The Edinburgh Reporter December 18

10 POLITICS The Edinburgh Reporter
Tommy Sheppard MP
Jeremy Balfour MSP
Kezia Dugdale MSP
Christine Jardine MP
Gordon Lindhurst MSP
Deidre Brock MP
Local
Politicians
have their
say
Edinburgh depends on
the EU
by Kezia Dugdal MSP
BY the time you read this, I don’t
know if Theresa May will still be
Prime Minister.
I don’t know if we’ll still be
heading out of the EU in March
next year – but I certainly hope
not.
And I don’t know if we’ll be
gearing up for a People’s Vote on
Brexit – but I certainly hope so.
I campaigned tirelessly for the
UK to remain in the EU in 2016,
and despite the disappointment
Improving the odds
by Tommy Sheppard MP
COMMON sense on problem
gambling – at last. Fixed Odds
Betting Terminals (FOBTs) have
damaged far too many lives in
Edinburgh East and elsewhere.
Players can lose large sums of
money on these machines in the
space of minutes.
In Edinburgh in 2016 the cash
inserted into FOBTs amounted
to £70,000,587 leading to losses
of just under £18m. And between
2008 and 2016 individuals lost
just under £120m in our city.
And, as is so often the case, it’s
our poorest communities who
are hardest hit. I campaigned
hard with Ronnie Cowan MP and
other SNP colleagues to highlight
that the current spin speed and
maximum unit stake are clearly
wrecking lives.
The Tory UK Government
seemed to agree – and that’s
why they promised to reduce
the maximum amount on each
of the referendum result, I haven’t
stopped since.
It was no surprise that the Brexit
negotiations were disastrous, and
the promises made by the Leave
campaign proved impossible to
deliver.
It is clear that we must go back
to the people and ask them if they
still want to go ahead with this
reckless decision to leave the EU.
Thousands of jobs in Edinburgh
depend on the EU. I will never
stop fighting for the workers of
this city.
bet to £2. But following lobbying
from the gambling industry, in
the budget chancellor Philip
Hammond signalled that he was
planning to delay the £2 cap until
October 2019, rather than April.
That highly cynical delay would
simply have allowed gambling
companies to rake in enormous
sums of money in that period,
projected at £900 million. All
at the cost of untold misery for
problem gamblers and their
families.
Tracey Crouch, the minister
responsible, took the principled
decision to resign – she had
heard testimonies from affected
families and experts. But it took
a united front from opposition
parties led by the SNP combined
with the threat of a full-on
backbench Tory rebellion to get
the government to climb down.
A bit of hope that, despite the
chaos of Brexit, common sense
can sometimes prevail even at
dysfunctional Westminster.
Better rights for neighbours
by Gordon Lindhurst MSP
THE Planning Bill is currently
making its way through The
Scottish Parliament. It’s been
something of a rollercoaster, with
hundreds of amendments and
hours of deliberations.
For me, it was a chance to
change an anomaly in law.
Edinburgh is said to have the
largest number of listed buildings
of any city in the world. People
who live in them can currently
find themselves in a position
where their neighbour is making
an alteration, sometimes an
internal or communal one, but
they don’t know until work
starts. That is because for Listed
Building Consent, neighbour
notification is not required to be
given by the Planning Authority
other than a public notice, such
as in a newspaper which can be
missed. Planning consent on a
non-listed building however, does
require neighbour notification.
So I proposed an amendment,
which has so far received
majority support, so that
neighbour notification is required
for Listed Building Consent. I
hope the final Bill will retain it, in
the best interests of those living
in Edinburgh’s listed buildings.
Scotland on the big screen
by Deidre Brock MP
Lots of big film and TV productions
are being made in Scotland
these days, from the Avengers
to T2, Outlanders to that new
Robert the Bruce epic, The
Outlaw King (well worth a watch,
by the way!). It’s no surprise -
Scotland has some of the world’s
most stunning locations and an
abundance of filmmaking talent
to help make the stories sing.
Yet it’s also not by chance that
we’ve seen this growth – it’s been
actively driven by The Scottish
Government which recognises
the massive economic benefits
of showcasing our lovely country
on the silver screen. What we
Gritty problems
by Jeremy Balfour MSP
A saving of £1.3 million each year
in council spending has been
imposed and our public services
are being attacked. The gritters
are the latest victim.
It is proposed that in order
to make a saving of £100,000,
gritting the city’s pavements
should take place from 8am
instead of 5am. Indeed, it is also
estimated that up to 80 jobs
could disappear from roads and
environment crews.
This is unacceptable. Not only
are peoples’ livelihoods at stake,
but potentially their lives. Gritting
the pavements from 8am means
that commuters across the city
will be heading out on ungritted
icy or snowy pavements, significantly
increasing their likelihood
of slipping and causing injury.
Further, the elderly are most at
risk. Pushing back gritting until
much later in the day will have
consequences for this section of
the community.
A fall is a serious incident for
an elderly person and causes
significant harm to their health,
both physical and emotional.
Many older people don’t feel able
to leave the house, sometimes for
days at a time, for fear of falling.
Knowing that council cuts are
targeting gritting services will
only encourage this.
This will also have a knock-on
effect on those who are already
feeling isolated and lonely during
by Christine Jardine MP
EDINBURGH West MP Christine
Jardine called for an urgent
Commons debate about the rigid
guidelines on prescribing medical
cannabis.
The Home Secretary agreed to
allow specialist doctors to legally
prescribe cannabis-derived
medicinal products earlier this
year. But, Ms Jardine claims that
recently published NHS guidelines
and a number of medical
professional bodies are so tight
that few patients will be eligible
for a prescription at all.
Ms Jardine said : “When
minsters agreed to legalise
medicinal cannabis, thousands of
patients suffering from extreme
pain were offered a glimmer of
hope that they would finally be
able to access this life changing
treatment but these overly rigid
guidelines are causing immense
the dark winter months.
Slips and falls put pressure on
hospital and ambulance services,
who see a huge spike in fall
related injuries during the winter
months. During last December
alone, there were 500 falls.
The after effect of slips and
falls also puts pressure on the
stretched social care system with
the increase of those left injured
and unable to fully care for
themselves. Therefore, in reality,
the effects of pavements which
are neglected by gritting services
is a false economy. The savings
made would be superficial,
pushing costs up elsewhere in
the health and social care sector,
putting a further strain on staff.
As you can see the cost is both
human and economic. Through
ensuring full and thorough
gritting services we can mitigate
against these problems.
The question that must be asked
is what are we actually getting for
our council tax? Given that there
has been a rise in council tax,
surely that should secure further
protection for our vital services.
Instead we have witnessed our
roads deteriorate, a fiasco over bin
collection and now the consideration
of a potentially dangerous
policy. What’s next?
My concerns are shared by
many. I ask that the council
reconsider the implementation
of reduced gritting services and
reflect on the effects that funding
cuts have on people’s lives.
Demanding cannabis
still lack, though, is enough
permanent studio space to fully
develop the potential of our film
industry, something I know The
Scottish Government is also
keen to fix. For the last few years
I’ve been pressing the case for
Leith to be central to these plans.
Leith’s got it all – one of the
UK’s biggest creative hubs, easy
access to the iconic backdrops
disappointment and heartache.
“Even children at the heart of
high-profile cases that played
such a key role in changing
the law would struggle to get a
prescription.
Some families are now in the
outrageously unfair position of
having to consider fundraising to
go abroad to access the medical
cannabis that’s just been made
legal here!
“I’m urging the Health Secretary
to use every available means to
work with the NHS, the General
Medical Council and the relevant
professional bodies to see these
guidelines reworked so that they
more properly reflect the historic
law change that was announced
in the summer
“The Health Secretary should
come to the House of Commons
and explain what plans the
government has to rectify this
situation.”
of Edinburgh, great places for
cast and crew to eat and drink…
and we’ve got the big blue shed
on the Forth! The former home
to Pelamis Wave Power is ready
and waiting to be filled with
props, sets, production offices,
sound stages and so forth! It’s an
exciting prospect to see Leith as a
centre for filmmaking in Scotland
– let’s make it happen.