As announced by the Scottish Liberal Democrats yesterday, Nicol Stephen MSP is standing down next May, 28 years after first being elected a councillor, then an MP and latterly an MSP. Nicol has served the people of Aberdeen with great distinction over three decades and he has done much to build up the Scottish [...]
Archive for the ‘Nicol Stephen MSP’ Category
As the greatest fan of Nicol Stephen, I’m really sad at his decision to stand down as Scottish LibDem leader, but I have sent him a message wishing him, Caris & the family every good wish. Here’s Nicol’s message to party members : Last week I informed the Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats that [...]
During last week’s FMQs, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, Nicol Stephen MSP challenged the First Minister to provide clarity on the SNP’s mixed message for physical education targets in schools. “In March, a Government spin doctor said that the guarantee of two hours of physical education had been dropped, but the First Minister [...]
Following the astonishing meltdown of the Labour Party this week, Nicol Stephen, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, said that the Liberal Democrats are offering the only effective opposition to the SNP Government. “The past week has proved beyond any doubt that the Liberal Democrats are the only party providing effective opposition to the [...]
The “Sunday Times” today -’Bring on the clowns – Wendy Alexander’s referendum U-turn’ (click on headline above to view) – along with the other Sunday papers, sums up the depth of the disaster of Wendy Alexander’s week. Nicol Stephen MSP, speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, said Alex Salmond could not believe his luck [...]
As raised by Nicol Stephen in the Scottish Parliament today, the Cyclone Nargis disaster is a tragedy for the people of Burma. Already suffering from the lowest living standards in Asia and years of misrule and mismanagement, the people of Burma have now been struck by this terrible natural catastrophe. Our differences with the Burmese [...]
OK, it is becoming a weekly success for Nicol Stephen – star of First Minister’s questions – but he was particularly brilliant on Thursday. In challenging the Deputy First Minister Nicola Cheerful over false claims by Alex Salmond that the Government has launched a consultation on the SNP’s election promise to scrap student debt, Nicol [...]
SNP on the fuel crisis – shades of Labour on the 10p tax rate
Posted: April 25, 2008 in Fuel Crisis, Nicol Stephen MSP, Tavish Scott MSPToday’s Daily Telegraph sums up the concerns about the SNP Government’s handling of the fuel crisis – to quote : “Alex Salmond was accused of being out of touch with the fuel crisis facing Scotland yesterday after he claimed that the country could cope with a strike at its only refinery.” Click on the headline [...]
Another excellent performance by Nicol Stephen at FMQs last week, where he took the opportunity to challenge the First Minister over the SNP’s proposed £3bn of “efficiency” savings and expose the complete lack of detail in their published figures. Annabel Goldie is also a consistently good performer at FMQs and Alex Salmond’s response to her [...]
Again, it was Nicol Stephen who made all the running at First Minister’s Questions yesterday – this time pointing out the SNP’s hypocrisy on their policy for the prison transport system. “This week, the SNP Government privatised the prison transport service for young people for the first time. It gave a major new contract to [...]
Nicol Stephen challenges SNP government on failure to deliver promise to first time house buyers
Posted: March 14, 2008 in Nicol Stephen MSPDuring their weekly clash at FMQs yesterday, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Nicol Stephen MSP, demanded that the First Minister clarify his government’s position on its manifesto commitment to provide a £2000 grant for every first-time buyer in Scotland. “It is clear that the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget fails to deliver for Scotland. [...]
Nicol Stephen challenges SNP on dumping promises on student debt
Posted: March 8, 2008 in Nicol Stephen MSPAnother superb performance by Nicol Stephen at FMQs last week, challenging the First Minister to explain the SNP’s broken promise to dump student debt. “ Last week, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Fiona Hyslop, was asked on television’s ’Politics Now’ programme: ’Are you going to remove student debt? Are you going to [...]
Local Employment Partnership Launch
Posted: March 1, 2008 in BBC, Liberal Democrats, Local Employment Partnerships, Nicol Stephen MSPAt lunchtime today, I represented the City Council at the Local Employment Partnership Launch at Dens Park, and signed up to the partnership on behalf of the Council, along with a number of other local employers. Local Employment Partnerships are an excellent, innovative way of helping more people on welfare benefits into work and the [...]
Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference – Aviemore
Posted: February 29, 2008 in Liberal Democrats, Nicol Stephen MSPI’ve not made it to Conference this weekend (I’m deputising for the City Council Leader at an event at Dundee FC tomorrow and haven’t yet mastered the ability to be in two places at once!) but the BBC has good coverage on-line (including a Q&A with Nicol Stephen MSP – click on headline to view) [...]
Here’s Nicol’s letter to Scottish LibDem party members, issued yesterday : As you will no doubt be aware a busy week in the Scottish Parliament saw the Scottish Government’s budget for 2008-09 approved. The budget was passed with the full support of the Conservatives. Our biggest problem with the budget is that the SNP’s sums [...]
Last year, Alex Salmond rashly gave a conference speech commitment to cut the number of Scotland’s 199 quangos by 25%. It’s fairly obvious that the recent announcements by the SNP “government” on the subject are another example of spin, not substance. Nicol Stephen summed it up in last Wednesday’s debate on the subject in the [...]
As anyone viewing First Minister’s Questions last week would see, Nicol Stephen, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, confronted the First Minister about the devastating impact his waiting times targets have had on NHS patients. Nicol demanded that ministers come clean about how many patients have been dumped from NHS waiting lists in order [...]
Nicol Stephen MSP, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, last night issued an e-mail to party members across Scotland. I replicate part of this below : Dear members, At the end of a busy week, I thought I would e mail to record my congratulations to the LibDem team in Dundee for achieving a big [...]
Sunday in Lochee … and great West End photos!
Posted: November 18, 2007 in Lochee, Nethergate, Nicol Stephen MSP, South Tay StreetOur Lochee campaign team has returned home, damp, sore legs, but a great day in Lochee Ward! I have just worked out how much extra custom the Tesco cafe at the Stack is getting from the by-election… The SNP did make an appearance today in Menzieshill, but the LibDem team was in Menzieshill, Charleston, Beechwood, [...]
This morning I attended the launch event of the City Council Finance Department’s “Pick up a prize” promotion – aimed at encouraging more Dundonians to pay their Council Tax by Direct Debit. A prize draw campaign will run for 3 months until 31st January 2008, with the prizes being drawn on 29th February 2008. The [...]
Earlier today, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Nicol Stephen MSP, visited Dundee to meet with Chris Hall, our Lochee Ward by-election candidate and with myself and the City Council about the future of the Cities Growth Fund (see also the story in tonight’s Evening Telegraph by clicking the headline above). Despite the rain (and [...]
Scottish parliament, fly-posting … and daft idea of the week
Posted: May 14, 2007 in Fly-posting, Jim McGovern MP, Nicol Stephen MSPHad a read of the Scottish Sunday papers late last night on return from London. A very different read to the English editions I had read on the flight up to Edinburgh! I wryly smile at the comments of commentators who are criticising the Liberal Democrats for not cosying up to Alex Salmond and the [...]
It is rare that I make any political comment on the blog but thought I should include this quote from our Scottish Party Leader’s weekly e-mail to party members in the run-up to 3rd May. The photo is me with Nicol in the West End : “And increasingly across Scotland, this message is getting through. [...]
