Ban Spanish cucumbers and all fresh produce as a precaution

There is a sense of irony with this story because whenever Britain gets a sniff of an outbreak, whether salmonella in eggs or mad cow disease in our beef other European countries ban our produce within minutes.

So, why does Spain think there is a sense of injustice with Germany over the 15 deaths and over 1,150 cases of suspected e-coli from Spanish cucumbers?

The response from Rosa Aguilar, the Spanish agriculture minister was;

"We want Germany to provide, without any delay and distractions, the necessary information of its investigation"

What utter crap, Spain should be working hand in hand with Germany to rule the cucumbers out if they are that confident, instead of getting on a high horse with such an arrogant attitude.

This would mean then that we would know whether the cucumbers are the cause of these tragic deaths.

I feel we must ban Spanish cucumbers until it is proven they are clear and we have to seriously consider banning all other Spanish produce.

Before you jump on me for being anti-European (which I'm not) just take a step back and imagine this was British cucumbers - there would have been a shut down across Europe, absolutely no doubt about it.

It is time for some sense in Europe, and I leave the last word to George Lyon MEP;

“With reports that deaths have been caused by produce contaminated with E.Coli outside of Germany there is a real possibility that some of this contaminated produce could be reaching British shores.

“The UK Government should call an immediate halt to all produce coming from Spain until test results can identify the exact source of the outbreak.

“As a precaution, we must take this action to limit any potential risk to British consumers.

“When we have a more detailed picture of events we can reevaluate the situation, but taking this precaution now will help to reassure anxious consumers.”

Some sense from a politician.  Now we need sense from the Spanish politicians.

Scottish dog sled racers can now take dogs with them

A bizarre headline you may think?

If the EC Directive had gone through, the dog sled racing teams would have been limited on the total number of dogs that can be moved from one country to another at any one time to five per person.

The Directive would have stopped Scottish sled dog teams participating in races in mainland Europe.
This barking mad EU Directive has now been reversed after interventions from Scotland's Liberal Democrat MEP, George Lyon and Tory MEP, Struan Stevenson.

The European Commission has now also ruled commercial passports for individual dogs, which cost £150 each, will be replaced with a special licence to keep costs down. It will be valid for four months to cover the racing season.
George Lyon lobbied the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli on behalf of the Sled Dog Association of Scotland and professional racer Alan Stewart of Aviemore.

I was actually with George Lyon and his press officer Graeme on one of the occasions some of the lobbying actually took place.

The Commissioner, John Dalli, set up a working group which has now persuaded the Council of Commissioners to exempt this specialist sport from the directive.

The Press and Journal report;

Mr Stewart, who owns the Cairngorm Sleddog Centre at Aviemore, said: “It is great we can get back into the Alps and race with people who understand the meaning of sled-dog racing. This was an issue I pushed and spent a lot of time on it because it truly affected people across Europe. It is a way of life, not a hobby or a pastime.”

Mr Lyon said: I am pleased that commissioner Dalli has stayed true to his word and pushed for greater flexibility in the regulation. The new four-month licence will allow sled-dog teams to travel to events across Europe. We must now learn if the licence works in practice and I will keep in touch with racers to ensure that is the case.”

It does go to show that having an effective, responsive MEP in Scotland means things can actually be achieved within the European angle of politics.

Mike Russell MSP, the man who wanted to sell Argyll & Bute's forests now wants to be their SNP candidate for the Holyrood election

So with the news that Jim Mather MSP is standing down at the next Scottish election the SNP in Argyll & Bute are now looking to select their next candidate.

Mike Russell MSP has announced via Argyll News that he would like to offer himself as the SNP candidate in fact they go on to also explain that to be the MSP for Argyll & Bute you really need to be a Minister in the Holyrood Government to be the MSP for Argyll & Bute.

Given they have had George Lyon (LibDem) representing them for eight years and Jim Mathers (SNP) for three years, both who have been Ministers in different Scottish governments, as their local MSP you can understand why

Argyll News goes on to provide a good argument on why therefore Mike Russell MSP would be a good choice to represent the people of Argyll & Bute in Holyrood.

I am now going to put forward a reasoned argument on why choosing the Liberal Democrat candidate on Thursday May 5th would be a much better idea.

I can't tell you at this stage who the candidate will be as we are currently in the final stages of that process and our members in Argyll & Bute won't make their final decision until the end of next week.

But I can tell you why Mike Russell MSP shouldn't be the MSP for Argyll & Bute after polling day.

Back in February last year the SNP government had a crazy idea that they were going to sell off 25% of the forests in Scotland, including Argyll & Bute where over 400 people are employed within the forestry industry.  The Scottish Liberal Democrats led by environment spokesman Jim Hume MSP mounted a campaign collecting over 30,000 signatures across Scotland to stop the SNP plans in their tracks.

Alan Reid MP and George Lyon MEP who ran the campaign to stop the sell off in Argyll & Bute held a public meeting in Lochgilphead chaired by Robert Beaney of the Forestry Commission Trade Unions where over 240 local residents squeezed in to hear about the plans proposed by the SNP.

The two politicians spent time meeting community groups and forest contractors who raised their deep concerns about the impact that the privatisation plans will have on local jobs and local community projects which use Forestry Commission land.  Many of them such as the Kintyre Way, the Dalriada Project, the Loch Awe Improvement Association and the Mid Argyll Cycle Club could be threatened if the Forestry Commission land is handed over to the private sector.

Who was the SNPs Environment Minister who was proposing these plans to sell off 25% of Scotland's forests?

Mike Russell MSP.

This man was then sacked by Alex Salmond because of the huge public outcry.

Mike Russell is dangerous, his plans could have seen thousands of acres of Scottish forests sold to developers.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats campaign was mounted against the SNP’s attempts to effectively sell off publicly owned Forestry Commission forests to private timberland investment companies. The proposal was hidden deep within the Climate Change Bill and would have seen the most commercially viable forests being leased to private investment companies for up to 75 years.

Unsurprisingly when this privatisation by the back door approach was debated the SNP were backed by the Tories, the SNP’s unlikely but ever loyal bedfellows in Holyrood.


The 25% of forests targeted for this leasing option was the most commercially viable proportion of Scotland’s forestry estate and equated to about 40% of production for the Forestry Commission. Removing this from public ownership would have significantly diminished essential Forestry Commission income for investment in maintaining Scottish forests and projects including the 7stanes network and for creating new leisure access initiatives such as mountain biking, walking, orienteering and other community woodland initiatives elsewhere. A further worry was that Forestry Commission jobs were undoubtedly under threat, and local timber companies dependent upon cutting rights granted to them by the Forestry Commission faced an uncertain future if those cutting rights had been taken away or if wood prices were set higher than is affordable for local companies.

The campaign to stop the sell off was a success, but we must remain vigilant to ensure the SNP don't try to sneak it through another time in another Bill.

So, when it comes to voting for your next MSP in Argyll & Bute on Thursday May 5th, when you think of voting SNP think of Mike Russell's plans to sell off 25% of the forests in Scotland, which would have included all of the forests in Argyll & Bute.

A scary thought indeed and that is why Mike Russell should not be the SNP candidate in Argyll & Bute and never the MSP.

George Lyon MEP in Copenhagen writing for The Steamie

George Lyon MEP is over in Copenhagen this week fighting Scotland's corner at the Climate Change talks.

While George Lyon is there he is writing for The Steamie blog and Twittering constantly during his time there as well.

It sounds like he is having a good time and keeping us all up to date as well - excellent.

SNP all over the place on sheep tagging

If you had asked me two years ago, would I be blogging about sheep tagging, I would have said categorically no, but now it is an extremely important part of my political work.

George Lyon MEP and Jim Hume MSP have both campaigned long and hard against the EID proposals that now, unfortunately come into force on the 1st January.

Following comments made by the SNPs MEP Alyn Smith, George Lyon the Lib Dem MEP for Scotland and the Lib Dem's rural affairs spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP have jointly written to Richard Lochhead MSP to seek urgent clarification on the Scottish government's policy on the implementation of EID.

The call by George Lyon and Liam McArthur comes after comments made by the SNP MEP Alyn Smith. Mr Smith is quoted as saying that the Scottish government does not think that helping Scottish sheep farmers fund the implementation of sheep tagging (EID) is "worth doing".



















Alyn Smith also has said that he has been "quoted out of context by the Lib Dems".

Watch the video here and see what you think.

Liberal Democrats, along with the National Farmers Union, have repeatedly called on the Scottish government to help meet the cost of this regulation, when it comes into effect in just a few weeks on 1st January 2010.

Sheep farmers all over Scotland are already worried about the financial implications of the recession and now have have to meet the costs of implementing this utterly ridiculous sheep tagging scheme which could result in Scotland losing more sheep flocks from our hills, uplands and islands and yet more sheep farmers being forced out of business.

It would be astonishing if the Scottish government did not commit to fully fund the central database as the NFU and the industry have asked for.

Other countries, such as France, Spain, Italy and Greece have all used RDP funding to help ease the financial burden forced upon their farmers but the SNP minority government are doing absolutely nothing.

The SNP are obviously all over the place on this issue. It is time they stood shoulder to shoulder and made a firm decision and helped our farmers across Scotland to pay for this scheme.

Scottish Liberal Democrats at The Glasgow Wave

Not the best weather for marching through the streets of Glasgow, although it was much better in Glasgow than when I left Edinburgh. I met up with a group of Liberal Democrats at Glasgow Queen Street station before we headed to Ibrox to meet the rest.

A group of 20+ there to meet us before we all headed off to Bellahouston Park where our numbers continued to grow with George Lyon MEP, Katy Gordon, Robert Brown MSP and Alison McInnes MSP and many of Liberal Youth Scotland.

Robert, Alison and George all went off to do the official photos while we did our own and then we were off.












A slow 2.5miles walk with the 4,000 to 5,000 others according to the Strathclyde Police marching with us. At one point spontaneous mexican waves started amongst the masses while we were waiting for the whole group to catch up.

Noticeable by their absence was the SNP, bar 2 parliamentarians spotted hovering around here and there and this was particularly strange especially given all the noise they've made about wanting to attend the Copenhagen talks and also absent were their Holyrood bedfellows the Conservatives - that's right, David Cameron's party were missing, remember his vote Blue get Green nonsense, well today nobody could see them.

Well it was the Liberal Democrats last election manifesto that was declared the most green, yes even more green than the Green Party - its not just about talking green, its about being green!

A great day, a great turnout in Glasgow and we have sent our message loud and clear to Gordon Brown and the Labour government.

George Lyon, the Liberal Democrats MEP for Scotland who is fighting Scotland's corner in Europe is going to Copenhagen next week.














Back in the early 1990s, the Kyoto Protocol started the ball rolling on international agreements on climate change, but then quickly lost momentum. The problem with Kyoto was that in omitting the world's largest CO2 producer in the United States and the soon to be world's largest producer of CO2 in China, the agreement lacked the authority to back up its intent.

This cannot be allowed to happen in Copenhagen.

Whatever happens, we must come away from Denmark with more than a souvenir group photo and a multitude of warm words.

This time round, under President Obama's leadership, the US are listening to, and acting on, environmental concerns. Copenhagen has the chance to succeed where Kyoto failed. That is an opportunity that cannot be missed.










If Europe is to play its part in combating climate change, then Scotland must be at the forefront of those efforts.

Sadly the SNP and Labour have spent most of the run-up to the summit bickering about who gets to sit at the top table. This is an all too familiar problem. While they engage in a political arm wrestle others are concentrating on the job in hand - creating the jobs and investment in renewable energy that will see Scotland out of recession.

The constant playground arguments between Labour and the SNP do a disservice to Scotland. It is not good enough both for our economy and for our environment.

Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon is going to the Summit to make sure that Scotland's voice is heard and we get the investment we need to deliver our renewable energy future.

Scotland has the potential to be Europe's renewable energy powerhouse. It is estimated that 25% of Europe's renewable energy capacity could be generated in Scotland through our wind and tidal reserves.

The EU has already shown a massive vote of confidence in Scotland's renewable energy industry by investing £100 million in renewables projects.

Liberal Democrats want more investment like this to come to Scotland. It is needed if we are to use the drive towards a more renewable future to Scotland's advantage.

Send Gordon Brown a clear messge today!

The Wave in Glasgow and Copenhagen

This coming Saturday in Glasgow there will be thousands of people marching to support the fight against climate change including many Scottish Liberal Democrats with Alison McInnes MSP, Robert Brown MSP and George Lyon MEP.

The Wave is going to be sending a message to our government that they have to take climate change seriously and stop setting silly targets and just talking about it.

I am very conscious that I play a very small part in this fight against climate change, but every little bit really does help.

I recycle, in fact we only throw out two carrier bags worth of rubbish per week, and most of that is cat litter, but as we have no garden there is nowhere else to dispose of that.

I either walk or travel by bus, to be fair I cannot drive (yet) but Edinburgh City Council run an excellent city car hire scheme so I will only drive when absolutely needed.

On visits to my work around Scotland I travel by bus or train, yes flying would be easier and sometimes even cheaper, but that's the price you pay.

We are using low energy light bulbs and often just have a lamp on, we do not leave anything on standby, as I say all small things, that add up.

George Lyon MEP, will be fighting Scotland's corner in Copenhagen and has set up a great campaign page on his website here.

So far 19 of the 38 people on the UK Government's official delegation have committed to flying to get there, that really does defeat the object a little. Both Simon Hughes MP and George Lyon MEP are travelling to the summit by train. With the Copenhagen Conference itself expected to generate 41,000 tons of CO2 (roughly the same amount emitted by Morocco in one year), it would be nice if the UK's delegation could set an example!

If Europe is to play its part in combating climate change, then Scotland must be at the forefront of those efforts.

Sadly the SNP and Labour have spent most of the run-up to the summit bickering about who gets to sit at the top table. This is an all too familiar problem. While they engage in a political arm wrestle others are concentrating on the job in hand - creating the jobs and investment in renewable energy that will see Scotland out of recession.

The constant playground arguments between Labour and the SNP do a disservice to Scotland. It is not good enough both for our economy and for our environment.

Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon is going to the Summit to make sure that Scotland's voice is heard and we get the investment we need to deliver our renewable energy future.

Scotland has the potential to be Europe's renewable energy powerhouse. It is estimated that 25% of Europe's renewable energy capacity could be generated in Scotland through our wind and tidal reserves.

Send Gordon Brown a message today that he cannot ignore.

El Presidente Tony Blair

As George Lyon MEP quite rightly states, if the words President Tony Blair don't send a shiver down your spine, they should or you aren't entirely normal - or you are Peter Mandelson (then please see previous comment).

With Ireland voting yes to and then Poland ratifying the Lisbon Treaty this is something that could in fact become reality.

Imagine the destruction Tony Blair could do with armies from across Europe? Wasn't it bad enough that he and George Bush took us into an illegal war in Iraq?

I fully believe that Tony Blair has to answer for the illegal war in Iraq before he can go onto anything else, given that he has blood on his hands and that is how he is known throughout the world, is he in fact even someone who should be considered as a candidate for this post?

I don't think he should until all of the questions from Iraq have finally been answered.

He became power made running the UK, I cannot even begin to wonder the size of his ego if he became President of the European Union and what's more I don't want to imagine it because I really hope it does not come any closer to reality than it is now - a suggestion.

George Lyon MEP goes onto show his support for Mary Robinson. On this one George, I am entirely with you.

Liberal Democrats conference in Bournemouth

Another year, another conference, another seaside town, although that changes big time next year when we go to Birmingham and Liverpool.

This is day five for me, however conference only officially opened on Saturday. The sunshine is beaming down on the record number of conference delegates here and the general mood is a good one. Apologies for the lack of blogging but I am here working and generally up and working from 8am through to well after 10pm.

I arrived on Thursday evening where I started with our Departmental meeting took place, most of Friday I was training delegates and then Nick Clegg came along to the Campaigns Department rally later that evening. Then on Saturday again I was training most of the day and then in the evening there was the main conference rally and Sunday morning at 9.30am I made it in to the conference hall to watch the Devolution debate.

Some great speakers included Kevin Lang, Beverley Hope, Alistair Carmichael and George Lyon from team Scotland. Tavish Scott then addressed conference yesterday afternoon, unfortunately I couldn't attend as I was doing a mammoth three hour training session.

I then attended a fringe event in the evening - so far a fantastic conference, but a busy one for me, people don't understand why we always come back year after year, conference is a great motivational event and long may they continue.

Scottish Lib Dems launch their European election campaign

I know I am late with this, but as the Deputy Director of Campaigns and the Agent I am somewhat busy.......

Anyhow, it was a great launch on Tuesday at Longannet Power Station. We had a great briefing and tour round the main control room.

George Lyon, our number one candidate for the European elections on 4th June, has called for Longannet Power Station to be made a test centre for Carbon capture and storage technology.

George was joined by Tavish Scott, Alistair Carmichael MP and retiring MEP Elspeth Attwooll to launch his campaign for the European elections. The Party is wanting Scotland to become a world leader in carbon capture in conjunction with the continued pursuit of renewable energy.

George Lyon said: "Scotland has the potential to lead the world in carbon capture technology and the facilities at Longannet are ideal for it to become a centre of excellence.

"Scotland undoubtedly has a leading role to play in the development of clean renewable energy, but this must be coupled with the use new carbon capture technology. Developing nations like India and China are fueling the growth of their economies with coal. I want to ensure that Scotland is ready to take advantage of this emerging market.

"We cannot tackle climate change alone. We must work with our European neighbours and not in isolation. That is why it is vital that Scotland has a strong Liberal voice in Europe."

Tavish Scott MSP, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, added:"The European elections offer a clear choice. A strong Scottish voice working with Europe to tackle economic turmoil, climate change and cross border crime together or no change with other parties.

"A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a positive vote for change. Labour's recession, rising unemployment under the SNP and Tory isolationism means now, more than ever, we must work with Europe to make Scotland strong and safe."

Lib Dems romp to victory

I have just heard news from the Inverness West count.

The first preference votes cast in Inverness West yesterday were as follows:

Alasdair Christie (Lib Dem) 1503 - 60%

Brian o'hEadhra (SNP) 556 - 22%

Andrew Mackintosh (Lab) 210 - 8%

Sheila MacLaughlin (Christian Party) 115 - 5%

Donald Gunn Macdonald (Con) 111 - 4%

George Macdonald (Solidarity) 27 - 1%

Turnout 2540 (38.35%)

The quota in the first round (50% of the vote plus 1) was 1262, and since Alasdair had exceeded the quota, he was elected without any transfers taking place.

In a ward which the SNP won by 125 votes 2 years ago, that represents a remarkable change of direction. That's a 22% swing from the SNP to the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

The people of West Inverness have chosen a first class councillor in Alasdair, and endorsed the all-year-round work of the Focus Team led by existing Lib Dem councillor Alex Graham. They've also sent a very clear message to the SNP over their broken promise to fund the city bypass.

The Conservatives came a poor 5th place - never mind David Cameron!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this result possible. It shows that energetic, positive campaigning can pay big dividends.

Let's keep the momentum going and make sure we get George Lyon elected to Europe on 4th June too!

The European Elections

On June 4th, the United Kingdom and all other European Countries will be voting to decide who their MEPs should be for the next five years.

Here in Scotland, we currently have 7 MEPs, but that will be trimmed to just 6 this time round.

I am sure, like any elected official some people could not name their MEPs, however I have been pleasantly surprised how well known our Liberal Democrats MEP, Elspeth Attwooll actually is. I suspect it is because she works hard and also visits so many parts of Scotland working hard on people's behalf, so thank you Elspeth for ten years of pure hard work and dedication. Elspeth is standing down this time and will hopefully be passing on the baton to George Lyon.

It is vital we get people registered and that people have the right to vote and make their voice heard, there is a fantastic website - about my vote - which you can visit here.

Please make sure you have a vote in these important elections, whatever your political views, or your personal views about Europe it is equally important you take the time to vote on June 4th.