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.

SNP U-Turn over Parkhead Fire Station

Back in July last year I was in Glasgow East fighting the by-election for the Lib Dems.

We were advised by the Fire Brigades Union, as were all the four main parties that Strathclyde Fire Board and Brigade were considering closing Parkhead Fire Station.

We ran the story alerting the public to this outrageous closure, our fantastic candidate Ian Robertson publicly challenged all of the candidates to back the campaign - we were met with deafening silence.

So, today imagine my surprise when this story appeared in todays Glasgow Evening Times - where an SNP MSP has decided to back the campaign now its reared its ugly head again.

Where were you back in July, Sandra White?

Glasgow Lib Dem MSP, Robert Brown was there leading from the front with Party Leader Tavish Scott and Ian Robertson.

It was also fantastic that the Evening Times plugged our petition "The Libdems have an online petition at: http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/saveparkheadfire "

Let us save Parkhead Fire Station from closure!