The proposal is to exempt less well off pensioners from the council tax.

A pensioner on an income of less than £10,000 will pay nothing at all in council tax.

LibDem proposals will mean a saving of up to £400 from a typical Band D bill. This compares to a saving of £22 under the SNP’s freeze and a saving of only £200 under the Conservatives.

At least 20,000 single pensioners will benefit from this policy. Many pensioner couples will also be able to qualify.

Alison Burns, candidate in Dundee City West, added, “The SNP and Labour plan to freeze Council Tax for the most wealthy and the Tories plan to cut it for the most wealthy.   The Liberal Democrats on the other hand will target to help the poorest pensioners and remove them from paying any Council Tax.  This will save many pensioners real cash and make a substantial difference to their standard of living.”

Alison Burns at Tay Rail Bridge

Liberal Democrats in Dundee have formally adopted well known Dundee lawyer and jazz singer Alison Burns as their parliamentary candidate for the re-named “Dundee City West” parliamentary seat.

Brought up in Downfield,  Alison became one of the first female apprentice engineers at Timex in 1977, before going on to have success as a professional actress working at Dundee Rep and on TV shows for Channel 4 and BBC Scotland.

Her career as a singer also took off and she worked with Danny Wilson, Michael Marra and co-founded the well-known Dundee singing group The Penny Dainties.

Having gained a law degree at the University of Dundee in the 1990s, Alison worked as a solicitor for Thorntons WS in Dundee and Arbroath before moving on to becoming a consultant for a leading London law firm. In 2001 she co-founded a successful music company.

Alison also sits on the board of Dundee University Students’ Association (DUSA) as an external trustee and is a practising solicitor specialising in Intellectual Property law.

On becoming parliamentary candidate Alison said, “It’s a real honour to have been selected as the LibDem parliamentary candidate for Dundee City West, the city where I was born, grew up in and love.  I am not a career politician but I got involved in politics because I feel passionate about creating a fairer Scotland and a more prosperous and vibrant Dundee.  I am personally meeting with as many local residents as possible in order to act on their concerns and to establish a credible alternative to Labour and the SNP in Dundee.”

North East Scotland MSP Alison McInnes joined us in launching the petition as we collected signatures around the West End of Dundee .

Many thanks to all those who signed the petition today.

You can read the full story here.

Alison Burns at Tay Rail Bridge

Thank you to everyone that came out and campaigned with us in Dundee’s West End over the weekend (especially for all those that were delivering in the rain on Saturday morning).  It was great to meet with so many local residents in order to act on their concerns and to establish a credible alternative to Labour and the SNP in Dundee.

If you’d like to join the campaign team then please email me at alison(at)alisonburns.org.uk

Yesterday’s Scottish Budget is a major boost for students and colleges.

It has delighted the National Union of Students. Who have said: “The Scottish Liberal Democrats have worked very hard for students on this issue” and “This is great news”.

It will help tackle a crisis faced in Scotland’s colleges from 1^st April this year. They can’t afford to wait for a new government. They need action now.

The changes we have negotiated from the Scottish Government will give thousands of students access to bursary support. That will mean they can take up their studies and find ways into work. This is worth £15m.

We have also secured funding for more than a thousand new places directly at colleges. This will help colleges who are facing severe financial pressures. This is worth £8m.

We have also secured funding for additional modern apprentices and for training opportunities that rely indirectly on colleges. Tavish Scott raised the issue of apprenticeships in renewable energy at FMQs in the autumn. This is tackled in the Budget changes we have secured. This is worth £2m

We are also very pleased that we have secured funding for a second year for our idea of a Post Office Diversification Fund. This benefited fifty post offices in the last year and can now benefit more this year. The fund helps post offices introduce new strands of business (such as hot food) by paying for the capital costs of equipment or conversions. It will help them stay open, serving their communities.

Of course, this Budget and the changes we have secured will not solve all of the problems that Scotland faces. Colleges and communities still face enormous challenges.  Much will have to wait until after May. Our plans for government envisage a spending review and budget revisions very quickly after the election. We have already spoken with the Permanent Secretary’s senior officials in order to brief them on our intentions to move rapidly in government.

But the steps we have secured today mean a better Budget for Scotland that would have been the case without the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

The call comes as the UK government starts to introduce a range of measures designed to reduce bureaucracy, including a pledge to introduce a ‘one in, one out’ rule, under which no new regulation would be brought in without other regulation being cut by the same amount.

Commenting, Dundee West Lib Dem Scottish Parliamentary candidate Ms Burns said:

‘As someone who has started and built an international business from Dundee I am acutely aware of the red tape that entrepreneurs, businesses and voluntary groups have to deal with on a daily basis.  The Lib Dems in government have made a commitment to cut red tape and make it easier for people to establish new businesses, voluntary groups or charities.  I would encourage anyone who has been frustrated by unecessary bureaucracy to make a submission to the review.’

Notes:

Individuals or groups wishing to make a submission should contact red.tape.taskforce@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

Well known Dundee lawyer and jazz singer Alison Burns has become the new Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Dundee West in advance of next years Scottish Parliamentary elections.  Alison’s life, which saw her go from being the first female apprentice engineer at Timex, to a lawyer and tutor at Dundee University and then onto international success as a jazz singer, reflects the modern City of Dundee with its combination of industry, academia and the arts.

Following the announcement of her selection as the Lib Dem candidate Alison said:

“It’s a real honour to have been selected as the Lib Dem candidate for Dundee West, the city where I was born, grew up in and love.  I am not a career politician but I got involved in politics because I feel passionate about creating a fairer Scotland and a more prosperous and vibrant Dundee.  I hope to knock on thousands of doors over the coming months and personally meet with as many local residents as possible in order to act on their concerns to establish a credible alternative to Labour and the SNP in Dundee.”

Brought up in Downfield in Dundee and educated at St. Columba’s Primary Dundee, Lawside Academy Secondary Dundee and the University of Dundee, Alison Burns brings wide ranging experience and energy to politics.  On leaving secondary school Alison became one of the first female apprentice engineers at Timex in 1977 before going on to work for British Telecom in Dundee as a draftsperson.  In 1987 she decided to follow her love of the arts by becoming a professional actress working at Dundee Rep before going on to present TV shows for Channel 4 and BBC Scotland as well as acting in theatre, television and film.  Around this time her career as a singer was also taking off as she worked with Danny Wilson, Michael Marra and co-founded the well known Dundee singing group The Penny Dainties.  In 1992 she went to college and studied to attain the academic qualifications to be accepted into the Law Faculty at the University of Dundee.  Upon graduation she worked as a solicitor for Thorntons WS in Dundee and Arbroath before moving on to becoming a consultant for leading London law firm.  In 2001 she co-founded a successful music company as well as becoming a trustee for a charity.  She joined the Liberal Democrats in 2005 and acted as campaign manager for a number of Parliamentary election campaigns as well as working to increase the number of female candidates in the party.  Alison now sits on the board of Dundee University Students Association (DUSA) as an external trustee and is a practising solicitor specialising in Intellectual Property law.

Alison was the first female apprentice engineer at Timex before going on to study law and tutor in Company Law at Dundee University where she now sits as an external trustee of the Students Association.

No stranger to dealing with the media Alison is also an award winning jazz singer and actress having performed concerts throughout the world as well as the prestigious Royal Albert Hall. She has performed with with Bill Wyman, Michael Marra & Mick Hucknall as well as presenting TV shows for BBC Scotland and Channel 4 and acted alongside
Elizabeth Hurley.
She co-founded a charity promoting music in schools across Scotland and also sits on the board of Nordoff Robbins Scotland, a charity which specialises in using music to transform the lives of children constrained by disability, trauma or isolation.

Alison is married to James, an entrepreneur, and her hobbies include cycling, reading, singing and learning to play the guitar.