BBC BRIAN TAYLOR

As the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey at the forthcoming General Election I was delighted that the BBC had invited the various political parties to attend a live radio show in Avimore in the Scottish Highlands.

A number of us agreed to attend but on arrival despite having been on the list I was refused entry due to the fact I was a political Candidate.

The BBC told me that they had to remain impartial and that Candidates were not allowed in so that no one had an unfair advantage.

However Danny Alexander the LibDem MP who’s seat I am contesting is also a candidate. Not only was he allowed to attend but he was also on the panel. I pointed this out to the BBC,  but they refused to listen. When the SNP Candidate arrived we discussed the situation and agreed that we would simply sit in the audience and not take part in the debate. Once again we were refused.

Later I spoke to security staff who had controlled entry to the room where the broadcast was taking place. They confirmed that they had been specifically told to refuse entry to the Labour Candidate Mike Robb as the BBC had been concerned that he was going to disrupt proceedings. I spoke with the hotel staff who also confirmed they were simply acting on instructions from their client.

While I accept that the BBC wish to remain impartial, why on earth then would they allow Danny Alexander to remain on the panel. It would have been easy to arrange to have a LibDem MSP to join the Conservative, Labour and SNP MSP’s who were also on the panel.

Danny Alexander should therefore never have been allowed to attend this event let alone sit on the panel.

With a General Election just around the corner this gave him a distinct advantage and high profile that was denied to the other political Candidates.

The BBC have been accused of left leaning, liberal bias before, but now I have experienced it for myself.

I have written to the BBC demanding a full and detailed explanation as to why they acted the way they did including the political editor Brian Taylor who Chaired the debate.

So far they have not even acknowledged my email.

I am sure that Danny Alexander is relieved. However he will have to face me on the various hustings where there will be no liberal bias allowed.

Bring on the General Election.

Jim Ferguson

Candidates barred from BBC debate

Anger over reception at Aviemore

By Iain Ramage

Published: 22/03/2010

A WOULD-BE Tory politician who was among three election candidates barred from a live BBC lunchtime debate at Aviemore Highland Resort claims they were “treated like terrorists”.

Jim Ferguson, the Conservative candidate for the forthcoming contest for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency, is the boss of an Inverness security firm.

Stunned by the reception the trio had on Friday, he has written to the corporation asking for an explanation.

SNP candidate John Finnie and Labour’s Mike Robb were equally amazed to have been refused entry to Brian Taylor’s Big Debate on Radio Scotland despite being on the original audience guest list.

Mr Ferguson said: “We were treated like terrorists. It was totally bizarre.

“I was astonished to have been refused entry to a public debate. I explained that Danny Alexander was the MP, and also a candidate, and asked why he was allowed in and I wasn’t.

“It was embarrassing. It was humiliating. I felt this was absolutely undemocratic and very worrying of the BBC to be allowing the proceedings to happen like that.

“John Finnie and I even offered to observe the debate without asking questions, but they wouldn’t accept that.

“They have given Danny Alexander an unfair advantage.”

Mr Robb said: “I was initially told by the programme’s researcher that I could attend the event. However, I was later called by the programme to say that, as a declared local candidate, I would not be allowed to on the grounds of political impartiality.

“I was astonished to find out that the Lib Dems were to be represented on the panel by local MP Danny Alexander, rather than a Lib Dem MSP.

“He therefore had a platform to put his views to local voters whilst his political opponents at the coming general election were barred from even being allowed in the room.”

Mr Finnie, the opposition SNP group leader on Highland Council, said: “It does seem very peculiar.”

A spokeswoman for BBC Scotland said: “Participants and audiences at our debate programmes reflect our guidelines on impartiality.

“We are confident these guidelines were met.”

Mr Alexander declined to comment.

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Mary Scanlon MSP

Mary Scanlon Conservative MSP spoke particularly well and also made the point that despite LibDem MP Danny Alexander calling the meeting she had on many previous occasions petitioned the LibDem/Labour coalition in Hollyrood when they were in Government, all to no avail. Dave Thompson SNP MSP also highlighted some good points and I felt he contributed in a positive way. The fact that the LibDems have effectively done nothing for Inverness was something that had caused a great deal of frustration on this particular issue.

I also pointed out that these were devolved issues and asked Mr Alexander why as a Westminster MP he was getting directly involved in issues that did not involve him. I also asked him why he was waiting until the eve of a General Election to start to campaign on the Inverness by-pass and why he had not at any other time tried to speak up for the issues at any other point during his term of office.

I suggested that Danny Alexander was in fact using the Inverness by-pass as part of his political campaign to try and win popular support for his own personal election campaign in an attempt to get re-elected.

I asked Mr Alexander to answer these charges but not unexpectedly he refused to do so.

While a by-pass is important to the future development of Inverness it must be well thought out and take into consideration all opinions and feelings of the community that it will affect. The fact that Danny  Alexander has attempted to hijack a sensitive local issue needs to be viewed with a high degree of suspicion.

Danny talks a lot but he has totally failed to deliver on this and many other issues and only now tries to save his political skin by appearing to take an interest. Once the General Election is over, Danny Alexander whether successful or not will no doubt disapear into the void only to appear again when another election approaches.

This region needs real leadership and effective planning and not politicians who simply use issues to further their own attemps to cling on to office. I have no doubt that the majority of people attending were of the same opinion as me.

The time for real action has come and lets hope that it does move forward in a positive way with a cross party consensus on what needs to be done but the political grandstanding needs to be left out.

Jim Ferguson

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Danny Alexander LibDem MP

MP’s and their expenses are under ever greater scrutiny than ever before and rightly so. Some are legitimate expenses and others are bordering on outright fraud.

I found it interesting to note from the article in the Press and Journal the amount of expenses claimed by a number of Scottish MP’s which were well into the top 50 as far as amounts actually claimed.

Danny Alexander is among the highest expense claims of MP’s at Westminster. It led me to wonder if all that money for these MP’s was money well spent. While the likes of Danny Alexander claim a large geographical area as the reason for such huge expenses claimed we cannot forget the fact that its not all fares.

Not so long ago he was approached as were all the local parties to make a contribution to the Blythwood food bank appeal that was trying desperately hard to assist the poor who had no food to eat here in the Highland capital of Inverness and the surrounding area.

I had raised close to £1000 of food aid which had also come from donations from Conservative Party members and I had thought that a cross party effort would have gone a long way to helping those in need.

Danny refused to help and stated that he thought it more important to talk about the situation than to donate anything to it.

Ofcourse at that time few of us knew that every piece of food that Danny put in his mouth was paid for by the taxpayer from expenses he claimed. All legitimate ofcourse. At least as far as the law was concerned.

I am wondering what actual worth some of these MP’s actually bring though. Sure they can appear in the newspapers and opine on this and that on a regular basis.

Danny talks a lot but in my opinion and many others actions speak louder than words.

Are MP’s like Danny Alexander worth the investment ? With a bit of luck we will find out soon enough once people here in the Highlands look at the real worth of those who claim to be working so hard on our behalf.

Jim Ferguson

North and north-east members in top 50

Chairman of Scottish affairs committee was most expensive in 2009-10

Published: 05/02/2010

NINE MPs representing seats in the north and north-east were revealed last night to be among the 50 most expensive at Westminster in the last financial year.

The MP with the highest expenses for 2009-10 was Glasgow East Labour MP and Scottish affairs committee chairman Mohammed Sarwar, who is retiring at the general election – expected in May.

He racked up £192,986 in second homes allowance claims, travel expenses, office costs, computer costs and staff pay.

But his example was closely followed by MPs north of the central belt.

Moray MP Angus Robertson, ranked third most costly, last night defended his £188,164 claim. He said it was partly caused by the extra expense resulting from opening a second constituency office at Keith, and partly high travel costs.

He said: “Given the unpredictability of parliamentary schedules, weekly commuting arrangements often have to be made at short notice, which sadly adds to the travel costs.

“Constituents rightly expect you to attend to issues and events locally as well as with matters at Westminster on a weekly basis.”

He added: “The biggest cost saving from Westminster will come when Scotland is independent and we don’t need to send MPs there at all. I am focused on making that happen as quickly as possible.

At just £539 a year lower, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Liberal Democrat MP Danny Alexander, also blamed travel costs, driving round one of the biggest constituencies in the UK and commuting back and forth between Inverness and London.

Linlithgow and Falkirk East Labour MP Michael Connarty and Falkirk Labour MP Eric Joyce, at fourth and fifth, were only a few pence less.

Mr Joyce — frequently at or near the top of the expenses league — also cited travel between his home in Falkirk and London as the reason his expenses remain high, pointing out that MPs have to fly on expensive open tickets because they do not know their arrangements very far ahead.

Aberdeen North MP Frank Doran came in at No 12 in the table, claiming £182,139.

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Lib Dem MP John Thurso, at No 22, claimed £178,689, Dundee West Labour MP Jim McGovern, 23, £178,597, and Gordon Lib Dem MP Malcolm Bruce, 24, £178,230.

Perth and North Perthshire SNP MP Pete Wishart was 34th with £175,896.

The cheapest was First Minister Alex Salmond, also SNP MP for Banff and Buchan, 533rd, but he rarely appeared in Westminster, claiming £131,316, mainly in staff costs. Western Isles SNP MP Angus MacNeil was 431st, claiming £141,583.

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