Warming up

Remember Labour criticising the SNP Government for the way the central heating scheme was being run?

A couple of parliamentary questions have been answered (S3M-09771 and S3M-09772) which contrast the number of central heating units installed in the last three months of 2006 under Labour with the number installed in the same period last year under the SNP.

85 were installed under Labour's management, 2,877 under the SNP. That's the SNP proven to be 33.847 times better than Labour.

Parliament passed the Graduate Endowment Abolition Bill yesterday - another SNP promise delivered. Labour (except Elaine Smith) and the Conservatives voted to keep charging Scottish students a tuition fee, but the SNP Government's position prevailed and the charge was abolished. It seems a bizarre decision.

For Labour, though, it fits into their blinkered attitude to opposition. Rather than seeking a constructive relationship with the Government they will vote against anything that the SNP proposes. That led to them voting against taking forward the recommendations of a report into the management of people who commit sexual offences against children. This was the resolution that was passed:

That the Parliament recognises the importance of making further progress on the 33 recommendations published by the Justice 2 Sub-committee on 15 December 2006 in connection with the management of registered sex offenders; believes that ensuring public safety is paramount in the management of registered sex offenders; further recognises that appropriate utilisation of DNA samples and fingerprints can play an important role in identifying offenders but that it is vital to strike the right balance between prosecuting criminals and protecting the innocent and notes the review that the Scottish Government has commissioned from Professor James Fraser; rejects the blanket retention of DNA samples and fingerprints; recognises the extensive powers already available to the police in monitoring sex offenders and ensuring public safety, and notes the Scottish Government's liaison with the Home Office as disclosure pilots progress in four English police areas and the Scottish Government's proposal to monitor the outcomes of these pilots to determine what lessons there might be for Scotland, and welcomes the Scottish Government's proposal to write to the Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee to report progress on each of the 33 recommendations made by the Justice 2 Sub-committee report J2SC/S2/06/R1.

I don't believe that any Labour MSP wants to put children in danger or thinks that we should not make progress on the recommendations of the report, but the passing of the amendments caught them off-guard.

Much as Paul Martin (Labour's Justice bod) can't think on his feet and is a bit of a lumbering plodder, it shouldn't be beyond the collective wit of the Labour party to work out the possibilities of the various votes in advance.

That way they could avoid the farce they walked into on the budget and they could avoid voting against moving forward on child sex offenders. Then again, maybe they're just not very good.