Mohammed Ashraf Anjum
- Name:
- Mohammed Ashraf Anjum
- Party:
- Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party
- Constituency:
- Glasgow Pollok
- Election result May 2003:
- 1012 votes (4.70%), fourth of six candidates
- Election literature available in Aspect:
-
- Election policy statement:
- We've had four years of Lab/Lib Government in Scotland.
Six years of Labour Government in the UK. And what Is there to show for It? Precious little. There is no disguising the disappointment and disillusionment felt by many people. But let us be quite clear who is to blame - Labour and their Liberal Democrat allies. It is pretty clear what the Scottish people expect from their Government. They want to live in safe neighbourhoods and communities; they want to know if they are ill, they will be treated speedily and effectively by our health service; they want to know that their children are being properly educated to give them the best possible start in life; and they want the opportunity to improve their standard of living. In Scotland today these basic requirements are not being met. We must do something about it.
We will start by cutting government in Scotland down to size. Labour in Scotland has always been a byword for waste. But never more so than now. The new Parliament building at Holyrood or more accurately 'Follywood' is the perfect symbol of the waste, incompetence and perverse priorities of the last four years of Labour/Lib Dem rule. The fact that the cost has gone up by £300 million is nothing short of a national scandal and we know who is to blame. Labour chose the site. Labour rejected a fixed price tender. Labour ruled our PFI. Labour and their Lib Dem lackeys voted for the project to proceed on 4 separate occasions and they continue to abdicate their responsibility and sign the blank cheques - Money down the drain which could and should have built schools hospitals and roads - and not a palace for politicians.
Ashral Anjum is a man of three degrees - from the Universities of Lahore, Glasgow and Strathclyde. Since coming to Scotland in 1967 he has been engaged in a variety of businesses from bank executive to sub-postmaster. He is currently Managing Director of a wholesale lighting and distribution company.
He has been deeply involved in community relations for many years and is currently a member of the Police Advisory Board for Scotland. He has been campaigning for Conservative candidates since 1979 and considers now is the time to stand himself. His first priority is to reduce crime and disorder in Glasgow and restore a safe and law abiding society. His hope is that this Election will give him the chance to give our ethnic communities a voice in the Scottish Parliament.
Ashraf Anjum says:
It is my most fundamental political belief that a safe and law abiding society is the foundation on which everything else is built. In Scotland today crime and disorder and the menace of drugs blight far too many neighbourhoods and communities. Crime affects all of us to a greater or lesser extent whether we live in urban or rural environments. But, cruelly, it impacts disproportionately on some of the most vulnerable people in our society - the poor, older people, youngsters drawn into drug abuse and many within our ethnic communities.
Too many people are resigned to this state of affairs because they think that nothing that can be done about it. They are wrong.
Above all, this requires political will. Clear and unequivocal support for a zero tolerance approach, which tackles crime at its roots by challenging the graffiti, vandalism and yobbery which undermines communities, saps the human spirit and creates a culture of crime. This approach means putting far more police officers on our streets. A visible police presence, not just to detect crime, but to deter it.
And we know it works. Between 1992 and 2000, police numbers in New York increased by nearly a half and crime fell by two thirds.
But numbers alone are not enough. If we are to succeed police forces must be more accountable to the communities they serve and focussed on clear crime-fighting objectives. Which is why we will ensure that crime figures are published on a neighbourhood by neighbourhood basis and regular public meetings are held to ensure that the public are informed of progress. This will ensure that the most effective measures are adopted, but we should not be afraid to review the boundary between operational freedom and accountability to give the public the service it demands and deserves.
And if we catch more criminals, we must be capable of dealing with them. An enhanced prosecution service, a more efficient court system, more places in secure accommodation to take persistent young offenders off the streets of the communities they terrorise and enough prison places to meet the demands of justice. It's been said before but is worth repeating - prison works. It protects the public and deters criminal behaviour. It isn't perfect and we need to do more to prevent re-offending, but let us never forget that our number one priority must be the protection of the public. So criminals must serve the sentences they are given and any remission should be strictly limited and would have to be earned not granted automatically And any alternatives to prison, such as community service or tagging, can be no soft option. They must be properly supervised and the public must be able to have confidence in them as punishments, as deterrents and as roads to rehabilitation and a way back into mainstream society.
The people of Scotland deserve better than this.
They deserve a government and a Parliament that provides value for money. And that's what we offer. Halve the number of ministers, fewer MSP'S, a streamlined committee system, fewer bureaucrats and spin doctors, and a Parliament that focusses on real issues, not politically correct nonsense.
Scotland needs a Government that understands this.
A Government that stops wasting money and spends it wisely on public services.
A Government that backs up our doctors and nurses, teachers and police officers.
A Government that trusts Scottish people.
That's what I stand for. That's what the Scottish Conservatives stand for.