Welcome to the official website for Mike Barnacle.
The above video gives a brief introduction to my campaign for re-election in the 2017 Perth & Kinross Local Government Elections. For full details of why I said people should vote for me, read my manifesto here.
My Achievements
I have been very active in formulating a Long Term Development Strategy for our area in consultation with the local community. The purpose of this strategy is to influence the development of Perth & Kinross Council’s Local Development Plan. This strategy is working well and the draft plan put forward by the Council has clearly been influenced by the views of the community, which I collated during a series of public meetings and through listening to what you all had to say.
For a reminder of the presentations that I gave at the most recent round of public meetings, click on the following link to read the presentation slides used at the Fossoway Public Meetings as well as the presentation given to the Kinross-shire Civic Trust.
Perth & Kinross Local Development Plan
I’ve put a lot of effort into seeking your views on the proposals put forward by Perth & Kinross Council in their Local Development Plan. This included holding public meetings throughout Fossoway, a questionnaire asking for residents’ views on development in the area, consulting the Fossoway & District Community Council and speaking directly with residents.
Click here to read my Formal Submission on the PKC Local Development Plan.
POLITICAL ALLEGIANCE @ PKC
I have decided to leave the Independent Group on the Council and have joined the local Conservative & Unionist Association. This decision in no way reflects on my feeling towards my former Independent colleagues, who I have worked well with since leaving the Liberal Democratic Group in 2008 (over lack of support to my community in Kinross-shire) and who I still hold in the highest regard.
I have joined the Conservatives for both local and national reasons which I can briefly summarise viz:
Firstly, In Kinross-shire Ward, I find I share a common programme with Conservative Cllr Purves that we can work on until May 2022 when I stand down from PKC. Also, at the budget debate on 10/3/21, I voted for the Conservative administration’s budget crucially because it included the Independent Group’s proposal for funding to support administration costs for a ‘pilot’
Area Committee of PKC for Kinross-shire Ward. I have been lobbying for this since my first term in office began in 1999 and there now seems a good chance it will come to fruition before May 2022. I am delighted that I managed to persuade the Conservative Group to endorse this proposal (despite I understand implacable LibDem opposition behind the scenes), which I am certain will be well received in Kinross-shire.
Secondly, In relation to the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary elections on May 6th, I will be supporting the Scottish Conservative & Unionist campaign of Liz Smith MSP in Perthshire South & Kinross-shire, because she is the only candidate that I believe is in a position to defeat the SNP.
Although I campaigned for the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament, because I have always believed in devolution of power within the U.K., I am completely against the SNP’s obsession with breaking up Britain. I have always been in favour of a federal home-rule solution for Scotland (which I understand is the position of Murdo Fraser & Liz Smith) and also for Northern Ireland & Wales for that matter, along with the need for regional assemblies in England. I note that it was a Conservative Government that introduced separate tax raising powers to Scotland in 2017 effectively. In the 2014 Referendum, I campaigned for Scotland to remain part of the U.K. and was heartened and relieved by the outcome in delivering a clear majority in support of us doing just that. I remember that in PKC, the NO vote on Independence far exceeded the YES vote on an 87% turnout with the highest ward turnout in Kinross-shire @ 90% with the highest % NO vote and lowest % YES vote in our council area.
Now is not the time to re-visit this ‘divisive’ argument on Scottish independence and we should be focussing all our efforts on re-building our economy & society from the awful effects of the pandemic. There is clearly a need to look again at the devolution of power in the U.K. but this should be done constructively over time and preferably on a cross-party basis. I have also been impressed by the level of Conservative UK Government support for business and employees during the pandemic. I believe that the Scottish Conservatives are the party best placed to defend our Union and note that they have offered to work with others to do so.
Finally, In relation to Brexit, the Conservative Party is the only one that has given the British people a vote on our continued membership of the E.U. ( a promise that was known to the Scots at the time of the 2014 referendum). That the majority in the U.K. voted to leave has been also respected and Brexit delivered by them. I, personally was against joining the Common Market originally and the current size of the EU membership of states bears no relationship to what the U.K. originally joined. As far as SNP claims of ‘Independence in Europe’, I believe that to be a ‘contradiction in terms’. I was one of the nearly 40% of Scots residents who voted to leave, for a host of reasons but mainly to do with democratic accountability, freedom to negotiate trade deals on the world stage and national sovereignty. The EU were always going to make one of their largest budget contributors’ difficulties in leaving the bloc by making unreasonable demands in tortuous negotiations. Nothing that has happened since the EU vote in 2017 has changed my mind, in fact I am thankful that we are out of what I perceive is an anti-free trade, bureaucratic and protectionist organisation. Whatever one’s view of the deal that was eventually negotiated last December, it is absolutely clear that the EU are intent on hampering the free flow of goods with excessive red tape and continuing to plunder our fish stocks into the future, so much so that I could be forgiven for thinking that a no-deal Brexit would have been clearer and possibly preferable. As for their criticism of our Oxford vaccine, despite assurances from health authorities; along with their bureaucratic approach to the vaccine rollout compared to the U.K; I am further confirmed in my Brexit view and thankful to the Conservative Party for delivering on it.
Yours Sincerely,
Cllr Michael Barnacle, Kinross-shire Ward