Glasgow fire: learning the hard way
To the shock and surprise of nobody, the Pakistani owned vape shop responsible for the fire which devastated Glasgow city centre failed to pay close to £10,000 in business rates last year. It also does not appear to be registered to sell tobacco or vaping products.
This is a prime example of why I bore on about local authority enforcement being a central component of an immigration surveillance system. As I keep stressing, rebuilding the administrative tier of government is not a peripheral part of any immigration strategy - and it's a win-win because that way you don't end up with important buildings burning down. That we dismantled proper local authority enforcement is a big part of why illegal immigration got out of hand.
I’m probably the least surprised by this latest travesty. I noted a report last year saying the number of trading standards officers working in Scotland has fallen to a record low – with concerns being raised that they “cannot continue to protect Scottish consumers for much longer”. “New figures show there are 249.97 full-time equivalent (FTS) officers in councils across the country – with this down more than half from 511.6 in 2002”.
I noted this on X yesterday, which prompted a very interesting interjection from William Clouston, leader of the SDP.
It’s not just local authorities in which the inspection and regulation function has degraded. The Environment Agency has a statutory responsibility to monitor illegal chemical discharges and enforce breaches against individuals and businesses. An excellent example of the system breaking down is the car wash industry. For decades now hand car washes have sprung up on vacant sites in towns and cities throughout the country.
Many of the washes use strong alkaline traffic film remover, detergents, waxes and acids which - in the absence of interceptors and on site drainage into foul outflows - find their way into our rivers via street rainwater drains. Furthermore, many of these hand washes do not possess a trade effluent license - a basic legal requirement which all the legal mechanised car industry abides by. It’s wrong. It’s unfair to the tax-paying part of the industry and yet virtually nothing is done despite years of lobbying by the @RMIF_CWA and others.
These non-applied environmental regulations are quite separate, of course, from the question of illegal workers, slavery and other abuse which is also rife and which depresses the returns of businesses employing British workers. Basically, it’s yet another breach of the social contract.
You can imagine my absolute delight to read this. This is exactly the kind of knowledge I want to see from party leaders - and I want to see it informing policy rather than drown in torrent of slop tweets. In a single tweet, Clouston shows us he really gets it. If you want a functioning first world country you need good regulation and effective enforcement. Good enforcement of the basics means you have a handle on the symptoms of illegal immigration as a by-product.
Meanwhile, we have the Rupert Lowes of this world bleating about wholesale deregulation and slashing the size of the state, regardless of its function, making me wonder if he’s even read his own party’s deportations policy. That’s the difference between a lazy slop merchant and a leader. Now if you’ll excuse me, I‘ll be spending all day reading about car wash waste water discharges.
component of an immigration surveillance system. As I keep stressing, rebuilding the administrative tier of government is not a peripheral part of any immigration strategy - and it's a win-win because that way you don't end up with important buildings burning down. That we dismantled proper local authority enforcement is a big part of why illegal immigration got out of hand.
I’m probably the least surprised by this latest travesty. I noted a report last year saying the number of trading standards officers working in Scotland has fallen to a record low – with concerns being raised that they “cannot continue to protect Scottish consumers for much longer”. “New figures show there are 249.97 full-time equivalent (FTS) officers in councils across the country – with this down more than half from 511.6 in 2002”.
I noted this on X yesterday, which prompted a very interesting interjection from William Clouston, leader of the SDP.
It’s not just local authorities in which the inspection and regulation function has degraded. The Environment Agency has a statutory responsibility to monitor illegal chemical discharges and enforce breaches against individuals and businesses. An excellent example of the system breaking down is the car wash industry. For decades now hand car washes have sprung up on vacant sites in towns and cities throughout the country.
Many of the washes use strong alkaline traffic film remover, detergents, waxes and acids which - in the absence of interceptors and on site drainage into foul outflows - find their way into our rivers via street rainwater drains. Furthermore, many of these hand washes do not possess a trade effluent license - a basic legal requirement which all the legal mechanised car industry abides by. It’s wrong. It’s unfair to the tax-paying part of the industry and yet virtually nothing is done despite years of lobbying by the @RMIF_CWA and others.
These non-applied environmental regulations are quite separate, of course, from the question of illegal workers, slavery and other abuse which is also rife and which depresses the returns of businesses employing British workers. Basically, it’s yet another breach of the social contract.
You can imagine my absolute delight to read this. This is exactly the kind of knowledge I want to see from party leaders - and I want to see it informing policy rather than drown in torrent of slop tweets. In a single tweet, Clouston shows us he really gets it. If you want a functioning first world country you need good regulation and effective enforcement. Good enforcement of the basics means you have a handle on the symptoms of illegal immigration as a by-product.
Meanwhile, we have the Rupert Lowes of this world bleating about wholesale deregulation and slashing the size of the state, regardless of its function, making me wonder if he’s even read his own party’s deportations policy. That’s the difference between a lazy slop merchant and a leader. Now if you’ll excuse me, I‘ll be spending all day reading about car wash waste water discharges.
I’m a member of the SDP, for my sins, and after only getting 46 votes in the Gorton and Denton by-election, It does make you wonder why I am. However you cannot say the SDP do not have policies which have be thought out and had substantial work put into them. Whether you agree with the policy or not at least the work has been put in. I think I’ll stay a member a while longer. Thanks for highlighting these issues Pete.
Spot on, again but the slopulists still don't seem to recognise the issue, we could expand this problem to the environment agency (as Clouson highlights) and the food standards agencies (as made evident with video evidence of a Muslim run butchers shop accepting an in-skin deer carcass, delivered via an open bed, unrefrigerated, pick up last year - I believe Avon & Somerset).