icWestlothian - New Socialist leader makes his first official visit to West Lothian

Feb 18 2005

THE new leader of a major Scottish political party is set to make his first public engagement as convenor in West Lothian.

Lothians MSP Colin Fox was recently elected convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) taking over the post from former leader Tommy Sheridan.

Mr Fox will speak at a public meeting on the NHS in St Margaret’s Academy, Livingston, on Monday, February 21, ay 7.30pm.

The new convenor explained: “I am looking forward to the public meeting on Monday night and it isgreat that my first task as convener will be to speak in Livingston.

“Under New Labour our NHS has got worse – prescription charges have risen, we’ve seen the influx of the private sector which means that a journey to hospital means people now have to pay £10 to park their car.

“Now key services are being taken from our excellent publicly owned hospitals like St John’s and moved to the privately owned such as New Royal.

“At this public meeting we’ll be asking the people of West Lothian not to give up the fight, to get involved in the broad campaign and push for all services to be returned to St John’s.”

Steven Nimmo, SSP candidate for Livingston, who will also speak at the meeting, added: “Whilst the SSP has been actively campaigning on behalf of the broad campaign to save services at St John’s, we also want to speak to people about why we think there are the current problems in the NHS and how we would change them for the better.

“The SSP is an advocate and defender of universal benefits for all, the NHS being the prime example of a service that should be available locally and free at the point of need.”