THE party conference season is now nearing its conclusion. Last week, Labour's seemingly endless leadership election came to a conclusion with elevation of the younger Miliband brother.
I wish Ed Miliband well - and I hope he will be as good as his word when he says he will work constructively with the Government to address the realities of the fiscal position that we face as a country.
Until now, that has conspicuously not been Labour's approach in Opposition. Even though their own Chief Secretary to the Treasury left a note to tell his successor that "there's no money left", virtually every effort to deal with the black hole in our finances has been scorned.
Labour, without leadership, have seemed to think that we can keep digging ourselves ever deeper into debt - putting themselves very far even from the position that Alistair Darling took as Chancellor. It would be better for politics - and better for the scrutiny of the very difficult decisions we are taking - if the new leader persuaded his troops to lift their heads out of the sand and deal with reality.
As a Government, we make no apology for identifying the deficit as the over-riding challenge to the future prosperity of our country. I am determined that we will put fairness at the heart of our decision-making, but it is worth being clear that there is nothing fair about simply deferring tough decisions and leaving the people who come next to face the consequences.
At our conference in Liverpool, I set out plans for putting fairness at the heart of the immediate decisions in balancing the books. The sometimes very wealthy individuals who go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying tax in the UK are going to have to play their part at a time when so many others are facing sacrifices.
To that end, we are investing £900 million extra in making sure Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs are able to pursue them - online and offshore. We estimate that this package of investment will yield an extra £7 billion in tax - roughly equivalent to the total income tax and national insurance paid in a year by one million people earning median incomes.
Those who think that paying tax is a lifestyle choice and that they can enjoy the many benefits of life in the UK without contributing to the cost of basic services should think again. That has never been any more morally defensible than the behaviour of those who seek to defraud the benefit system intended for the most vulnerable.
The days when governments clamped down on benefit fraud while turning a blind eye to the conduct of wealthy tax-dodgers are over.
Keeping the Chieftain on the tracks
THERE has rightly been a lot of publicity about the future of the Highland Chieftain rail service which links Inverness and stations in the Strath directly to London on a daily basis.
A long-standing project to commission new intercity trains was suspended by the last Government in February amidst concerns about its affordability. The contract would have included new 'bi-mode' trains, capable of running on both electricity and diesel.
There is now a decision to be taken in the next month or so about whether the deal can go ahead or not. In the meantime, a report prepared by a civil servant has suggested, among other things, that electric trains could run south of Edinburgh and passengers from further north could be helped to change to and from a diesel service for the rest of their journey.
It is impossible for final decisions to be made until the type of trains available is confirmed. However, I do not doubt the importance of the direct daily links to London which both the Highland Chieftain and the Caledonian Sleeper provide for our area.
An enforced change at Edinburgh would cause difficulty for some older and less mobile passengers. It would also cause inconvenience for business travellers who value the services - including wireless internet - available on the East Coast service at present. (It is long since time that Scotrail and the Scottish Government brought the on-board services to Edinburgh and Glasgow up to the same standard.)
I urge travellers in the Strath to support the campaign to make sure the Highland Chieftain is safe. I will work hard to make sure the message is understood within the Government.
