North East Fife’s Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians Sir Menzies Campbell MP and Iain Smith MSP have vowed to fight against any Post Office closures in North East Fife.

Liberal Democrat MP’s including Menzies Campbell campaigned to stop the government’s Post Office closure programme when a motion was proposed recently in the House of Commons demanding the Government halt their plans to make 2500 branches shut up shop. But enough Labour MPs rallied around the Government’s closure plans to reject the motion and ensure the closure programme can continue unhindered.

Commenting, Menzies Campbell said, “The loss of any local Post Offices will hit communities in North East Fife hard. Post Offices are vital assets for many local people and any closure will likely cause difficulties, particularly for older people and those with mobility problems. We will continue to fight against closures.”

Iain Smith remarked, “Post Offices, rural or urban, have a very important role to play in peoples lives and more must be done to support them. The current system neither benefits consumers nor smaller businesses; it has effectively threatened the existence of the Post Office and Royal Mail.

“Fife Council must be congratulated on its efforts to help Fife’s Post offices by transferring its bill paying facilities from Local Offices to Post Offices. This kind of innovative thinking has given a boost in the services.”

Concluding Sir Menzies and Mr Smith said, “Post Offices are ideally placed to become local access centres for a variety of services such as the successful trial of Police services within rural Post Offices in the East Neuk.”

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Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North East Fife, Sir Menzies Campbell, has reiterated his scathing attack on Gordon Brown’s sleight of hand on the 10p tax rate at a time when those hardest hit will have now received their first pay cheque under the newly defined tax bands.

Sir Menzies, who was the first person to bring this matter to the attention of Parliament at the time of Gordon Brown’s final budget as Chancellor, has also lambasted the Government’s spin on their tax rise by questioning the “compensation package” which is not only less than adequate but also offers no guarantees at all.

“The Government won’t say how many people it will help. They won’t even say if it will be permanent, or just for one year. And they already seem to have gone back on their promise that it will all be backdated,” remarked Sir Menzies.

“As I said at the time of the budget, things have gone seriously wrong when Labour has pushed up taxes on people on low incomes to pay for tax cuts for the better off. Gordon Brown giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other. His persona has evolved from Stalin through Mr Bean to Paul Daniels.

“It seems Labour has totally lost touch with the reality of ordinary people’s lives. Labour is no longer on the side of the less well-off.

“Thousands of residents on lower incomes in North East Fife will receive sharply increased tax demands at a time when they are also facing big rises in bills for gas, electricity and transport.”

Sir Menzies has also called into question the Conservative party’s role in 10p tax debacle, “The Conservatives have a hypocritical record on this subject,” observed Sir Menzies. “When the 10p rate was first introduced they voted against it; they later abstained from voting on the subject and now they are voting against its abolition.

“I voted against this measure becoming law and will do so again if another vote is called. Liberal Democrats believe that the standard rate of income tax should be cut by 4p by increasing taxes on the wealthy rather than on the poorest in society,” concluded Sir Menzies.

North East Fife MP, Sir Menzies Campbell has called on the Scottish Government to state its intentions with regard to the re-introduction of the Levenmouth rail link.

In a letter to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Sir Menzies, whose constituency includes Leven East, has asked for clarification on what plans, if any, the Scottish government has for the re-introduction of the Leven to Thornton line.

Sir Menzies remarked on the “vital importance” of the regeneration of the Levenmouth area and that the re-introduction of the line would be “hugely beneficial” to this end and noted that “The provision of good public service links would aid economic development, assist tourism, and reduce CO2 emissions.”

Text of the letter to Stewart Stevenson MSP

Stewart Stevenson MSP
Minister for Transport, Infrastructure & Climate Change
The Scottish government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
EDINBURGH, EH1 3DG

22nd April 2008

Dear Mr Stevenson

I should be grateful if you could tell me what plans, if any, the Scottish government has for the re-introduction of the Levenmouth passenger railway link.

The regeneration of the Levenmouth area is of vital importance and the re-introduction of the passenger rail link would be hugely beneficial. The provision of good public service links would aid economic development, assist tourism, and reduce CO2 emissions.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely

Menzies Campbell

North East Fife Parliamentarians, Iain Smith MSP and Sir Menzies Campbell MP have today launched a new campaign to cut accidents or our roads in North East Fife. The Liberal Democrat campaign, which focuses on the rural nature of North East Fife’s roads aims to ensure that safety for all users is increased by tackling dangerous driving, speeding, the use of seat belts and using mobile phones whilst driving.

The Liberal Democrat campaign “Be Calm, Be Considerate and Be Correct” focuses on four key points:

1- Combating Speeding
2- Increased use of seat belts
3- No to Mobiles whilst driving
4- Greater consideration for all road users

Commenting on the campaign, North East Fife Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell said, “We have seen too many people killed or seriously injured on our roads in recent years. Our rural roads and the variety of road users from tractors and buses to bicycles and horses that use them, mean that drivers have to take particular care.”

Iain Smith MSP commented, “Speeding though our rural villages such as Ceres is of major concern and I have written to the Chief Constable of Fife Constabulary and the Head of Fife Council Transportation Services at ascertain what measures are in place to combat this. I have also written again to BEAR Scotland asking for an update on their Road Accident Reduction Plan with regard to the safety of the A92 through North East Fife”.

Mr Smith remarked on an official study showing that 1 in 10 motorists is failing to wear a seat belt and less than a quarter of Scots see driving at 80 mph in a 70mph zone as a serious offence by calling these statistics “extremely disappointing”.

“The message is simple: You are more likely to be involved in an accident if speeding or using a mobile phone, and more likely to be killed or seriously injured if not wearing a seat belt.” Iain Smith concluded.

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North East Fife Member of Parliament, Sir Menzies Campbell has called today’s Budget from the Chancellor of the Exchequer “neither fair nor green”.

Commenting on its content, Sir Menzies said, “ This budget is neither fair nor green. It does not go nearly far enough with green taxes, which could be used to help low and middle income families in the form of tax cuts. The Government has produced a budget that protects the rich and abandons the poor. Many people in North East Fife who are already feeling the pinch are even worse off today.

“None of its green tax proposals, Aviation tax, road tax changes or plastic bag taxes will be implemented before 2009 at the earliest. This is hardly the urgent attention that the environment needs.

“This too is the budget when the Government gave up on its 2010 child poverty target. By it’s own calculations, it will only be putting an additional £1bn into combating child poverty, £2.5bn less than is needed to meet its target.”

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