“Having worked with young people over many years with Careers Scotland (now part of Skills Development Scotland) and helped businesses both recruit young people and negotiate their way through redundancy programmes, I totally agree that it is vital that young people get the right advice at the right time to help them plan their careers, particularly in today’s tough economic climate. Unemployment is something that many constituents have expressed concern about, and giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the job market is vital to improving the current unemployment rates.  In fact, England could perhaps learn from the experience north of the border that an integrated all age careers guidance service is recognised internationally as the most effective way of supporting seamless transitions into learning and employment.”

Alastair Darling was the keynote speaker.  He was upbeat about the chances of economic recovery in 2010, despite the lagging indicators of the recession such as unemployment continuing to show the recession is hitting people hard.  Katy said:

“It is clear from the Chancellor’s speech that he is not serious about genuine reform of the financial services industry. There was nothing to indicate support of measures such as the High Pay Commission, or specific steps to curb the high-risk, short-term big-bonus culture that has already caused so much damage to the economy. We need genuine changes if this sort of financial crisis is to be avoided in future.”

Katy and Vince Cable MP, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats visited the Byres Rd Somerfield store in Glasgow North this weekend to highlight the ways people are coping with the rising cost of living.

They spoke with local shoppers on their changing habits due to the rising cost of living.

Commenting on the Mintel report showing anxious shoppers are switching to cheaper brands, Vince said:

“This is yet further evidence that the massive personal debt and spiralling food and fuel prices are now hitting people’s pockets. People and businesses are now paying the price for an economy which Gordon Brown allowed to get dangerously out of control.”

“The credit crunch and soaring consumer prices are clearly having a massive impact on people across the country.

This again shows just how desparately needed is the package of tax cuts for ordinary people proposed by the Liberal Democrats.

Katy added:

“Talking to shoppers today confirms what local residents have told me time and again over the past year. They are really worried about the cost of living and tax. One constituent in Maryhill told me her biggest fear was not being able to feed her family and pay all the household bills.”

Responding to the Government’s Draft Pre-legislative Statement published yesterday, Katy Gordon, Parliamentary Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said:

“On Tuesday we heard that Gordon Brown was giving away £2.7 billion to all tax payers to plug the hole for the lower paid created by his abolition of the 10p tax rate.  But only around £630m – less than a quarter – will actually go to the 5.3 million people who lost out, making it an extremely poorly targeted policy.

Yesterday he rushed out his legislative plans for next year 2 months earlier than last year.  But these proposals are either addressing things the Government said weren’t a problem, like the economy, or trying to turn around problems the Government has created, like over-centralisation.  Do we really need another 6 Home Affairs Bills, when they have already created 3,000 new offences since 1997?  These proposals will do nothing to help the people of Glasgow North who are struggling with fuel poverty and the rising cost of living.

Is it a coincidence that both announcements have come at a time when Labour is desperate to avoid a by election defeat in Crewe & Nantwich?  Policy making in response to news headlines is no way to run the country.”

This decision is welcome but was also inevitable and should have been taken last year. Instead, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have been paralysed by their own indecision. They put off the only sensible course of action right until the very end. This is hardly a sensible way to run the Government.

Had Labour followed the advice of Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable last year, the uncertainty that has been so damaging to Northern Rock and to the British economy would have been avoided.

The Conservative proposal that Northern Rock should be put into administration and run down would be a disaster. Not only would this not get taxpayers money back any faster but it would be the one way to guarantee that every single job at the bank would be lost. Temporary nationalisation will not be easy for Northern Rock, but it at least offers hope that the bank can have a long-term future and eventually be sold when conditions are better.