Alastair Campbell
- Name:
- Alastair Campbell
- Party:
- Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party
- Constituency:
- Clydesdale
- Election result May 2003:
- 5174 votes (15.95%), third of six candidates
- Election literature available in Aspect:
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- Election policy statement:
- Scottish Conservatives are committed to making the Parliament work for Scotland. Although the Scottish Parliament is barely four years old, the public is already losing faith in it. Conservatives call for the number of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament to be reduced from 129 to 108 to create a more focused Parliament.
Law and order
Statistics show that crime and the fear of crime has risen dramatically in the past few years. The Scottish Executive promised to be tough on crime but has failed to deliver. Currently in Scotland a crime is committed every 1.2 minutes, violent crime is up 24% and drug related crime by 23% since 1997, yet on occasions there are as few as 138 police officers patrolling Scottish streets at any one time.
Instead of wasting time on politically correct nonsense, such as trying to ban parents from smacking their children, the Executive needs to be addressing the real issues of concern to the Scottish public:
Surveys that we have carried out throughout Scotland show that people want to see more police officers on the beat. I too believe this to be the correct approach and an important step to reclaiming our streets and making them safe for everyone.
Pensions
Our pensions industry is facing an unprecedented crisis. The latest Annual Survey from the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) shows that an increasing number of company pension schemes are closed to new members. 55 per cent of Britain's leading companies have now done so, and this is a worrying trend.
Labour has taken £5 billion a year out of our pension funds as a result of Gordon Brown's Pensions Tax. This amounts to £25 billion since 1997 and comes hard on the heels of increasing economic uncertainty and the pain inflicted by the crash in the stock market. We are all going to have to pay higher contributions to provide us with a decent income in retirement.
When Tony Blair became Prime Minister about 40 per cent of pensioners' incomes came from private funded savings and 60 per cent from state benefits. He said the Government's aim would be to reverse these percentages and reduce dependence on the state.
They have Failed!
Roads and Transport
Clydesdales roads must be improved. The whole road structure needs to be looked at in a cohesive way.
- More money needs to be spent on repair and maintenance. This will have a big and beneficial effect on the appearance of all Towns in the area.
- All the entrances to Towns should be enhanced
- We need more and better car parks.
- We need more space for coach parks to encourage coaches to come and shop in the towns.
- We need better cohesive public transport to enable those without a car to travel widely for work and leisure.
- Public transport timetables should be integrated so that trains meet with buses and provide an efficient service for all.
- Personal details used in election:
- Alastair Campbell a twenty nine-year-old businessman, who lives in Lanark. His business and political experience make him an ideal candidate for the Scottish parliament.
Alastair has lived in the constituency for most of his life. And knows that area and its problems well.