Court Decision.

Episode 7

 

A Revolutionary MP: Wolfie MacNeil

 

On July 22^nd 2015 Angus MacNeil MP gave an interview to Energy Live News. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVmP47LVeTQ

This interview was given around 18 months prior to the MP becoming aware that gas customers in Stornoway - his own constituents – could not benefit from his advice as they were legally prevented from “switching” suppliers by an amendment to the 1995 Gas Act.

What a gift for any left leaning MP – the hated private sector, assisted by Westminster Legislation, penalising poor constituents - far less one just itching to lead the parade of fellow Bravehearts to the nearest International Court reception centre in order to lodge UDI papers on behalf of his beloved country.

To be fair, between 2017 and 2019 the MP did forward a number of detailed and thoroughly researched letters (see below) to various recipients including: The CEO of British Gas, the Minister for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and the chairman of OFGEM. Here, apparently, we had an MP determined to take on one of the largest private companies on behalf of his constituents. Apparently.

From the redoubt upon which Angus MacNeil took his stand, the Saltire in one hand, a throng of shivering local pensioners huddled protectively behind, the bold Angus has, alas, simply vanished.

It happened like this: As readers of Episode 2 will remember, on November 2nd 2018 British Gas’ outside counsel Mr Philip Knight of Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP, at his client’s instruction, wrote to Stornoway Sheriff Court to request the Sheriff excuse a British Gas Executive Officer (Ms K White) from having to comply with a Witness Citation Notice because she was only a “…junior customer services manager…”. Having been made aware of this description of a person who had written to him over a year previously to advise that she, a Senior Customer Manager in British Gas’ Executive Office would, henceforth, be handling all enquiries from the MP and his constituents, Angus MacNeil MP immediately wrote to the then CEO of British Gas, Mark Hodges, asking to be informed of Ms White’s actual position as of November 9 2018. Four days later he received a response not from Hodges, but from Alexander Anderson, Deputy Head, Centrica Corporate Services. Previously Mr Anderson had been employed as SNP Spokesperson in Westminster, Spokesperson and Special Advisor for First Minister Alex Salmond and Special Advisor to First Minister Sturgeon. Here is his email to Angus MacNeil:

 

 

 

Dear Angus

I refer to your letter of 9 November to Mark Hodges - constituency case reference AM1660.

We are currently engaged in correspondence with both Stornoway Sheriff Court and Mr McPherson (as representative) regarding the position of Ms White in our business. As your letter raises issues which are currently connected to live Court proceedings I am afraid that we are not in a position to respond.

With best wishes meantime,

A.

 

It hardly needs pointing out that neither was MS White’s job title an issue nor was it connected to “live Court Proceedings.” It was, simply, Senior Customer Manager in British Gas’ Executive Office. What is of more interest, however, is how this email ends: “With best wishes meantime/A”. One can construe from such that not only are the correspondents known to each other, there is a measure of affection evident. What is certain, is that from receipt of that email, Angus MacNeil would never again exhibit any enthusiasm for ensuring his constituents were not disadvantaged by British Gas’ business practices in the largest town in his constituency.

His final email to me on the matter was in response to a request for his assistance after British Gas admitted, in court, to blatantly discriminating against every gas customer in Stornoway by refusing to include them in its offers of “Goods and Services” due to their “Location”! Here it is:

 

(July 29. 2018)

Hello Derek

I’ve spoken to Angus re your below email and he said as it a legal matter perhaps a lawyer could advise better than he can.

 

So there you have it. British Gas openly declaims it discriminates against an entire Scottish town. And a town in the constituency of the man who would be the bearer of our UDI ticket to “Freedom”!!! Grazie Deo, Independence is not a “Legal Matter”.

As any right thinking person will appreciate, I thought it best not to seek further assistance from such a toothless Revolutionary. As of the 12^th of this month, however, when British Gas’s outside counsel advised it was unable to “locate” a consequential document it had produced and forwarded to Ombudsman Services: Energy sometime in 2016, I felt compelled to email the MP asking him to request OFGEM reopen an enquiry it had closed principally on the infallibility of British Gas’ data retention system. I was not the only constituent to send an email seeking the MP’s assistance on this matter. He ignored those requests.

Having spoken with Gwen Harrison, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards regarding the MP’s refusal to communicate, I was advised that the only thing to be done about an MP who refused to assist his/her constituents was to vote for another candidate (and hope that enough others would do so also) at the next electoral opportunity, I contacted a very senior SNP agent who urged me to “give Angus one more opportunity to carry out his constituency duties.” I did. Here’s the email I forwarded to his secretaries in both London and Stornoway last Friday:

Good Morning 

Yesterday I was in communication with a very senior SNP figure who urged me to contact you prior the making arrangements to serve Angus with a Witness Citation Notice in the case of McPherson v British Gas Trading Limited (STO-SG12-19). 

 

As you should be aware, a new development in the "British Gas scandal" in Stornoway has come to light: British Gas' "data retention system" upon which OFGEM relied to find the 40+ constituents who had complained to Angus that they had been refused access to British Gas' tariff, had never in fact, made any such call and were being "untruthful" by claiming they did. Every one of them! On the 12th of this month, however, British Gas revealed that that its "data retention system" is not 100% reliable which, inter alia, must cast doubt on the OFGEM Investigation findings. Given so, I, as one of Angus' constituents, am formally requesting my MP contact OFGEM for the purpose of requiring that ALB organisation reopen its Investigation into the claim that British Gas withheld its Sainsbury's tariff from his constituents. Failure to do so, I can assure you, will see Angus served a Witness Citation Notice as soon as a trial date for the above proceeding has been assigned.

 

It is, I assure you, my genuine hope that Angus comes to his senses, attends to his duties as a constituency MP and acts accordingly on behalf of his constituents in this matter. If he opts not to do so, I can guarantee his experience in the witness box at Stornoway Sheriff Court - should he deviate by so much as an inch from the position he represented in his many letters to British Gas, OFGEM, BEIS etc etc - will not be something he, or his Party, will look back on fondly. 

 

In conclusion, I wish to make it clear beyond dispute, this email constitutes a final, and desperate attempt to have an MP (whom I voted for) take a stance against a giant private company which disadvantaged his constituents. Should he refuse to assist, thereby forcing me to ensure his appearance in the witness box at Stornoway Sheriff Court, I will, albeit reluctantly, question him with the same fortitude and intensity he promised to exhibit on behalf his constituents, only last December.

 

Assuredly, Derek McPherson.

 

 

Assuredly or not our MP, of whom the Daily Record once asked “Is Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil Scotland’s Sleaziest Politician” (18 May 2016), has not yet answered. But he will. And he’ll do so in advance of leading “his people” to that Valhalla of Independence. Assuredly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are a couple of examples of the letters Angus MacNeil was sending prior to the “Anderson Email.” Both reveal an MP eager to ensure his constituents are treated fairly by British Gas. Although, both went largely unanswered!

 

 

 

 

(July 2018)

Mr Mark Hodges

CEO Centrica plc

 

Dear Mr Hodges

On Thursday of last week in response to my question, “…how “heavily” does Centrica subsidise the transportation of propane gas to Stornoway?” your colleague, Ms Kathy White, informed me: “…we’re [Centrica] not directly responsible for the transportation of gas.”

I understand that Centrica is not involved in the transportation of gas to my constituency town of Stornoway at all and has, therefore, no financial exposure to the subsidising of its transportation. The responsibility for transportation of gas to Stornoway, lies with Ofgem and the costs of such are met by a levy on every unit of gas used in the UK.

 Given the above, I would appreciate an explanation as to why Ms White forwarded the following representation to one of my constituents on June 8, last year:

“While Stornoway is theoretically open to competition, the high cost of supplying gas means that, in practice, other suppliers do not choose to supply.”

 

This is not the only example I am aware of. In 2013, another of your colleagues, Ms X forwarded the following to another of my constituents:

“…if the market were opened up in Stornoway for other energy companies to be able to supply your energy – would other energy companies be forthcoming in supplying the area in which you live at a loss?”

This too, since there would be no cost (or loss) whatsoever to “other energy companies”, was I believe incorrect.

 Given the above, I am formally requesting you instigate a review of all communications with all my constituents who have been denied access to your Sainsbury’s Energy tariff, from 2015 to 2017, by Centrica agents informing them, “Sainsbury’s does not supply gas to Stornoway”.

Further, please confirm how many of my constituents in addition to those cited above, were falsely informed, in writing, that Centrica subsidises the transportation of gas to Stornoway.

Given that the Minister for State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is aware of this matter I would appreciate a speedy response to this letter.

 

Yours sincerely

 Angus B MacNeil MP

 

 

(Dec 2017)

Ryan McFadden

External Relations and Media Manager

Ofgem

Dear Mr McFadden

 Thank you for your email in which you anticipate my finding the "couple of points that are not in our letter" interesting. As a matter of record, I find the points to which you refer, disturbing.

You apprise me that the missing information was the result of the call being "...blind transferred from one agent to another without following the correct transfer process...".: The fact that the missing information was voiced by the same agent who, on the original and complete recording, simply continued speaking is evidence enough that the missing information in not explicable by "call-transference". Indeed, on the original recording, the only break in the agent's communication was at the end of a completed sentence which clearly offered an opportunity for the nefarious termination of the recording. Further, you do not comment on the missing information itself, which was, contrary to both Centrica/Scottish Gas' statutory obligations as well as to its assurances, provided to your office last December that its Stornoway customers were, and always had been, able to access the Sainsbury's deal. The missing information (on the original recording) included a specific and unambiguous assurance by the aforementioned agent that "Sainsbury's Energy" only began "delivering Propane gas to Stornoway on March 31, this year" which is a clear contradiction of the assurances given to your organisation some five months previously. I will be grateful, then, for an assurance that Ofgem will, without any undue delay, investigate this matter rigorously and apprise me of its findings along with any proposed measures it intends taking to ensure this company complies with its statutory obligations in my constituency.

Regarding the excuse for the "missing details" on Mr McPherson's "copies of bills": Mr McPherson never "demanded" a copy of his bills from Scottish Gas at any time. Mr McPherson did, however, make a number of requests, both orally and severally in writing, for "Holograph" copies of said bills. Further, of all "copies" received by Mr McPherson, it was only the bill which highlighted the Sainsbury's Energy Dual Fuel tariff savings which had had information "removed". I might add, the notion of "Scottish Gas...investigating options that will allow them to automatically generate copies of bills with the original CTM..." sounds disturbingly similar to the advice proffered to, Mr McPherson in November of last year whereby he was told, in response to his complaint that he was being denied access to the Sainsbury’s Dual Fuel tariff which was advertised on the front page of his bill, that Centrica/Scottish Gas would, "...make sure these issues are looked into and updated so it [the Sainsbury's offer] doesn't appear on customers bill that have piped propane supply." Not, you will notice; Centrica/Scottish Gas will "...immediately begin to adhere to the law..." If you require corroboration/proof of any of the above, please let me know immediately. Otherwise, please attend to points I have raised and apprise me of Ofgem's response as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely

Angus B MacNeil MP.

 

Roll on Independence under Angus. And to those naysayers who declare Independence will lead to Scotland becoming a ”Banana Republic”, I say this: We don’t have the climate.