Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Scots Farm, or Animal Farm ? ‘Radical’ review of land reform ‘to deliver more successful Scotland’ claims First Minister Alex Salmond

Alex_Salmond‘Radical’ land reform announced by the man with 225 lawyers, First Minister Alex Salmond. LAND REFORM for Scotland is again on the cards, according to a ‘radical’ review announced by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond who claims the newly announced review will deliver a more successful Scotland with stronger communities and economic growth. Whether Mr Salmond’s land reform review is any more than a typical politicians Public Relations stunt and whether it will actually deliver a coherent reform tackling, as land expert Andy Wightman writes “real issues concern inflated land values, affordability of housing, succession law, tax avoidance, secrecy, absentee landlordism, theft of common land, land registration laws, common good etc” is yet to be seen.

In fact, rather than read the Scottish Government’s Press release, reprinted below, readers should first visit Andy Wightman’s website Land Matters, to read the facts behind who owns Scotland’s land and why Mr Salmond’s review will count for little unless the real issues are discussed & tackled.

Scottish Government’s Press Release : Radical rethink on land reform underway

A radical review of land reform will deliver a more successful Scotland with stronger communities and economic growth, First Minister Alex Salmond said today. Speaking in Skye where a summer cabinet meeting was convened, Mr Salmond revealed details of a new Land Reform Review Group that will oversee a wide ranging review of land reform in Scotland.

Dr Alison Elliot, who has extensive experience working in the community and voluntary sector, will chair the group. She will be joined by Professor James Hunter and Dr Sarah Skerratt as vice chairpeople, who have experience of the Highlands and Islands and rural development.

A further 10 advisers – with expertise in areas such as property and land issues, economics, legal issues, community-led organisations, landownership, forestry and access – will also be appointed to the group shortly.

It is anticipated that the Land Reform Review Group will report in a series of stages to Scottish Ministers, providing consideration of what the outcomes of land reform should be and what reforms are required. By the end of 2013 the Scottish Government would expect a report on any legislative changes that are required to allow this to be taken forward.

Mr Salmond said: "Land reform is an important part of Scotland’s story. From the Crofting Acts of the 1880s and 1890s to the more recent right-to-buy legislation and support for community land purchase, significant progress has been made. We cannot underestimate the crucial part land reform will play in contributing to the future success of Scotland for the next generation. By improving the relationship between our land and people, we can create stronger communities and deliver the economic growth and fairer society that the people of Scotland quite rightly expect.”

Mr Salmond continued : "I want this review to deliver radical change for both rural and urban areas, developing new ideas which will improve current legislation as well as generating even more innovative proposals. The expertise and experience of those on the group will be key to its success and that’s why I’m delighted Alison, James and Sarah have agreed to take forward this important project."

Dr Elliot said: "I am delighted to take this opportunity to review land reform in Scotland. I want to take a look at all the opportunities that exist to promote more communities taking control of their future by taking control of their land. I expect it will be an interesting, and challenging job and I look forward to getting up and down the country promoting debate."

Fine words, however, given the Scottish Government's record of backtracking on reforms of the legal system, from attempts to mothballing Lord Gill’s CIVIL COURTS REVIEW, to tinkering with Scots criminal law in the hopes of giving the Crown Office more [dubious] conviction statistics to brag about, just don't expect too much transparency or land reform from Mr Salmond when lobbying from vested interests, big business & political donors raise their tentacles.

LOBBY ME THIS : Lobbying the Scottish Government certainly brings in the contracts, profits & delays to legal reforms, as Diary of Injustice earlier revealed where a series of law firms wined & dined Ministers & Civil Servants of this same SNP Scottish Government to collect on Twenty Million pounds of taxpayer funded legal contracts which Mr Salmond’s two hundred & twenty five lawyers apparently couldn't manage to lend a hand on. Read the report here : HOSPITALITY WINS : Law firms who won £20 Million legal contract wined, dined & lobbied Scottish Government’s Legal Directorate for three years

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

OINK OINK !!

Yes I can see this land reform being a highly valuable project to big business & SNP donors.

Murray's 40p purchase of half of Princess Street only got blocked by the nats because of protests the dim media picked up on http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/loophiole-closure-ends-sir-david-murray-s-hopes-for-princes-mall-bargain-1-2287302 (pity the hootsmon cant spell loophole properly!)

Anonymous said...

Imagine the embarrassment when the "Scottish" National Party fails to deliver the goods on land reform just like they have failed to deliver on the justice system.

Cant have accused talking to a lawyer during Police questioning (it might upset the chances of a stitch up)
Cant have evidence corroborated in court because corroboration is preventing the Crown Office putting people away for crimes they did not commit.
Cant have documents released showing leukemia clusters in Dumfries & Galloway (SNP spent a fortune against this one)
Cant have wee girl writing a blog about school dinners (ban was down to an SNP run Council)
Cant have Megrahi's appeal going ahead so release him,pray for quick death and make his lawyer a judge so she can't have anything to do with the case again
Cant protect clients from dodgy lawyers because MacAskill is one himself
Cant reveal all that lobbying because there's too much of it (well done you on the £20million lawyers contract story)
On the other hand MUST HAVE gay marriage because the SNP want their votes and some threaten to cause trouble within the party if they dont get it

and people expect radical reform from this mob? not a chance!

That's all from me.I'm off to souter a fried egg or is that sauté I cant remember which comes first the donor chicken or the egg..

Anonymous said...

Animal farm more like

Just try complaining to people like Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment Richard Lochhead about land issues and see how far you get!

Anonymous said...

Land reform eh?
so will one of his cabinet chums be giving up all money he's raking in from property lets in Glasgow?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this.The more attention it gets the better.

I read Andy Wightman's site earlier.Like most of us I don't think he is falling for these promised reforms either..

Anonymous said...

Land reform is a term used by politicians for stealing from one to give to the other (usually the poorer, unrepresented etc lose it to the rich & powerful)

Andy Wightman's book "The Poor had no lawyers" says it all.

A recommended read and should be made compulsory in schools http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Poor-Had-No-Lawyers/dp/1841589071

Anonymous said...

Gay Marriage will be made legal in Scotland, the SNP government announced on Wednesday morning, after the Scottish government finally agreed the framework for legislation.

The Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement a week later than expected, after the Cabinet failed to hammer out the details at a meeting last Tuesday. As The Huffington Post revealed last week, calls by religious leaders in Scotland for there to be a national referendum on the issue were ruled out.
=================================
Equality Nicola, that is fine but you will also be closing the SLCC and ending self regulation wont you?

Well I do not think you will because you do not believe in equality for lawyers clients. Don't worry Nicola we will do it for you. Lawyers and politicians are trash.

Anonymous said...

Cant see it happening.For one thing there's too much power wrapped up in property ownership in Scotland,this much is evident from Andy Wightman's fine work.The fact is no political party and certainly not the SNP are strong enough to resist any pressures from "vested interests" to change the way things run in terms of land ownership.

For instance just look at who runs the Registers of Scotland - The Law Society of Scotland,as an arms length institution.How can you have reform of anything when you have a regulator with a professional interest running the show.

In essence what we are looking at here is a rerun of Lord Gill's Civil Courts Review but for the property/land market.In other words,no reform is good reform.

Anonymous said...

Salmond has bought a dog and decided to bark himself - while profiting yet more lawyers at the further huge expense to the Taxpayer.

Err, I know the SNP are 'proud of the distinctive Scottish system and will do anything to protect it' but aren't we in a double dip recession just now?

Anonymous said...

So,as usual from Alex (and indeed all Scottish politicians) its going to be all spin and no action.Thank goodness Mr Wightman is on the case.

Anonymous said...

In reply to the comment at 15:20 I have also written to Mr Lochhead over a land dispute and been given the fuck off treatment.The Minister said he could not intervene in the dispute yet he was cuddling up to the owner of the estate the very next week.So much for the SNP's land reform agenda its more like bring in the money from donations agenda!

Anonymous said...

If you are comparing the land review to the civil courts review then yes,it will be nothing more than a lot of promises & hot air.Sorry Lord Gill but that's the way most people see how the SNP have treated your two year effort to reform Scotland's civil justice system.You yourself said it was Victorian and the SNP have come along and made it positively neolithic.

Anonymous said...

Stunt.

It will be told to magically report back the week before the next Holyrood election with Salmond making a grand announcement about how he will take land reform forward during the next parliament if he gets elected with a 128 seat majority and then nothing more will come of it due to threats of legal action from landowners,vested interests and all the money grabbers who plundered the common good land for themselves etc etc

Anonymous said...

Have you all forgotten already we have already seen the SNP's idea of land reform where in Argyll & Bute they hatched a plan to sell off the forests & land to the Middle East - a proposal put forward by Mike Russell and backed by Tories.

The LibDems (admittedly now the devil) collected about 30,000 signatures and campaigned to stop the proposal from going ahead and Russell was then 'sacked' by Salmond,only to rear his head again in another portfolio.

Yes,land reform Alex Salmond style will be to take from the people to give to the SNP party donors & business partners just like errm the Tories and Labour.

Anonymous said...

Personally I have no confidence in the SNP at all MacAskill who is my constituency msp let me down badly was of no help at all and doesnt give a damn about not helping me so I dont believe any of this stuff about land reform from his boss

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
If you are comparing the land review to the civil courts review then yes,it will be nothing more than a lot of promises & hot air.Sorry Lord Gill but that's the way most people see how the SNP have treated your two year effort to reform Scotland's civil justice system.You yourself said it was Victorian and the SNP have come along and made it positively neolithic.

25 July 2012 20:55
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My favourite post of the month. Well said...

Can the SNP not conjure up another more believable scam with the intention of feathering the nests of the hoards of crooked Scottish lawyers?

Can anyone spot the Mamoth in the room?



P. Daniels

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Imagine the embarrassment when the "Scottish" National Party fails to deliver the goods on land reform just like they have failed to deliver on the justice system.

Cant have accused talking to a lawyer during Police questioning (it might upset the chances of a stitch up)
Cant have evidence corroborated in court because corroboration is preventing the Crown Office putting people away for crimes they did not commit.
Cant have documents released showing leukemia clusters in Dumfries & Galloway (SNP spent a fortune against this one)
Cant have wee girl writing a blog about school dinners (ban was down to an SNP run Council)
Cant have Megrahi's appeal going ahead so release him,pray for quick death and make his lawyer a judge so she can't have anything to do with the case again
Cant protect clients from dodgy lawyers because MacAskill is one himself
Cant reveal all that lobbying because there's too much of it (well done you on the £20million lawyers contract story)
On the other hand MUST HAVE gay marriage because the SNP want their votes and some threaten to cause trouble within the party if they dont get it

and people expect radical reform from this mob? not a chance!

That's all from me.I'm off to souter a fried egg or is that sauté I cant remember which comes first the donor chicken or the egg..

25 July 2012 15:13

A very good summary of Scotland under the SNP.Can it get any worse?

Anonymous said...

Good point in the earlier comment about Mike Russell trying to sell oor forests to the Middle East.Definitely an example of what the SNP refer to as "Land Reform" as in selling our assets at bottom dollar to the largest SNP donors!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Personally I have no confidence in the SNP at all MacAskill who is my constituency msp let me down badly was of no help at all and doesnt give a damn about not helping me so I dont believe any of this stuff about land reform from his boss.
==================================
I agree although he is not my MSP. but I am not surprised he did not help you. He is a Law Society MSP who wrote to me and said "the Law Society being a professional organisation is exempt from Freedom of Information Legislation". And Kenny wants to keep it that way because he dones not care about lawyer victims, he is encouraging lawyer criminality.

Anonymous said...

I must admit the example of Russell attempting to flog the Forests to the middle east is an example which puts the SNP in their true light.It's about money folks not about Scotland so wake up forget about all this Scottish patriotic crap unless of course you dont mind your lands including your home and probably our water ending up in the hands of the SNP's secretive foreign investor/donor club.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Stunt.

It will be told to magically report back the week before the next Holyrood election with Salmond making a grand announcement about how he will take land reform forward during the next parliament if he gets elected with a 128 seat majority and then nothing more will come of it due to threats of legal action from landowners,vested interests and all the money grabbers who plundered the common good land for themselves etc etc

25 July 2012 21:33

I like the way your crystal ball works!

This is exactly how it will turn out just before the next election as another rotten Snp carrot to get more votes

Anonymous said...

Forest for Salmond?

Anonymous said...

Well if Salmond's 'reforms' on justice or anything else for that matter are the example for 'land reform', this little talking shop will help none but the rich and most probably lawyers.