Wednesday 17 December 2008

Take a Mulligan, Mulligan

A motion worthy of Crap Holyrood Chat has been crafted by Mary Mulligan, who has managed to be Labour's MSP for Linlithgow for nearly 10 years without anyone noticing. For the anoraks, the motion number is S3M-03122.

Disappointingly, Sun Microsystems are relocating 100 or so jobs from Scotland to the USA. Mrs Mulligan's motion suggests that this is the doing of a certain Crawford Beveridge. Further, Mrs Mulligan claims that Mr Beveridge is a high profile donor to the SNP. She also points out that Mr Beveridge is a member of Alex Salmond's Council of Economic Advisers. Her contention is that this is very embarrasing for the Scottish Government and Alex Salmond. Oh, and by the way, she concludes her motion by suggesting that this is bad news for her constituency.

I'll leave Mrs Mulligan to explain why she focusses her attention on trying to embarass the SNP rather than make positive suggestions as to how this regrettable decision can be reversed. (Maybe she is taking her lead from her West Lothian Westminster colleague and grandstander extrordinaire, Jim Devine?)

On the substance (did I really dignify this tosh with that word?) of the motion, it would be incredible if Crawford Beveridge, effectively the worldwide Chairman of Sun, had any part in making this operational decision and even if he did, why is Mrs Mulligan getting so worked up about Gordon Brown's much loved global economy in action?

Isn't it funny how the global financial meltdown can't possibly be anything to do with a Labour Chancellor/Prime Minister but the relocation of 100 jobs can be laid squarely at the door of an SNP supporter?

I recall that Mr Beveridge suggested he was going to support the SNP at the last election and is a supporter of Independence but I haven't seen anything to suggest he funds the SNP in any way. I could be wrong on that one but it is perhaps revealing that Labour politicians assume that any businessman that has a good relationship with a government must somehow be involved in funding the party of that government!!!

Rather than waste our time and taxes with this drivel, perhaps Mrs Mulligan would like to spend some time explaining why a Labour Minister is driving a coach and horses through competition regulation and putting hundreds of local banking jobs in jeopardy just so his boss's mate can finally fulfil his dream of merging LTSB with HBOS.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm confused.

Labour in Westminster tell us these hard times is due to global not Uk factors. Yet Mary ticks a US based compnay off for streamlining possibly in an attempt to survive.

Plus we've been losing high tech jobs for years now. Motorola, NEC etc. When did anyone last refer to West Lothian as Silicon Glen.

Then as I've blogged she clearly doesn't want the SNP list members to be able to support a motion on Sun Micro because of the way she worded it. Yet every PMQs we here Gordon chastising DC or NC if they dare challenge him on economic policy, saying we should all be pulling together to get the country through this.

Either she or Gordon is way off the crib sheets.