Gavin Brown
- Name:
- Gavin Brown
- Party:
- Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party
- Constituency:
- Glasgow Rutherglen
- Election result May 2003:
- 2499 votes (10.61%), fourth of five candidates
- Election literature available in Aspect:
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- Election policy statement:
- Gavin Brown says, "The Scottish Parliament has great potential but has been held back by the poor standard of MSPs. Rutherglen & Cambuslang in particular have been badly let down by their so called representatives. The abstentions in the Emergency & Acute Services Provision debate are an absolute scandal. If you can't trust them with your health, what can you trust them with?
The time has come for a breath of fresh air instead of tired old political hacks. The Labour/Liberal Executive have done their incompetent best, but they simply are not up to the job. Too much time has been spent on fringe issues whilst failing to address the very real concerns of the Scottish people. We need to make our streets safer, tighten our justice system and improve our health service. The Nationalists offer no real alternative, other than attempting to break up the United Kingdom.
The time has come to vote for a safer and healthier future. Do something about it and vote for the Scottish Conservatives."
Healthcare Warning
"Ambulance Crews Issue Emergency Call Over City A&E Revamp" Evening Times, 12 February 2003
"Fears Over Ambulance Wait Times" The Reformer, 13 February 2003
Time is critical when people are being rushed to accident & emergency hospitals - every second counts. At the moment, it takes 12 minutes to get to the Victoria Infirmary by ambulance. The Labour/Liberal Executive have approved plans to divert all accident & emergency cases from this constituency to the Southern General Hospital. It will take over half an hour to get to the Southern General.
Both Janis Hughes (Labour) and Robert Brown (Liberal) had the opportunity to vote against these ludicrous proposals. However, they both betrayed the people of this constituency and 'abstained' from the vote.
The Scottish Conservative Solution
- We are committed to an urgent review of these dangerous proposals
- Acting on the views of ambulance crews, we will deliver a safe alternative for Emergency and Acute Services Provision
Kicking Out Crime and Building Safer Communities
In Scotland today, a crime is committed every 1.2 minutes. In the time it takes you to read this leaflet, another crime will have taken place. That level is unacceptable.
Between 1997 and 2001 overall crime increased, with serious violent crime increasing by 24%, drug-related crime increasing by 23%, fire-raising & vandalism increasing by 17% and vehicle crime increasing by 9%.
The Labour/Liberal approach to this crime wave has been pathetic. Their weak response has been to propose a ban on smacking and send 16 & 17 year old offenders to the Children's Panel. In addition, their intention is simply "maintaining the capacity of the police." In short, the Labour/Liberal Executive is soft on crime and soft on criminals.
The Scottish Conservative Solution
We can only build a neighbourly society on a secure foundation of public order. We will fight for the following measures:-
- Increase police numbers and begin a zero-tolerance campaign against crime
- Increase community policing to prevent crime taking place
- Campaign for improved CCTV coverage to detect crime more effectively
- Introduce honesty in sentencing, so that '3 years' means '3 years'
- An improved, beefed-up prosecution service to deal with offenders efficiently
It is time to stop tolerating all levels of disorder and make the streets safe again.
Driving Up Standards In Education
Despite dedicated teachers, many schools are not performing well at all. These schools fail our children and our teachers. Rather alarmingly, physical and verbal attacks against teachers have increased dramatically.
The Scottish Conservative Solution
We will:-
- Apply zero tolerance to attacks on staff and disruptive behaviour generally
- Give head teachers a much greater say in how their budget is spent
- Give parents a much greater say in how their children are educated
- Support the establishment of specialist schools to get the best out of pupils
- Abolish the graduate tax to give our young graduates the best possible start
- Personal details used in election:
- Gavin (27) is a qualified solicitor turned entrepreneur, who has recently started his own training consultancy business. His interest in business affairs led to his appointment as Vice-Chairman of Glasgow Junior Chamber of Commerce. A keen speaker, he last year won the World Debating Championships in Las Vegas.
Gavin is also heavily involved in sports. He holds a black belt in Tae Kwon-Do, where he is a former Scottish gold medallist.