Mev Brown by-election campaign

Here, I will “set out my stall” for the Glasgow North East by-election.

Everybody was disgusted at the MPs expenses scandal over the summer.

My concern is that this culture carries over into the policy area.Our elected politicians seem to have great difficulty in being honest with voters when it come to policy, particularly the 3 main parties.

Were you puzzled by yesterdays (11th November, 2009) front page story “Man quizzed over digital drug pictures” in the Evening Times?  click here, and why the police took no action?

The truth is, and this is something our MPs will never tell you, is that it is perfectly legal to be under the influence of class ‘A’ drugs. As for using class ‘A’ drugs, in practice, unless a drug user is stupid enough to use drugs in front of 2 witnesses who are willing to testify and a sample of the narcotics is taken and used in evidence - they are in the clear.

The legal test is “Beyond a reasonable doubt”. If there is a reasonable doubt - no further action will be taken. As was the case in the Glasgow Supermarket.

If you’re not convinced, you might recall the story of Kate Moss being pictured taking a cocaine like substance in 2005, click here.

There are 2 exceptions to this. Under Road Traffic Act, it is illegal to drive. Under Health & Safety legislation, it is illegal to operate plant or heavy machinery. Beyond these 2 exceptions - it’s all perfectly legal.

It is only illegal to be in possession of class ‘A’ drugs.

The things the politicians don’t tell you.

If elected, I would call on the Scottish Government to go ahead with the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. To provide the funding, they should cancel the Edinburgh Trams project, fill in the holes in Edinburgh’s streets and divert the cash to Glasgow.

Nobody in Edinburgh will miss the trams.

The fact is, the Labour party, Liberal-Democrats and the Conservatives strong-armed the SNP into wasting £600million on something most people in Edinburgh dismiss as “the cooncil’s train set”. But Glasgow’s Airport Rail Link is part of the Commonwealth Games bid and it will create many much needed jobs in Glasgow in the short and long term.

It is clear to me where Labour’s priorities are, or rather, aren’t.

William Bain, Labour’s candidate, wants to serve the public – but wants Doctors and nurses to work for privatised companies and make profits.

I am committed to a publicly owned and operated NHS. Patients need taxpayer’s money, not shareholders.

Cowardice, a powerful word in the English language.

What strikes me about most, if not all, thugs is the gap between image and substance: the image of the “hard man” with “street credibility”, versus the reality of a coward. As a society, if we want safe streets, we need to stop promoting these thugs careers with convictions of GBH and Assault.We need a new criminal offence: cowardice.

Judges, juries and police officers can differentiate between a “fair fight” between two “consenting adults” and a cowardly attack. We must hit these thugs were it hurts most: their reputation. A key component of this policy will be to post conviction details and a mug shot on court websites. These thugs must be seen for what they are.

Knife crime. Frankly, our politicians simply don’t understand it.

For me, a big issue is our membership status & corruption.

Our membership of the EU costs £14billion and we get around £4bn back. France, meanwhile, gets almost every penny of its membership costs back. How is that fair?

Many people will recall the rebates Britain negotiated in the eighties, with the battle cry “it’s our money”. However, few people recall Tony Blair surrendering the rebates a few years ago - and Europe has loved Labour ever since. Surely, it had nothing to do with his wanting to be EU President?

My position is Britain should “down grade” its full membership of the EU to that of EEA (European Economic Area) status. This gives Britain the access to markets which is so crucial to our economy and the freedom of movement. The crucial advantage is we will save £billions in contributions.

Another key advantage is that we will say goodbye to all the red tape and bureaucracy and the endless streams of legislation that flow from Brussels which our MP’s are obliged to rubber-stamp onto the UK statute book. Again, we would regain sovereignty of our waters which will give our fishing fleet a chance to renew after the years of Europe cutting fishing quotas. Something the main stream party’s have taken little interest in.

It will also mean an end to the UK funding the incredible levels of corruption that is endemic in the EU. If you think our politicians are bad – take a closer look at the Europeans. Each year, in excess of £10bn “disappears into thin air”, and this has been going on for years. For the last 13 years, the EU auditors have refused to sign off the audited accounts because of this.

Is there a single MP that cares about this money disappearing?