VICTORY AT THE POLLS

It was a moment to savour. When word came through to the BBC’s Election Night studio that David McLetchie had won Pentlands, I knew that the Scottish Tories were on the way back. David’s fantastic Holyrood campaign and immense personal popularity with the Scottish public has reaped dividends. Although I had to spend the entire night commenting on the election results on Kirsty Wark’s programme, right up until 6.00am, I was elated. The adrenalin was flowing. John Scott held Ayr with a 3% swing from Labour. David Mundell put in a storming performance in Dumfries, increasing the Conservative share of the vote by an amazing 9%, almost turfing out Labour’s Elaine Murray and happily still getting elected on the South of Scotland List.

Then came the icing on the Holyrood cake. The news came through on my pager that Alex Fergusson looked like he would snatch Galloway from the SNP. I took great delight in announcing this news to the nation…..or at least to the handful of anoraks who stay up all night to watch these programmes!

The good news continued to flow. Phil Gallie increased the Tory vote in the solid Labour seat of Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley by a huge 7%. My old friends Margaret Mitchell, Nanette Milne and Ted Brocklebank all found themselves elected as List MSPs, part of an 18-strong parliamentary group. Right across the board we increased our share of the vote, ending up as Scotland’s third largest party, ahead of the Lib/Dems. Indeed, for Labour, the SNP and the Lib/Dems it was a disastrous night. All three saw their vote slipping, with the Nats in particular, losing almost a quarter of their seats, calling into question John Swinney’s continued leadership.

So much for the dire warnings of the political pundits and pollsters in the Scottish Parliament elections!

For example, what are we to make of the System 3 poll published mid-campaign in the Herald? This predicted the Tories would only secure 10% of the first and second votes. This gave the impression that we looked set to lose no fewer than 9 of our Holyrood seats.

Following this apparently disastrous poll, the usual army of left wing political commentators and sloppy psychologists used up acres of newsprint explaining why the Tories were now facing oblivion. Several journalists wrote that we would even be overtaken by Tommy Sheridan's Scottish Socialist Party in parliamentary seats!

Well, System 3 got it spectacularly wrong and has done so consistently over the past seven elections. But will anything change as a result? Will the Herald continue to give credence to this flawed polling? Just wait and see. I don't need to take a sample of opinion to predict that we'll see another System 3 poll in June, which says that Tory support has collapsed again in Scotland and we are back down to 10%!

By contrast, the "You gov" poll which appeared in late April got it almost exactly right. They predicted we would score 17% on both the first and second Holyrood votes. Well done You gov for showing that polling can be done accurately, adding to the debate rather than setting hares running. I only hope the Scottish press consider carefully which polls they choose to put their - and the public's - faith in future. Otherwise, there is a genuine danger of them undermining the credibility of their entire political output.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Like all other Scottish politicians over the past month, I’ve been out on the Holyrood campaign trail, helping our candidates. Fleeting visits to Brussels and Strasbourg have had to make way for press conferences in Edinburgh, unveiling posters in Perth, visits to auction marts, High Street walkabouts, leafleting, canvassing and general flesh-pressing all across Scotland. Apart from Glasgow and Edinburgh, I have campaigned in Ayr, Symington, Troon, Perth, Fraserburgh, Lossiemouth, Inverness, Inverurie, Blairgowrie, Forfar, Pittenweem, Anstruther, Moffat, Lochmaben, Newton Stewart and Arran. I’ve cooed over babies and patted dozens of dogs. I’ve listened to endless tales of woe and pushed leaflets through hundreds of letterboxes.

Sometimes I feel as if, over the 34 years I’ve been a party activist, I must have canvassed every house in Scotland! I’ve certainly developed a healthy respect for those finger-tearing letterboxes with the nasty spring-loaded flaps! I’ve also had a few close encounters with dogs, especially the big silent types who sit patiently behind the door, waiting for an unsuspecting hand clutching a bundle of leaflets to protrude through their letterbox!

One of the major issues which has been repeatedly raised during this campaign is the way in which the rural economy has been devastated by 4 years of appalling misrule by Labour and their Lib/Dem chums at Holyrood. Our farming industry has seen its worse ever recession and our fishing sector has been virtually destroyed. To add insult to injury, daft new EU rules which the government seem hellbent on implementing, such as the regulation on double sheep-tagging and the ban on burials of fallen stock on the farm, are symptomatic of a ruling elite which has completely lost touch with rural Scotland.

The ludicrously bureaucratic and unworkable scheme to double tag sheep is allegedly being called for on health and welfare grounds. How on earth are farmers supposed to record two, 12-digit numbers on every individual sheep going through an auction mart on any given day? Some of the bigger markets can have up to 5000 sheep at a time. There is not even a functioning electronic system in existence that would make such a scheme work. It would bring our markets to a grinding halt. This kind of daft idea may be OK in Greece or Spain where farmers have tiny flocks of sheep and goats, but it is completely impractical in Scotland, Europe’s biggest sheep producer. It is yet another example of Europe's determination to destroy our livestock sector in the same way as they are systematically destroying our fishing industry. The present system of recording batches of sheep is perfectly adequate and provides a full guarantee of traceability and consumer safety.

And in any case, how does this sheep tagging idea, apparently introduced to improve consumer health, square with the other piece of lunacy emanating from Brussels concerning the disposal of dead farm animals? The EU is insisting on a national scheme involving lorries filled with dead and possibly diseased livestock having to trundle around country roads collecting carcasses from farm to farm? It beggars belief! Properly supervised on-farm burials of fallen stock are the only possible answer for remote communities. The government’s offer of a part-funded national collection service is a non-starter. The government have indicated they would phase out their financial contribution to the scheme over two years, leaving UK farmers to foot the bill. Almost every other EU government pays the entire bill for fallen stock collection from their farms. Once again, British farmers will be hung out to dry by our government and placed at a crippling competitive disadvantage.

It is ironic that all this is happening against a background where more and more Scottish Councils are seeking to encourage green burials, as an environmentally friendly way of disposing of dead humans by burying them in specially designated woodland and countryside sites. It will soon be easier to bury your granny in rural Scotland, than to bury an old ewe that has died on the hill!

RETHINK NEEDED ON AID FOR WHITEFISH SECTOR

The European Commission has confirmed that draft proposals for accessing emergency funding for Scotland’s beleaguered whitefish sector, must be submitted by the UK Government before any funds can be released by Brussels. In a debate (Tuesday 22nd April) on the budget in the Parliament’s Fisheries Committee, John Mallett, Head of the Resources Unit in DG Fish, confirmed that the UK must take the initiative to submit plans for money from the socio-economic impact fund. It is up to UK Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley to apply to the European Commission for the £100 million of emergency funding agreed by the Parliament when they overwhelmingly supported an emergency resolution, drafted by me. The Commission have said that in the absence of such an application from the UK, they cannot prepare a proposal for submission to the Council of Ministers.

This information flies in the face of the recent assertion by Elliot Morley that he cannot move without first seeking such a proposal from the Commission. This is patently untrue and proves that either he is trying to pass the buck, or he doesn’t understand how Europe works. Either way, it has serious implications for our fishermen who need aid now and urgently want to know when he intends to set the ball rolling.

The European Parliament voted by a majority of 507 in favour to 6 against, to provide over £100 million of emergency aid to the white fish sector, who've been forced to tie up their boats for half of every month and suffered savage cuts of over 50% in quotas. I have asked for up to half of this aid to be paid immediately out of the Flexibility Instrument, a fund that allows access to EU monies in time of crisis. The remainder come from re-programming next year’s budget from the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance. Both packages will need to be co-funded by the UK Treasury.

However, so far, our fishermen have not seen a single penny of aid. Thousands are facing ruin because Elliot Morley has failed to act in this matter. It is little wonder that over 140 skippers have applied for decommissioning grants to scrap their vessels. When they do, Scotland's whitefish fleet will fall below the critical mass necessary to support thousands of jobs in the harbours and processing factories. Economically fragile parts of Scotland’s remote rural mainland and islands will be devastated.

It is incredible that our elected representatives are still not applying for support from Europe for this vital industry when the door is open for such an approach. And if Elliot Morley’s decision not to act was made on erroneous advice from officials, there still needs to be clarification from him on where things stand now in light of the European Commission confirmation. This is a serious error of judgement or poor advice, either way it is the livelihood of our fishing fleet which hangs in the balance awaiting the UK Fisheries Minister to make a move.

SCOTLAND’S FALLING FERTILITY

According to recent articles in the press, Scotland’s human fertility is amongst the lowest in Europe and falling further. Part of the problem arises from social trends, with many women choosing to have fewer children. Later in life fertility levels also naturally drop. Significantly, however, sperm counts in Scotland, along with most of Europe, have fallen by 50% over the pass fifty years except in Finland, where they have risen by 50%.

Many health experts believe that one of the reasons for this is that in 1984 the Finnish government passed a law introducing selenium to all phosphate fertilisers. Thus, selenium finds its way into the whole food chain. Selenium is one of the most useful and important trace elements. One of its many benefits is that it helps the motility of sperm. Its beneficial effects are also well-known in the veterinary world where it is commonly added to animal feed. Not only does a lack of it have an adverse influence on male fertility, but there is anecdotal evidence that a lack of it in women may be a cause of repeated miscarriage.

Apart from its positive effect on fertility it also has a major effect on the prevention of heart attacks, lowers blood pressure, substantially reduces the risk of breast and colon cancer, improves liver function and helps detoxify the body. You would have thought that with such an impressive record, the government would be encouraging people to take charge of their own health by promoting the use of this and other mineral supplements. Far from doing so, they have just passed into UK law one of the worst examples of over-regulation ever to come out of Brussels, which will effectively ban its use.

As from 1st August 2005, approximately 300 perfectly safe food supplements that are currently available across the counter in health shops, will no longer be obtainable in the EU. This includes selenium in all but its least effective form. This legislation threatens the health of our nation. Scotland is continually being called the "Sick Man of Europe". Our soils are greatly depleted and we now get 72% less nutrients from our food than we did 100 years ago. Even a supposedly healthy diet cannot give us all we need. Why then deprive the public of their right to good health by banning these valuable supplements? It is the Nanny State gone mad!

Taking supplements is not some new-age fad that only ageing hippies use. This is something that can be a matter of life and death for many thousands of ordinary people. Cancer patients are often helped by taking supplements and many people depend upon them to cope with such debilitating conditions as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and epilepsy.

Not only will this legislation have a hugely deleterious effect on the long-term health of Scots, but it will also put a much greater strain on an already over-stretched NHS. People no longer able to self medicate will be clogging up the waiting rooms of overworked GPs. They will be forced to use pharmaceutical drugs which will cost more and in many cases be less effective.

Many manufacturers of minerals and supplements say their business will be severely affected as they will not be able to offer the wide variety currently available. People will be forced to buy from dubious suppliers outside Europe with fewer or no regulations to protect them. Many health shops are also worried that the increasing costs caused by the Brussels directive could put their businesses at risk. In 2002 the food supplement market was worth £345 million.

Last year in Britain 6,000 people died from an overdose of prescription drugs. No-one died of an overdose of food supplements. Scotland’s falling fertility rates are simply one symptom of a much wider malaise, which is being exacerbated by bureaucratic interference from Brussels, aided and abetted by an un-caring and un-thinking government at Westminster.