Stevenson Welcomes Lottery Funding Boost for Portsoy Project

Banffshire & Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed an award of £32,500 for the Portsoy Church Hall renovation and redevelopment project.

This project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund through the ‘Our Heritage’ programme which helps groups discover and share their local heritage. It also helps them to protect the heritage they care about and can focus on anything from personal memories and cultural traditions to archaeological sites, museum collections and rare wildlife.

Commenting, Mr Stevenson said:

“I am delighted for the volunteers involved in this very worthwhile project that they have been successful in their bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

“The Heritage Lottery Fund is an important source of funding for local groups and can help protect some of our older iconic buildings which still serve their community and are very much part of the fabric of village life, such as Portsoy Church Hall.”

More information on the heritage Lottery Fund is available by visiting www.hlf.org.uk.

eBay Backs Fair Delivery Charges Campaign

Banffshire & Buchan Coast SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed a commitment from eBay to tackle unfair delivery charges.

eBay’s Director of Shipping Mike Pitt and Head of Public Affairs Alasdair McGowan met with Moray SNP MSP Richard Lcohhead, pledging to roll-out a dedicated reporting mechanism for customers facing unfair delivery surcharges.

eBay committed to tough action on sellers demanding surcharges on delivery after transactions – who may face removal from the sales platform altogether.

Following correspondence from Mr Lochhead, the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) recently issued an Enforcement Notice on Advertised Delivery Restrictions and Surcharges – demanding “prompt action” from companies appearing to be misleading customers – with the threat of enforcement action, including legal measures, if firms fail to comply by 31 May.

The Scottish Parliament Library has estimated that higher delivery surcharges cost consumers in Scotland £36 million a year.

Mr Stevenson, who has been backing Richard Lochhead’s campaign on unfair delivery charges, commented:

“I very much welcome the progress achieved by my colleague Richard Lochhead’s campaign and have been pleased to lend my support to it.

“This latest commitment from eBay is the latest in a long line of successes for the campaign and their commitment to do more to ensure fairness for customers in Scotland is good news.

“eBay has 200,000 companies on their platform in the UK and there are over five million transactions every year in the North of Scotland alone and it is good to know that eBay are open to doing more to tackle the delivery charges rip-off.

“eBay have offered to set up a dedicated reporting mechanism for the Scottish authorities such as our trading standards officers and promise to act against sellers not acting fairly or who are breaking the law with the ultimate sanction being removal from the eBay platform. They also urge customers to report cases directly to them as well as the authorities.”

Further detail on campaign available at Fair Delivery Charges website - https://fairdeliverycharges.scot/

Leaked White Paper Confirms Tory Betrayal of Scotland's Fishing Industry

A leaked UK Government paper exposes the Tories' planned power grab on powers over fishing in Scotland.

The paper reveals the Tory Government's plans to bypass the Scottish Parliament and to continue with the current quotas to reduce over-fishing in the North Sea.

The latest Tory amendments to the Withdrawal Bill would prevent the Scottish Parliament legislating to protect fishing communities for up to seven years – with Westminster being able to dictate how we manage our fisheries and having the power to further barter away any of Scotland’s fishing interests during that time.

Commenting, Stewart Stevenson MSP for Banffshire & Buchan Coast said:

“The Tories think they can do what they want to Scotland’s fishing sector and get away with it – bartering away an industry with a proud past and a bright future, and the many jobs this vital industry supports in our coastal communities.

“The Tories’ White Paper utterly fails to deliver the control over our waters and who catches fish in them that was promised in the Brexit referendum.

"It confirms that the Tories want to keep control in London so they can again trade away our fishermen’s rights as part of their Brexit negotiations – as they have already begun to do.

“It’s even worse than taking fishing powers away from Scotland for seven years as threatened in the UK Withdrawal Bill. This is a bid to permanently remove control over fishing from Scotland’s fishermen.

“The Tories infamously described Scotland’s fishing industry as ‘expendable’ on our way into the EU – this proves beyond all doubt they plan to do the same on the way out."