Email: parliamentaryyearbook@blakemedia.org

Discussion on Wind Farms

Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: The Scottish Borders must be some dire, bleak and inhospitable wasteland if this is going to be inflicted upon it. What? It's not like that? Then why....?




Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: So, despite endless proof that these monstrosities are dangerous to wildlife, never actually pay for themselves and would never be built without tax payer subsidy and barely provide a low single digit  percentage of energy needs they're still building them?

It's time to follow the money and cut it off - permanently.

If Scotland wants to produce energy, do so with thorium reactors.

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About the Planning

Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: " There appears to have been a rise in the number of so-called trolley-rage incidents in recent years as more shoppers ignore traditional high street shops and choose to visit large supermarkets."

If Newport do not want another out of town centre competing with their local shops then they clearly have a fight on their hands- but this comment above belies Sainsbury's claims that their proposed store will not have any impact and will in fact improve shopping in the town centre ( which it wont because people will drive to Sainsbury's , do their one stop shop, as Sainsbury's does electricals, books, cds, dvds, stationery and clothes as well, and then go home- they wont on the whole decide to do an add on trip into Newport for an alternative experience.




Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: Our sclerotic planning system put a brake on economic growth and on job creation at a time when we really need some.  And it has left us with 5 million people waiting for homes while successive governments have presided over an ever-declining number of new home being built each year - an unnecessary  scarcity which also fuelled the inflationary bubble which burst so spectacularly in 2008.



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Discussion on Apprenticeship

Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: A DT story says that a government scheme to attract 1000 immigrant scientists/engineers only attracted 50.
Britain is a soul less debt slave nation of no-hoper multiculti, celeb loving, tax slaves.
Why would any intelligent person come to Britain unless paid by a multinational company that had nothing to do with government, and its tax slaves?

Apprenticeships were always more productive than university brats, and it is too late and too insulting that Britain's lazy class admits this now that its socialist ways have run out of money.



Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: I work in banking IT. A degree is almost de rigueur, post-grad or PhD now a now a pre-requisite for some areas. But some of the best people I have worked with do not have degrees, and would be simply excluded. Much better to import foreign PhDs, because they can't find "good" people they have excluded by the selection process (or alternatively import lots of cheap developers from India or where-ever, or out-source which generally doesn't work well)



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Wind Farms and Homes

Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: Wind turbines are only 30% efficient; the only people who gain from them are wealthy farmers and land owners such as David Cameron’s father-in-law who rakes in £1,000 a day for having them on his land; members of the royal family enjoy the same perks, the losers are working class people who are forced to pay to subsidies them under the green tax rip-off.


Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: If the ghastly trougher Tim Yeo gets his way the restriction will have to be no closer than 1.4 yards from the nearest dwelling.  Even then there will be no electricity when the wind doesn't blow - i.e. this morning the follies are producing less than 10% of their claimed capacity.



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Business Advisors

Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: Im busy doing nothing working the whole day through
try ing to find lot of things not to do
Im busy going nowhere isnt it such a crime
I,d like to be unhappy but i really dont  have the time


Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: Well to me it just looks like the "advisers" were so out of touch, they didnt know what was happening around them.  If you didnt know you were likely to be sacked then you really were not all that plugged in to the world around you!



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Maritime Security

Online Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: One of our major concerns as a maritime nation is the security of our shipping lanes ... not simply piracy but vessel recovery, port and vessel security, risk assessment, crew training etc. So I was delighted when I heard that the Parliamentary Yearbook will be running a major feature titled "Excellence in Maritime Security". I am contributing a piece on the value of security teams to defend ships. As well as the other security pieces I understand that there will be reports from other organisations involved in maritime affairs including broking and chartering; marine resource management; marine biology; offshore renewables etc. It will I am sure be a worthwhile and “in depth” feature


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Food And Farming

Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: What staggering arrogance.

Not content with telling us what we should smoke or drink, the government is now moving to telling us what we should eat.

And always we are told what to do in the most condescending way - Nanny knows best.

Soon, very soon, we'll be told what to think. Wait, what's this...oh, it's the BBC!  Don't mention Leveson...or the new snooping law, or the national DNA databank everyone thinks has gone away....

We don't need to increase food production to make bigger mountains, we need to reduce the number of people immigrating. And we don't need to put the UK into Monsanto's pocket (where some politicians may already be)

Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: We don't need to increase food production to make bigger mountains, we need to reduce the number of people immigrating. And we don't need to put the UK into Monsanto's pocket (where some politicians may already be)

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Discussion on Tax

Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: The tax credit system has been a failure from start to finish.  It and uncontrolled housing benefit is the main reason our welfare system is broken.  It has enabled employers to pay low wages, families to have children they cannot afford to support and encouraged an attitude of state dependance and entitlement.  Of course these families who depend on them will lose out  but we cannot afford these benefits any more.  They will have to think about whether they can afford children and work longer hours. 




Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: I think that what nearly all Brits fail to understand is this ... and it's fundamental...

... The system was NOT created to give you a Pension or Healthcare, or Schooling, or to protect you from crime.

The system was created to pacify you whilst a privileged minority feed from your labour.

Voting and democracy are merely the mechanisms by which you relinquish control of your own economic destinies.

To many of you, it will sound like heresy when I suggest that "voting" is the most pernicious of evils in our society.  But, your reaction to that suggestion is just evidence of the extent to which the  quasi-religion of Statism has taken a grip of you.

Collectivism and the wicked concept of "majority rule"  ... these things are the Matrix.  Just like the Matrix, we don't see the evil unless we really look dispassionately. And, we are trained to love the State, from an early age.



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School uniforms – tradition in the Parliamentary Yearbook

At the morning meeting with senior staff her colleagues carry fat files. Dr Hammans has the CEO’s single sheet of paper in front of her. She is shown an advertisement for the school that is to appear in the new Parliamentary Yearbook sent to all MPs. “Shame we haven’t got the blazers yet,” she says. Another local school is becoming an academy, so Banbury has decided to ditch sweatshirts and go for old-fashioned blazers. “If you see a kid in a sweatshirt and a kid in a blazer, which do you think is the best school?” she asks rhetorically.


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Mortgage Deal Information

Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: When the US falls over the  fiscal cliff and Europe and UK head for "total" bankruptcy, the lenders will do anything to get some sort of return on their money. Don't panic and jump in now, the fee's are hugely excessive and 1,999 pounds to arrange a 2 year mortgage is a RIP off of the first degree. That almost doubles the headline interest rate for 2 years. Do they think we are that stupid and don't notice! As financial amageddon approaches rates will continue to fall so the lenders can continue to survive!


Parliamentary Yearbook Shares: Banks know that their mortgage loan book is over valued and every month house prices drop the the larger their debit becomes.
Banks know they are living on borrowed time before the market starts.
Banks are trying always to sucker us in to get the housing market moving.
First time buyers control the market and the longer they hold out the cheaper property will become.
Look at the small print before signing any offer put on the table by the banks as they give you nothing!!!


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Budget Talks

Parliamentary Yearbook Resource: I remember how unprofitable it was to try to export to the EEC before we joined it, owing to high import tariffs. UK only had free access to EFTA's piddling market.
Surely if UK were to quit the EU, it would again find it difficult to export to what remains its major, albeit diminishing, export market? There might be a separate EU/UK trade agreement but France and other countries Cameron has upset will make sure it still leaves UK at a disadvantage.



Parliamentary Yearbook Resource: I hope you all realise that Cameron has put us in a position where we will now pay more than he could have settled for yesterday .

Failure to agree on the budget means rolling over the 2013 budget into 2014 on a month-by-month basis. This will leave the UK in a worse position, because the 2013 budget is bigger than the preceding years of the 2007-2013 budget round.

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Parliamentary Yearbook Resource Shows

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Parliamentary Yearbook Resource: To know Economic Norms.



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Financial Information

parliamentary information office: It's always good to look after the poor.

Very good news to see that our hard-earned cash is no longer being wasted on India.

India needs to sort itself out and look after its poor rather than planning space missions and ignoring them.




parliamentary information office: How about re-allocating the money towards our own country? It's a joke, we can't afford police or decent armed forces but we can afford to give away (borrowed) billions. The government is very generous with other people's money.



parliamentary information office: I see the current administration have now added another layer to their spin instead of strategy tactics, inasmuch as they are now making announcements about forthcoming announcements, then the will as always, follow up with an announcement, announcing what they have already announced, then when and if, they actually get round to doing something, there will be yet another announcement, followed a few months later by yet another one telling us that they've done what they announced. Needless to say many of us are fooled into thinking that the government is taking action.

This particular announcement is no different. It sounds good, until it becomes apparent, that nothing is actually going to happen until 2015, so what apart, from attempting to fool us into believing they are actually taking action, is the point of this pointless announcement?





parliamentary information office: It is right to recognise and applaud the
progress that India has made through investment in lifting 60 million people
out of poverty since 2006. However there are still more than 421 million people
living in extreme poverty in India’s poorest eight states, more than in the 26
poorest African countries combined.
India
simply cannot be viewed as a single country, rather as a continent. It is a collection
of states, each one the size and population of a country and there is an acute
need for external support for some parts of India. It is also home to a third
of the world’s extreme poor.

What happens to that sandwich in the picture post 2015? People living in extreme poverty can’t wait for the
long term structural changes needed in many states where regional government
capacity is weak and health systems barely function. They need help for as long as it takes.

The decision to cut aid as a short-term
political decision aimed at earning popular support rather than being based in
the realities of the development needs of people living in abject poverty.


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Comprehensive Redesign of Websites

parliamentary information office: There is nothing wrong with the current online system. I know, having been made redundant this summer after 14 years as an engineer and becoming obliged to use it. This will be an excuse to spend more taxpayers money, or it will be something more sinister as hinted below. Meanwhile I am job hunting furiously, believe me, and not even an interview yet. There's a few more months mortgage money in the bank account but then the shit really hits the fan for me.


parliamentary information office: Most people never use on-line services because government departments don't have them generally and the ones that are there are frigging useless. Living in Spain I've tried many times to get issues created by the DWP or the HMRC resolved on-line but there is no mechanism to do this via the internet and you have to resort to snail mail. Their web-sites are designed to promote caveat littered propaganda about this or that benefit but no where is there an on-line 'mail box' that specifically applies to you where you can resolve problems in a timely manner. Upon retirement I had the HMRC coding me as receiving two lots of state pension (I wish) and that took 4 different tax offices, 4 letters and goodness knows how many phone calls before I got the right tax code. This was despite being given 4 months notice of reaching 65. The DWP is no better as one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing and I ended up with 3 sets of EHIC health cards as a result. On the WFA where the rules have changed recently nowhere on their website does it state that people who weren't in receipt of the WFA prior to leaving the UK are now entitled to it when they reach 60. Is this a ploy to cut costs I wonder ! Three months ago I rang them up requesting the WFA and despite the fact that the woman talking to me had ALL my information on a screen in front of her, I still had to download a 12 page claim form for me and my wife and send it off. Six weeks later and no acknowledgement despite asking for a one line email I ring them up again and got a load of BS about we're overloaded but they don't know if they have received my form or not. Since then, we've received 4 additional blank WFA forms sent to us in Spain for filling in despite sending them the WFA forms 2 months ago whilst in England. Finally they have confirmed I will get the WFA but still haven't answered my claim for back payments from when I tried to claim it at 60 despite receiving a letter from me 2 months ago about this subject. I checked with an on-line EU advice centre and they confirmed that all ECJ rulings are retrospective unless specifically ruled otherwise and the new WFA ruling falls into this retrospective category. Another letter last week and we'll see what those people in Sunderland have to say about this as its over one thousand pounds by my estimation I've lost out due to being denied WFA from 60-67 years of age. In conclusion, unless organisations like the DWP or HMRC can design a simple web site that gives clear unequivocal information AND has an individual mailbox for everyone, it will be a waste of time. Other organisations manage to have secure 'mail boxes' so why not government departments.


parliamentary information office: Could not some savings also be made by bringing the end of the tax year to something more logical, like 31 March? If tax reform is included in the specifications for this latest Magnum Opus, the savings could indeed be massive, taking into account the reduced revenue streams for the post office and telephone companies, and the vultures in the tax avoidance game.


parliamentary information office: This is good news, I predict that changes to benefits payment software will result in even more savings than predicted. The civil service does not do computing, so when such changes are attempted there is usually a total cockup. Standby for lots of whinging and whining from career scroungers.

 

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Importance of Hat

parliamentary information office: A hat is an excellent article as not only does it keep your head warm but it allows the wearer to engage in a conversation with those about him.

This revolves around what used to be called `hat honour'. You will often see pictures painted in the 17th century of Charles I siting at the dining table wearing his hat whilst those about him are hatless. They are doing `hat honour' to the king, recognising his superior status. Similarly the early Quakers when dragged into court for not attending compulsory Anglican service they did not divest themselves of their hats before the judge as they considered themselves as equal to the judge. They made their point and suffered for it.

When I enter a shop I take my hat off if I respect the shop. I am often seen wearing my hat in the bank although I do take it off when talking to the cashier and others as that is a proper courtesy. I always take my hat off in church but get confused with mosques and synagogues so negotiate my way round them with the congregation.

Then there is the recent incident in a Manchester courtroom in which some dreadful child much given to wearing what is known as a `hoodie' was ordered not to wear them in future as they allowed him to engage anonymously in crime. On representations being made by the defence counsel that this would make the said infant liable to catch colds, the judge very wisely pointed out that the babe in arms should avail himself of a cap. He went on to point out that one hundred years ago no man in Manchester would ever go out without wearing a hat. There is hope yet for the judiciary.

A hat is a good thing which is probably why the poseur `Dave' decries them. What does a man who hugs hoodies know about anything? He should have a chat with the wise judge.





parliamentary information office: The only merciless outside event of the year at which Cameron will necessarily appear bare headed will be a week today, when God willing, our 86 year old Monarch and her 91 year old Consort will lead the Act of Remembrance at the Cenotaph as they have done for 6 decades. 

Mr Cameron is 46 - almost exactly half the age of Prince Philip, who will wear a services cap, befitting a man who served throughout WWII as a regular.

Formal male civilian attire including a hat has largely fallen out of fashion - bowlers or cloth caps - save for the morning dress now so beloved of the ex-working class who invariably hire it for weddings these days, which seems so incongruous.

Baseball caps and the rest have become either practical devices for warmth or shade (some of us males have foreheads that extend behind our ears you know) - or the uniforms of gang culture and the like.





parliamentary information office: The problem nowadays with wearing a hat* regularly is that there are so few people who do it makes you immediately recognisable.  So you're constantly greeted in the street by people who recognise you (or rather the hat) whilst you have, at best, only the vaguest memory of where they might have met you!

*Baseball caps do not, imho, properly count as hats.




parliamentary information office: Here in the tropics those of us with any sense wear a hat to keep the sun off. And really, hats on men have never been a matter of fashion, merely of  functionality or convention, apart from the tossers who think it's trendy to wear a baseball cap.

I think it's a shame, though, that ties seem to be worn much less than in previous generations.




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Parliamentary News

parliamentary information office: "the Government’s first priority should be to put its own house in order and abandon policies that do more harm than good."



parliamentary information office: Hope you will have the opportunity to present the 'Local Banking' argument to the  Treasury Select Committee, as the vastly superior method of realizing the full economic potential of  our regional economies. 

Surely, The Commons has to  consider the really compelling  alternatives, in it's  evaluation of  recent BoE policy.


parliamentary information office: What is old Garthy baby on? The Government is still shooting itself in the foot my arse!!! It hasn't got any feet left and is now shooting everybody else in the foot. If by some chance they got the weapon reversed and shot the government in the head we might get somewhere!!!


parliamentary information office: Heseltine will not find the answer to the problem with current governments under
 a stone for the simple reason there is not a rock large enough to
 conceal the E.U and being a member in any shape or form is where
 our main problem lies.


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Comment: MPs' expenses threatens public trust again

The public are still angry about the last expenses scandal. Trust in Westminster can only be further damaged by what appears to be a cover up of a loophole which allows MPs to pocket extra expenses cash by renting out their homes to one another.

Given how damaging the expenses crisis was in 2009, many will be shocked to learn that MPs are attempting to block the publication of information that could reveal abuse of the system. Before the last crisis hit the headlines the Speaker at the time blocked publication of addresses of MPs who were involved in claims. This made it impossible to identify those who were 'flipping' their second homes. Thankfully, someone leaked the unsavoury details to the Telegraph and the rest, as they say, is history.

Fast forward to today and the current Speaker, John Bercow, has written to the expenses regulator asking for documents revealing the names of MPs landlords to be kept secret. Mr Bercow has done so under the guise of protecting parliamentarians' security. He has reacted to pressure from MPs like Home Office minister James Brokenshire, who is quoted in the Evening Standard as saying that a balance must be struck between security and transparency. But many disillusioned voters will wonder whether such reticence amounts to an admission of bad behaviour.

Taxpayers will wonder why MPs are taking advantage of the loophole not to cover legitimate expenses but to profit at their expense. Though technically within parliamentary rules, MPs have to know what a dim view their constituents will take of profiteering from such a blatant ruse.

In order to build on the residual trust that the public may still have in parliament, it is absolutely necessary that we have total transparency on MPs taxpayer funded expenses and allowances. While security is of course a concern, the work that has been done since 2009 to rebuild parliament's reputation is at serious risk of being undone.

There are glimmers of hope, however, as some members of parliament are fully committed to transparency. John Mann stated frankly that "if MPs are renting from past or current MPs it is right and proper that the public should know that". Jacqui Smith, who knows about public anger over expenses all too well, condemned the Speaker's move, saying it is "wrong and it won't last". Let's hope that spirit of openness will be embraced by lots more politicians so taxpayers' hard earned money is not wasted on any more fiddles.

Expenses are still a major issue for the public. So-called flipping, bogus main homes and memories of duck houses may have faded but they haven't gone away. MPs who have done nothing wrong must not be tarnished by the actions of those involved in this latest scandal of abuse and cover up.

TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive Matthew Sinclair has made it clear how important this issue is: "The public's faith was left in tatters in 2009 and the latest allegations could endanger much of the work that has been done since then to restore public confidence in our politicians. It is vital that there is total transparency in all matters relating to MPs' taxpayer-funded expenses and allowances."


Source: http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/10/18/comment-mps-expenses-threatens-public-trust-again

UK signs deal on Scotland independence referendum

LONDON -- British Prime Minister David Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond signed a deal Monday agreeing the date and wording of a referendum that will ask Scottish voters whether they want to remain in the 305-year-old union with England.

The agreement -- which stipulates that Scotland will decide on the matter no later than fall 2014 -- comes after months of delicate negotiations between the British government in London and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

Under the terms of the agreement, the referendum should “deliver a fair test and a decisive expression of the views of people in Scotland and a result that everyone will respect.”

"This marks the beginning of an important chapter in Scotland's story and allows the real debate to begin," Cameron said in comments prepared for delivery and released by his office in advance.

'Biggest opportunity'
Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was closely involved in the backroom negotiations that led to the referendum agreement, called it “the biggest opportunity the people of Scotland have had for 300 years to determine the kind of nation we all wish to live in.”

The timing of the referendum appears to be a victory for Salmond, whose Scottish National Party (SNP) has campaigned for decades for the right of Scots to determine the country’s destiny for themselves.

With recent opinion polls showing only around 30 percent of Scots supporting independence, Cameron is believed to have favored an earlier vote.

The prime minister has publicly opposed a break-up of the union, arguing that countries are "stronger together".

But Cameron has been under increasing pressure to bring forward legislation after the SNP made significant gains in Scottish Parliament elections in May 2011, taking full control of Scotland's devolved government after gaining power through a coalition in 2007.

A remarkable, and rapid, transformation has shifted Scotland’s political terrain since the first devolved parliament was established in 1999.

The SNP, frequently campaigning on a ticket of an independent Scotland, has seen its fortunes improve at the expense of mainstream parties affiliated to London's Westminster parliament.

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Behind the SNP’s rhetoric is the belief that independence will make Scotland more successful.

The SNP points to successful countries like Sweden and Norway, which function well as smaller states.

In its publicity material, the SNP claims: “We will be able to address the priorities of people in Scotland, from better state pensions to universal free childcare. Scotland could do even more to lead the world in areas like renewable energy and tackling climate change, and play our part in creating a more peaceful and stable world.”

Funding the plan
But these bold aspirations require the financial capacity to deliver them.

London argues that an independent Scotland, which has a huge government sector, would struggle to balance the books. The bulk of Scotland's current funding comes from an annual $48 billion grant from the U.K. government.

The most contentious issue -- one likely to dominate debate in the run-up to the referendum -- is the ownership of an estimated 20 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves that lie beneath the British part of the North Sea.

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Scotland has long laid claim to the tax revenues of the fossil fuels that flow ashore and many analysts believe the pro-independence campaign will need to deliver the money in order to deliver its policies.

For now, the next step will be for the Scottish Parliament to bring legislation to allow the referendum to take place. In that, there will be a world of detail for both sides to chew over, including the wording of the referendum question, the right of younger people to vote and how the campaign will be financed.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/15/14452943-uk-signs-deal-on-scotland-independence-referendum

Georgians cast ballots in pivotal parliamentary vote

(Reuters) - President Mikheil Saakashvili faced his biggest test in a decade in power on Monday as Georgians voted in a parliamentary election overshadowed by a prison abuse scandal that has fuelled accusations of government repression.

Saakashvili, who swept to the presidency after the Rose Revolution of 2003 and led the country into a brief, disastrous war with Russia in 2008, says his main challenger Bidzina Ivanishvili would move the former Soviet republic away from West and bring it closer to Moscow once again.

Ivanishvili, a tycoon with a fortune nearly half the size of Georgia's economy, hopes the prison scandal will convince undecided voters that Saakashvili has become an undemocratic leader who tramples on rights and freedoms.

Video of torture, beatings and sexual of prison inmates led to street protests after it was aired on two television channels opposed to Saakashvili. They undermined the president's image as a reformer who had imposed the rule of law and rooted out post-Soviet corruption.

"I'm voting against violence and abuse - how can I do otherwise after what we have all seen on TV?" Natela Zhorzholia, 68, said outside a polling station at a school in the capital, Tbilisi.

She said she would vote for Ivanishvili's six-party Georgian Dream movement.

The election also heralds constitutional changes which will affect any future leadership.

Saakashvili, 44, must step down after a presidential vote next year, when reforms will weaken the role of head of state giving more power to parliament and the prime minister.

But if his United National Movement retains its dominance of parliament, that may give him a way to remain in charge of the country of 4.5 million, an important gas and oil transit route to the West,

"Besides being a contest for parliament, it is also a shadow leadership election," said Thomas de Waal, a Caucasus expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

EUROPEAN DREAM

Saakashvili highlighted the importance of the vote after casting his ballot with his Dutch wife and their young son, and said: "The fate of our country's statehood is being decided today".

The vote will affect "not only this nation but what happens to the European dream...what happens to the idea of democracy... what happens to the idea of reforms in this part of the world," he said.

Many Georgians just want political and economic stability. The economy, hit by the 2008 war and the global financial crisis, has been growing again since 2010 but inflation is likely to hit 6-7 percent this year.

"I voted for peace and stability," Georgy Ugrekhelidze, 76. "I want this government to carry out what it has started."

Saakashvili's supporters say the election could determine whether Georgia moves closer to Russia or remains a U.S. ally. They accuse Ivanishvili, who made much of his money in Russia, of being a Kremlin stooge, a charge he denies.

During the war, Russia strengthened its control of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which make up about one-fifth of the Caucasus nation's territory.

The West wants a stable Georgia because of its role as a conduit for Caspian Sea energy supplies to Europe and its pivotal location between Russia, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia.

"The most important thing is that those who are dissatisfied should not create disorder," said voter Yelena Kvlividze, 45.

Ivanishvili told a rally on Saturday: "This regime's hours are numbered."

But has also said Georgian Dream will accept any outcome deemed legitimate by international observers.

A poll by the U.S. National Democratic Institute in August gave UNM 37 percent support against 12 percent for Georgian Dream but showed 43 percent of respondents could vote either way. There have been no major polls since the abuse scandal.

Elected in 2004 after the Rose Revolution protests toppled President Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister, Saakashvili cultivated close ties with Europe and the United States and sought to bring Georgia into NATO.

He curbed police bribe-taking, made frequent power outages a thing of the past and presided over an economic resurgence.

But opponents say he has curtailed democracy, persecuted the opposition, pressured courts and controlled the media. He also faces criticism for leading Georgia into the war with Moscow in which Russian forces routed the army.

(Reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Steve Gutterman and Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/01/uk-georgia-election-idUKBRE89007U20121001