May (2) Column

Written by Malcolm Bruce MP on Thu 22nd May 2008

Column from Malcolm Bruce MP

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Burma and China - two faces of catastrophe

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Two cataclysmic natural disasters within the same number of weeks is unusual and gives a sharp contrast to the way in which the governments of the countries concerned have handled them.

China has been under the spotlight for its handling of Tibet, but the response to the earthquake has been exemplary in terms of the deployment of China's own rescue services and the relative openness to international help.

Burma's military regime has conspired to turn a natural disaster into a human catastrophe.

Thousands died in cyclone Nargis' tidal surge, but many more are dying as a result of starvation and disease, living in the aftermath without rescue, food or clean water in a tropical swamp filled with dead bodies.

International agencies, NGOs, and charities have been compromised at first in what they can say. The Burmese military have apparently been allowing minimal access which has allowed those with established connections in the country to reach at least some of the survivors. Criticism could clamp down on this limited rescue operation.

Nevertheless there have been calls for the UN to invoke the Responsibility to Protect, which would allow international agencies to enter the country using force if necessary in order to reach those in need of humanitarian aid.

There is a real risk of a monumental diseased epidemic which would threaten survivors made vulnerable by malnutrition and disease under the brutal Burmese regime which has not hesitated to force people off their land and use forced labour to plant and harvest food for the army while the people starve.

The priority now is to do whatever is possible to reach those in desperate need. Governments and others in the region should take the lead with international support.

But this episode just serves to underline the brutality and self serving corruption of the Burmese Government and the desperate need for them to be removed.

China has shown a human reaction to its own disaster. It must stop turning a blind eye to the inhumanity of Burma's generals, whose survival China - along with India - effectively controls.

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New Labour disintegrates

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The Government's embarrassing climb down over the 10p tax rate on top of the credit crunch has brought to an end Gordon Brown's reputation for prudence and economic competence.

As the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman when Gordon Brown came to power, I was never as impressed as commentators were at his competence. After all, he started by sticking to Tory spending plans and adopting the Liberal Democrat policy of giving independence to the Bank of England.

He then made the tax system impenetrably complicated by introducing a 10 pence tax rate and endless means tested benefits.

He banged on about boom and bust economic management while imposing just that on public sector finances. At the same time, he presided over an unsustainable credit boom that many of us criticised as bound to lead to a crunch.

Now he risks presiding over the disintegration of the New Labour project which brought together a coalition of disillusioned Conservatives and core Labour voters. Simultaneously, they are deserting Labour pushing the party into third place behind the Liberal Democrats who made net gains in councils and seats in the local elections in England (and increasing the share of the vote in the Troup by-election in Aberdeenshire).

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Food prices require new strategy for agriculture

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Increase in food prices across the world to record levels has pushed food security issues up the international agenda and threatens to push millions of people into hunger.

Simply to meet its commitments forced the World Food Programme to appeal for $500 million extra dollars increased to $750 million just six weeks into the appeal. Josette Sheeran, Chief Executive of the WFP, told my committee that the price of rice had topped $1000 a tonne.

When we visited the WFP headquarters last week, we were told that the prime cause of record food prices was raising living standards in India and China. Inappropriate subsidies for bio fuels also contributed as did restrictions on exports by producer countries which distorted the market forcing up prices.

While it is expected that once northern harvests start to come in prices will come off the top, they are unlikely to return to the prices prevailing before.

Clearly we need a strategy to increase the productivity of poor farmers in the developing world. Many are barely achieving subsistence and the urban poor need cash to meet rising food bills.

Often this is about improving roads as well as irrigation and fertiliser. It is also about ending export subsidies from Europe while improving the way markets operate.

North East pig farmers, for example, will testify to the fact that pig prices do not meet the costs of production and many will be going out of production. Prices will then go up but too late for many pig farmers. How long before a bacon roll is a luxury item?

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Embryology - stop looking, stop finding

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The embryology and human fertility bill raises ethical issues which clearly exercise many. Certainly, it is a piece of legislation to which all MPs give especially closes attention.

Fundamentally, it is about creating the framework for scientific research in areas which have only recently become possible. For some it goes too far in mixing animal and human cells and predetermining foetuses.

However, I strongly believe, subject to proper regulation and review, we should allow research which could enable us to cure or prevent disease or create wanted siblings with the right genetic mix to save the lives of their older siblings.

Nobody can know whether research will yield positive results, but if we stop looking for cures we are going to stop finding them.

I voted accordingly and I am pleased that so did the overwhelming majority of MPs.

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Ray Michie - partner on Home Rule

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I was very sad at the death of my former colleague and good friend Ray Michie, latterly in the House of Lords as Baroness Michie of Gallanach but from 1987 to 2001 MP for Argyll and Bute.

I knew Ray from when we were both candidates and we campaigned together on many occasions. She was a passionate Home Ruler, and before the 1997 election we jointly wrote a pamphlet on the need for a federal United Kingdom.

In it we suggested that a new written constitution for the United Kingdom should be marked with a new anthem and a new union flag. Paddy Ashdown was furious and disowned our work. It did neither of us any harm as we were both re-elected with dramatically increased majorities.

Ray was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls and her daughter, Deirdre, who worked as an intern for me, lives in Aberdeen where she has gone on to far higher things.

Ray was enthusiastic for Gaelic and the Highlands and a first class constituency MP. Her commitment to Home Rule should not be confused with nationalism. Ray was every inch a Liberal but she was a patriotic Scot that wanted Scotland's national identity to be fully recognised within the framework of a federal United Kingdom.

She believed, as I do, that Scotland gives and gets more from the union than separately but that for this to work Scotland's identity must be secure. She knew that we need to do more at Westminster to achieve that and she would ensure, as I hope I will, that Scotland will never get sold short under any political label.

Ray was also delightful company, and I have fond memories from early in her time as MP, being warmly entertained in her delightful home in Oban overlooking the island of Kerrera by her and her fun loving husband, Iain, who sadly predeceased her.