Covid contracts, voting thoughts and Highland energy ‘savage promotion’

Serious questions over Covid contracts

As dozens of individuals and organisations across Scotland prepare to give evidence in the Covid Inquiry, a major study has revealed that the UK Tory Government awarded £15bn of contracts now seen as red flag during the pandemic.

Transparency International UK’s study Behind the Masks is breathtaking.

We suspected it at the time, but it’s now becoming clear that public procurement in the Covid crisis was characterised by systemic bias, opaque accounting and uncontrolled pricing.

£4.1b of contracts went to those with known political connections to the Conservative Party. FITY-one contracts went through a VIP Lane - half referred directly by Conservative politicians.

£1b was wasted on PPE equipment which proved unfit for use.

£500m worth of contracts went to brand new companies with no track record at all.

£30.7b worth of high-value contracts were awarded without competition.

And £14.9b of public money was simply written off.

Such shoddy and dishonest public procurement would have been unacceptable for any of our public bodies in the Highlands and Islands. Even in the urgency and pressure of the Covid crisis, our public bodies behaved with integrity, maintaining their public service ethos.

The serious central government issues identified by Transparency International UK were not replicated at other levels.

And it’s worth noting that other countries soon reverted to normal procurement practice, with competitive and sealed tendering; while our Conservative government continued to shower its friends with contracts without competition or scrutiny.

But the Tories and their friends won’t get away with it. I am pleased that the new Labour Government’s Covid Corruption Commission will be seeking to get our money back. The National Crime Agency is already investigating PPE Medpro.

The upshot is that we are all feeling the consequences of the Tories’ corruption and mismanagement.

Highland Council, island authorities, NHS Highland and other health boards, HIE - all institutions dependent on public finance, Eden Court, the BBC, third sector organisations - in short, the very fabric of our society - are left to pick up the pieces from the Tories’ corrupt and dishonest behaviour during Covid.

Michael Gregson

Labour councillor, Inverness Central

Think about what you are voting for

If more of us were willing to put ourselves forward as local councillors - and I include myself among those who, for whatever reason, don't - then perhaps we would have a greater pool of mindsets and competencies to choose from.

Regardless of that fairly obvious statement, though, and looking at the council that we do have, if they were indeed, as Colin Campbell reports, almost equally divided in their plans for Academy Street, then I suppose it could be argued that that was democracy in action right there, but Yays and Nays in equal measure only result in stalemate.

Democracy drags its heels and costs money as consultation after consultation drains the coffers and decisions never seem to be made.

Democracy is, by its very nature, the least worst form of government (to paraphrase Churchill), but it's the bedrock of our United Kingdom and may it ever be so.

I always ask potential MPs whether, if elected, they will vote by following the wishes of their constituents or by doing what they want (or what their party instructs) instead - the most usual answer is that, by voting them in, the voters give them their permission to do their own thing. A mandate.

So it is with the council, I suppose - perhaps we should pay more attention at election time.

Stephanie Bruntlett

Tornagrain

Energy giant should have no voice on housing

Once again SSEN make well orchestrated headlines with their sly offer of giving homes built for their workers to local authorities to help ease the housing crisis. They have obviously spent time identifying a problem and working out how best to use it to their advantage.

You have to ask yourself with their promises of using local labour why they need to build accommodation in the first place because local workers would live locally otherwise they wouldn’t be local!

The message from them would appear to be: Let us help you with your housing shortage but only if our planning applications get passed.

Housing is the responsibility of the local authority, those elected to serve us and to whom we pay substantial taxes. If there is not enough money in the coffers to house people then we have to ask why. It is not the job of a multinational to provide homes as long as they get planning approval for their highly contentious concrete and steel road show, that is causing so much anguish and mental distress all over the north of Scotland.

SSEN has placed itself as Principle Partner at the Housing Challenge Summit in Aviemore, October 22, that is chaired by Highland Council convener Bill Lobban. Why are they even there? They are a global investment company hell bent on destroying our natural environment and reducing the value of hard working rural folks’ homes for profit.

Big Energy is actually contributing to a housing crisis because of their devastating industrialisation in rural areas. Residents are unable to move because they can’t realise the true value of their homes. That denies families the larger properties they need. They remain trapped in homes that may have become too big for them to manage and afford.

Big Energy is destroying the natural social progression in our rural communities.

SSEN/SSE are flooding our media with adverts and sponsorship. They are in our schools, involved in the renewables/tourism oxymoron, have the Highland Council leader open their Highland ‘hub’ and appear alongside them in little more than a promotional video.

They are impossible to escape but their savage promotion strategy is backfiring. We see them for what they are. We are not stupid and we don’t like being manipulated, it just hardens our resolve to stop them.

Lyndsey Ward

Spokeswoman for Communities B4 Power Companies

Beauly

Letters should be submitted to newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk. Please include your address and a daytime contact number. You can also tweet us: @InvCourier or leave a comment on Faceboook @invernesscourier

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