Morning Star July 01, 2003
© 2003 People's Press Printing Society Ltd
'The parliament has failed miserably to tackle the poverty and inequality which scars Scotland.'; TOMMY SHERIDAN THE Scottish Parliament elections of May 1 have radically transformed Scotland's political terrain. The parties of big business, which variously flew different flags of convenience as Labour, Liberal, Tory or SNPships of free enterprise, all lost significant support and subsequent credibility. The differences between the four main parties are now so slight that the biggest motivation for not voting reported to the Electoral Commission survey last week was the perception that all the parties "were the same." The Scottish Socialist Party and the Greens campaigned vigorously on anti-big business platforms, with the SSP highlighting the incompatibility of big business control of society and a more just equal and environmentally sound Scotland. It was formed at a conference in February 1999 in Glasgow. Within three months, we fought the Scottish parliament elections and secured just over 40,000 votes - or 2 per cent of the votes cast across Scotland. The press tried to strangle our socialist experiment at birth. May 1 2003 exposed the fact that they failed miserably.
Just under 130,000 Scots cast their second vote for the SSP and almost 110,000 Scots cast their first votes for the SSP. In other words, not only did we secure a magnificent list vote, but we also secured a fantastic first-past-the-post vote as well. Our percentage of the vote rose to over 7 per cent. Despite the press denigration, distortion and demonisation, our vote has increased by over 240 per cent. We fought the elections on socialist policies of wealth redistribution, public ownership and trade union rights. The parliament over the last four years has failed miserably to tackle the poverty and inequality which scars Scotland. In fact, poverty and inequality have both grown during this period. The SSP group of six will concentrate on the key priorities we identified in the course of the Scottish general election. Of course we will fight on many fronts and support progressive ideas and policies whenever they are presented.
Our priorities however, will be the replacement of the unfair council tax with a new Scottish Service Tax based on personal income to tax individuals according to their ability to pay, and thus redistribute wealth from the well-paid and millionaires to the pensioners and ordinary workers. Under our system, 77 per cent of Scots would be better off than they currently are with the council tax.
We are also determined to reintroduce the universal, healthy, nutritious school meals Bill. This has the support of just about every anti-poverty group, trade union and children's charity in Scotland. It even has support from the British Medical Association and we believe it would be a radical anti-poverty and pro-health measure to deliver the same results as those evident in Finland, where a horrendous coronary heart disease record has been slashed by 65 per cent, primarily on the back of the free school meals policy introduced in the 1970s which has transformed the dietary eating habits of Finnish children.
We are also determined to tackle poverty pay within our public sector. We have the power to impose a higher minimum wage and a shorter working week. Seven pounds 32p per hour is the European decency threshold level and should be the minimum for publicsector workers in Scotland. Associated with a 35-hour week, these measures would not only improve the disposable income of hundreds of thousands of hospital, ancillary and school staff, but also create 24,000 new jobs.
The SSP has developed in the last four years from a good idea to a working and formidable project. My appeal to everyone on the left throughout Scotland is to join with us and help us grow in influence and size, particularly among trade unionists and young people.
In England and Wales, my appeal to socialists is to cut the crap and start pulling together. Our class in England and Wales deserves a united and credible socialist vehicle to support us, just as we have provided in Scotland. There is much more that unites socialists across England and Wales than divides them. In the interests of humanity, the left must come together and cut across the poisonous scum of the BNP and other reactionary forces that grow when the left leaves a vacuum.
