Labour support dips, poll

Support for Scottish Labour has dipped, according to the latest System Three poll for The Herald.

The statistics, compiled over the past two weeks, showed Labour support on 32% for the constituency vote, down from 40% the previous month, with the SNP up 1% to 31%.

The Liberal Democrats' support rose by 3% on the constituency vote to 16%, and by 2% to 17% on the list vote.

The Tories, Scottish Socialists and Greens all registered 1% gains on the constituency vote, with the Greens also gaining a point on the list vote.

The poll questioned 1,009 people in 51 constituencies. BBC News Online

Angry protesters ambush BNP bid

THE British National Party was forced to launch its Scottish Parliament election campaign in a Lothians lay-by after protesters ambushed a press conference at a nearby hotel.

Colin Fox, the Scottish Socialist Party’s Edinburgh organiser, accused the BNP of using Bathgate as a venue in a bid to exploit any sectarian activism in the area.

"I think they’re trying to latch on to the sectarian angle. I think they think they can get some support here, which is complete rubbish." Edinburgh Evening News

SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY ATTACK BNP'S NAZI TACTICS

The Scottish Socialist Party today actively campaigned against the BNP’s Scottish electoral launch. Colin Fox, Edinburgh SSP organiser and likely to become the SSP’s MSP for Edinburgh and the Lothians, took a group of SSP members to confront the BNP at their electoral launch at a hotel in Bathgate. When informed that the BNP were behind the booking, the hotel cancelled it and the SSP escorted them off the premises.

Colin Fox said,

“We saw the Nazis out of Bathgate but they retreated to a UDA supporting pub which had hosted a party the night before to welcome the UDA to Scotland. We will see off the Nazis when they appear in Scotland.”

Tommy Sheridan said,

“The BNP are not welcome in Scotland. They got a derisory vote in 1999 and the people of Scotland will treat them with the contempt they deserve. Never forget the Nazi scum are the people who defended the Hitler regime. They have no place in Scotland.”

For more information, contact Tommy Sheridan on 07887 795075 or Hugh Kerr on 07713 063647 or Colin Fox on 07790 581 883.

Sacked researcher 'not a mole for SSP'

THE Scottish Socialists denied yesterday that an SNP researcher had worked for them as a "mole" in the Scottish Parliament.

Mary Spowart, who worked for Kenny MacAskill and Tricia Marwick, two front bench SNP MSPs, was fired after allegedly passing documents to the SSP.

Hugh Kerr, the SSP press officer, denied Ms Spowart had been working as a mole and sending the SSP confidential e-mails and documents. "That's ridiculous," he said, "because we are not interested in what the SNP are up to." The Herald

SHERIDAN FIGHTS NEW LABOUR BAN ON ANTI-WAR RALLY

Tommy Sheridan today tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament calling on the Labour Party and the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre to allow the February 15th march and rally against the war to take place.

The Labour Party, who have booked the SECC for that weekend for a Labour conference, have asked the SECC to refuse permission for the march to have a stage and a PA at the rally.

Tommy Sheridan said,

“New Labour want to stifle all opposition to warmonger Blair who will be speaking at the SECC. We are demanding that New Labour are forced to climb down and allow the rally as they were forced to do in London over the use of Hyde Park. I have today placed a question to the First Minister and a motion in the Parliament. Today I also appeared in a photocall with all five parties in Glasgow City Chambers who showed that we can unite in action against the war. Will New Labour now repent and lift the ban? If they don’t, we shall drown them in a storm of protest on the 15th!”

First Minister’s Question:
S1F-02485 Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) SSP: To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Executive’s position is on the resolution passed by the Parliament on 30 January 2003 that recognised the right of citizens to demonstrate peacefully as will take place in Glasgow on 15 February 2003 in opposition to the war with Iraq.

Motion:
That the Scottish Parliament calls on the Labour Party and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre to allow the anti-war rally to take place at the SECC.
[ends]
For more information, contact Tommy Sheridan on 07887 795075 or Hugh Kerr on 0131 348 5631/07713 063647

SHERIDAN SLAMS LABOUR FOR WITHHOLDING £1 BILLION FOR COUNCIL HOUSE INVESTMENT

Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Socialist Party MSP and National Convenor, today slammed the Labour Party in Scotland and at a UK level for its deliberate withholding of almost one billion pounds of council house investment between May 1997 and February 2003.

By refusing to rescind the Tory capital receipt set-aside rules, which were introduced by Michael Forsyth as Tory Scottish Secretary in 1996, Labour have denied £964 million worth of potential investment in council housing from council house sales. The set aside rules force local authorities to use 75% of any capital receipts from council house sales to pay off their capital housing debt, rather than investing in new homes or in renovating and improving existing ones.

Between May 1997 and February 2003, local authorities in Scotland would have been able to invest £964 million in their council housing stock if they had been allowed to spend all their receipts from council house sales. This would have provided 350,000 tenants in Scotland with central heating, double glazing and new roofs. It would also have generated over 13,000 new jobs.

Sheridan said,
“Labour’s record in relation to municipal housing is a disgrace. By sticking with Tory rules on council house sale receipts, which they vehemently opposed before 1997, they have denied almost one billion pounds of public housing investment to local authorities throughout Scotland. Our party opposes council house sales, but if they are taking place, the receipts from these sales should be used by local authorities to renovate and improve their remaining housing stock. New Labour have denied this opportunity to local authorities and thereby prevented £964 million worth of investment over the last six years. Such an investment could have radically improved the homes of 350,000 tenants and created over 13,000 jobs. New Labour are vehemently anti-council housing and by sticking to Tory housing policies, they have condemned thousands of tenants to years’ more discomfort in poor quality homes.”

Sheridan further highlighted the problem with the council house sale policy, which has resulted in 230,000 council homes being sold since 1989 and 5,000 Housing Association homes sold over the same period. However, only 48,000 public sector homes have been built to try and replace the 235,000 homes lost. And of the public sector houses built, only 500 have been new council houses. In the last five years, discounts to tenants across the UK to allow them to purchase public sector homes has amounted to £4.5 billion. This is a massive subsidy to allow the privatisation of public sector homes, but only a fraction of this amount has been spent in replacing these homes and that is why there is such a housing shortage in the public sector throughout Scotland and the UK.

Tommy Sheridan said,
“We agree with Shelter, the organisation for the homeless, which has previously referred to the right to buy discount scheme as “a catastrophic waste of taxpayers’ money”. Instead of selling off public housing stock, the Scottish Parliament should provide rental discounts to reward long term tenants and allow them to live in their council homes rent-free after 15 years’ continuous tenancy. This policy would both reward long term tenants and retain good quality public sector housing stock for future generations.”
[ends]
For more information, contact Tommy Sheridan on 07887 795075 or Hugh Kerr on 0131 348 5631/07713 063647

SNP sacks researcher over leak claims

AN SNP researcher has been sacked and barred from the parliament headquarters for allegedly leaking sensitive information to the rival Scottish Socialist Party, it emerged last night.

A source in the SSP, led by the MSP, Tommy Sheridan, denied it had received any information from the SNP, adding: "We are not in any case interested in what the SNP is up to. It is a different party." The Scotsman

Privatisation threatens postal jobs

CWU spokesman Derek Durkin said: "All political parties in the Scottish Parliament support a publicly owned postal sytem.

"So it would be very ironic for them to opt for a private internal mail system and we would obviously arch against that." BBC Online News

Fire union switches allegiance to SSP

"Hugh Kerr, the SSP’s press spokesman, claimed between 40 and 50 FBU members had joined the party since the strike began, and many more had deliberately cancelled the individual levy paid by union members to the Labour Party, diverting the money to the SSP instead." The Scotsman