STV failure to agree SSP broadcast triggers legal action

Scottish Socialist Party
National Office
Press Release: 31/05/04: 17.15

STV failure to agree SSP broadcast triggers legal action

The Scottish Socialist Party tonight announced that it was starting legal proceedings after Scottish Television failed to give an undertaking to broadcast an uncut version of the SSP’s European election broadcast.
The BBC will show the broadcast on Tuesday night on BBC1 and BBC2 after saying over the weekend that it was unhappy with the accusation that Blair was a liar but then climbing down.
SSP national convenor Tommy Sheridan said that the party has had to instruct its legal advisors tonight (Monday) to seek a hearing tomorrow in pursuit of a judicial review overturning the decision of Scottish and Grampian Television not to show the European Election broadcast.
Mr Sheridan said that the party was aware that the courts had not been favourable ground for socialists and the left but that in the circumstances there was absolutely no alternative left if the party was to seek the uphold the right to freedom of speech.
Mr Sheridan pointed to the incredible situation that had now arisen ahead of polling day on Thursday 10th June with the BBC agreeing to show the broadcast and STV / Grampian blacking it out.

Tommy said;
“The SSP has been left with no alternative other than to begin to initiate legal action.
“STV and Grampian appear to be acting as an arm of the government, refusing to air our democratic right of a broadcast prior to an election.
“We stand by our right to call Tony Blair a liar in relation the Iraq war.
“We will not edit that out of our broadcast on the orders of a commercial television company.
“The incredible situation now exists of the BBC showing our broadcast and STV refusing to do so.
“The demand of a broadcasting company to remove political content from a broadcast strikes at the very heart of freedom of speech and is a clear attack on democratic rights
“Democracy is threatened when the people are gagged.
“We will fight for our democratic right to call Tony Blair a liar over the Iraq war.
“The SSP is asking everyone in Scotland who rose up in anger against the Iraq war to demand that their voice be heard and demand that Scottish Television screen the broadcast uncut.”
[ends]

Party Political Blackout

Sunday Mail: Sheridan fury over ban on film calling Blair a liar
TOMMY Sheridan's Scottish Socialists face a TV blackout after STV and BBC threatened to ban a broadcast accusing Tony Blair of lying over Iraq.
Their lawyers have told the party to prove the claim or see their TV political broadcast pulled.
The allegation that Blair lied to justify invading Iraq is made in a four-and-a-half minute SSP broadcast starring and directed by award-winning actor Peter Mullan.

BBC climbdown on SSP broadcast ban leaves STV isolated

Scottish Socialist Party
National Office
Press Release: 29/05/04: 22.00

BBC climbdown on SSP broadcast ban leaves STV isolated

Bosses at Scottish Television and Grampian Television were under pressure tonight to lift attempts to ban a Euro election broadcast by Tommy Sheridan’s Scottish Socialist Party after the BBC caved in and dropped similar moves.
The STV and Grampian objections to broadcast centre on the fact that it accuses Premier Tony Blair of lying over the Iraq war and Scottish Television lawyers say that this has to be proved by the SSP.
The award winning actor and director Peter Mullan who made the broadcast slammed the Scottish Television move as “dangerous political censorship”.
Peter Mullan, will travel to Glasgow to attend an SSP Press conference on Sunday 30th May at 5pm to slam the gagging attempt by STV and to show the banned SSP Euro Election Broadcast.
Peter will be joined by Tommy Sheridan and others involved in the broadcast and will defiantly defend the right of the SSP to refer to Tony Blair as a liar in relation to the war on Iraq.
Peter will refer to the move as "dangerous political censorship".
Tommy Sheridan said:
"There is hardly a person in the whole of Scotland who does not believe Tony Blair lied to us in relation to Iraq.
"He said they had nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that could be launched in 45 minutes that posed a threat to British interests.
“None of that was true. Those weapons were not found in a year of searching.
“Tony Blair lied to justify an illegal invasion, that makes him a liar.
“The SSP's broadcast will be shown in full at the press conference.
“If the ITV layers and bosses—who we believe tried to pressure the BBC to agree with them—persist in this act of censorship they will only bring ridicule and scorn on themselves.
“If they think the case that Tony Blair lied to us on Iraq needs further proof then the must be part of one on the tiniest minorities in Scotland today.”
[ends]

Press viewing of banned Scottish Socialist Party broadcast
5pm, Sunday 30th May
'Cuba Norte'
17 John Street
(Italian Centre)
Glasgow

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Editors Notes
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The SSP’s European election broadcast is scheduled to be shown on Tuesday 1st June at varying times.

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The Broadcast they tried to ban: chronology

Friday 28th May 18.20: SSP receives call from STV lawyers saying that they would use the Ofcom Programme Code to prevent the broadcast of the SSP’s European election broadcast.

Friday 20.30: After initially clearing the broadcast, the BBC contact Tommy Sheridan saying that there was now a problem with the accusation that Blair was a liar and that it would have to be cut.

Friday 23:03: Tommy Sheridan receives a fax from Levy & McRae Solicitors acting on behalf of Scottish Television and Grampian Television:
The fax demanded that the SSP “edit/delete the statement” that Tony Blair had “lied through his teeth about Iraq” from the SSP’s European election broadcast.

Saturday 12.00: Legal and broadcasting advisors to the SSP react with incredulity to the demand that the reference to Blair as a liar be removed from the broadcast and advise Tommy Sheridan that the party should refuse to compromise over the claim, citing numerous accusations made in the media over the past years.

Saturday 17.17: The BBC back down, saying that the interpretation of the Ofcom Programme Code had been incorrect and agree that the broadcast will go ahead as scheduled.
******************

Top 3 Blair lies on Iraq

Tony Blair said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction ready to deploy against the West in 45 minutes.
It wasn’t true and he knew it.
Tony Blair said that two lorry trailers found in Iraq were "proof" of chemical weapons production.
It wasn’t true and he knew it.
Tony Blair said that Luke Allsopp and Simon Cullingworth had been “executed” in an act of cruelty beyond comprehension”.
It wasn’t true and he knew it.
******************

SSP sets out 'service tax' plan

BBC News Online
People are being urged to give their views over the next four months on the Scottish Socialist Party's alternative to the council tax.
The SSP wants to replace it with an income-based Service Tax, which the party says would see many low-income households saving up to £30 a week.
Party leader Tommy Sheridan launched a consultation document on Thursday.

STRAW MEETS THE STRAW MEN - SSP SLAM FISHING SELL OUT PLAN

Press Release: 26/05/04

STRAW MEETS THE STRAW MEN--SSP SLAM FISHING SELL OUT PLAN

Scottish Socialist party leader Tommy Sheridan today launched a blistering attack on the SNP leaderships attempt to cook up a face saving deal to allow them to support the proposed Euro constitution and a big business Europe.

Sheridan said;:

"I predict that today's talks will result in more fudge than fish. "New Labour and the increasingly New SNP need each other to sell the proposed European constitution which is, in reality, a blank cheque for big business in Europe.

"Any so called deal offered by New Labour to the SNP on fish will not be worth the paper it is written on and can be reversed at any time by the EU's unelected bureaucrats. "The SSP stands firmly for the control of Scotland's fisheries to be held in Scotland and favour a Europe run for the people and not big business.

"We are finding that this is a message which has growing support across rural and urban Scotland and will see an SSP MEP in Europe after the June 10th." [ends]


Press Release: 26/05/04

Skipper Swinney needs to explain "the one that got away" from Straw summit says SSP

SSP Euro candidate Felicity Garvie today angrily demanded that the SNP leadership explain their total failure to win any concessions on fishing in talks with Foreign Secretary Straw.

"This is the biggest case of the one that got away ever seen in Scotland"

said Ms Garvie.

"All the talk about forcing concessions out of Straw from the SNP turns out to be more bluster than a North Sea gale as they return empty handed.

"It's more Titanic than Braveheart.

"Rather than wringing concessions out of New Labour they have been turned into bit players in a Whitehall farce with Jack Straw as producer.

"The SNP have some serious explaining to do to the fishing communities which they have promised concessions and delivered nothing.

"Visiting the North East earlier this week with Tommy Sheridan it became increasingly clear that the windy SNP boasting will not deliver.

"Voters who want both independence and justice for working people such as fishermen and their communities now have a clear choice between SNP posing or a clear rejection of the Euro madness and a return of the control of Scotland's fishing to Scotland with the SSP." [Ends]

Socialist strategy for the arts

Scotsman.com News - Opinion - Scotland must have opera ensemble of the highest quality

The SSP policy on culture and arts, drama, theatre and music is to double the arts budget in Scotland immediately. The Executive spends less than 0.5% of our entire GDP on the arts.

I refuse to enter the Dutch auction there is about whether one form of art and culture, drama, museums, paintings is more deserving than another because I don’t think that this is the starting point for this debate.

Scotland is a rich country. We can afford a world-class opera ensemble. We must have a Scottish Ballet company and a national theatre of the highest quality and amidst all this we must also have the strongest possible support for community arts, traditional music, visual arts, local public galleries and museums - and Scottish Opera.

Activist MSP proves more than a pretty face

The Herald: Activist MSP proves more than a pretty face

Within the chamber, in spite of being new to parliamentary politics, she has quickly demonstrated confidence and intelligence that belies that.
However, her main quality has been a smouldering ferocity on the issues that drive her — health, poverty and the trade union struggle.
Yesterday that anger boiled over and she stormed out of the chamber to join protesting nursery nurses, followed by the other SSP members.
As her close friend and SSP MSP colleague Ms Kane said: "We left with her in solidarity. We'd rather be on this side of the barricade than across there."

Defiant MSP ordered from chamber

BBC NEWS: Defiant MSP ordered from chamber

The Scottish Socialist, Carolyn Leckie, has become the first MSP to be expelled from the parliament's debating chamber.

She was shown the door for "disorderly behaviour", after a row with Presiding Officer George Reid.

Just before the start of First Minister's Questions, Ms Leckie tried to raise a point of order about the nursery nurses' strike.

When Mr Reid told her to make her point of order later, she protested and was ultimately told to leave the chamber...

Ms Leckie left with fellow Scottish Socialist Party MSPs Tommy Sheridan, Colin Fox, Rosie Kane and Frances Curran.

When they emerged from parliament which is meeting in its temporary home at The Hub in Castlehill, they were greeted with loud applause by more than 50 striking nursery nurses demonstrating outside.

Ms Leckie said: "I think it is a disgrace that I make a point of order and I am told to wait until the end of first minister's questions to make the point.

"I am not prepared to wait and I have been chucked out of parliament for that.

"I think the shame is on them (MSPs) for not being prepared to discuss the cause of these women in that parliament."

She went on: "I regret that parliamentary procedures are being used to silence the voices of nursery nurses who have been outside conducting a very dignified campaign."

SSP launches European election campaign

BBC News Online: Socialists urge anti-war vote
The Scottish Socialist Party has unveiled its European manifesto with a call for voters to use the ballot as a referendum on the war in Iraq.
The party is also promising disobedience if one of its candidates becomes an MEP.
The socialists claim they are the true anti-war party and are demanding troops be withdrawn from Iraq.
The Herald: Sheridan plans ‘Trojan horse’ attack on EU institutions
SOCIALISTS yesterday said they would send a "Trojan horse" to Europe if Scots voted to make one of their members an MEP.
In contrast to those who want closer integration or those who want to leave the EU, the SSP has said it will fight the system from within and make common cause with others on the radical left from around Europe.
The Scotsman: SSP vows to challenge EU bureaucrats
THE Scottish Socialists launched their European election manifesto yesterday with a pledge to challenge the "top-down and bureaucratic" European Union.
The SSP will take a defiantly Euro-sceptic line into the election, promising to mount a "campaign of disobedience" inside the parliament, if elected.
The Socialists are demanding the closure of the European Central Bank and calling for opposition to the euro and the Common Fisheries Policy.

Maternity Unit Campaigners Gather To Deliver Protest

Press and Journal: MATERNITY UNIT CAMPAIGNERS GATHER TO DELIVER PROTEST

Campaigners fighting the threatened downgrading of the maternity unit at Wick held a public demonstration in Inverness at the weekend.

About 60 protesters with placards gathered outside Raigmore Hospital to voice their opposition to any downgrading of the 11-bed unit.

Among them were members of the People Before Profits group, led by the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), which is campaigning against the sale of Raigmore Hospital's publicly owned magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to a private company...

SSP spokesman Steve Arnott, who has been campaigning against Raigmore's decision to sell the MRI scanner to a private company and then lease it back again, said it was important that the two issues were fought simultaneously.

Speaking at Saturday's protest, he said: "It is important that we unite on these two campaigns. We are hoping the message gets across that people are not happy about some of the decisions."

NHS Highland intends to sell the £1.3million magnetic resonance-imaging scanner and a sterilisation unit as part of radical moves to balance its books - before leasing it back to counter a £400,000 budget shortfall.

The SSP claims leasing it back will actually increase the cost to the health board by several thousand pounds a year.

Explosion at Grovepark Street, Glasgow

Scottish Parliament Statement 13/05/04
Rosie Kane (Glasgow) (SSP): I associate the Scottish Socialist Party with the remarks of the First Minister and others who have spoken this afternoon.

Two weeks ago we gathered in Princes Street gardens on workers memorial day to lay flowers and remember workers throughout the world who are no longer with us because of industrial injury and illness. Speakers on that day remembered all workers, from journalists in war, to firefighters, to cocklers in Morecambe bay.

We could never have imagined, even in our worst nightmares, that two weeks later the terrible disaster in Maryhill, Glasgow would bring eight new names to the tragic list. Our hearts go out to all those who have lost loved ones who, as the First Minister said, simply left home to go to work on Tuesday morning. We offer our condolences, our warmth and our love to all who have found themselves connected to the tragedy in any way and we put ourselves at their disposal.

Finally, as others have done, we pay tribute to the magnificent firefighters from all over, and in particular to Strathclyde fire brigade, which has as ever risen to the painful challenge, to Strathclyde police, the paramedics and all medical and support workers on and around the scene as well as to all those in receiving hospitals.

It is important that we assemble to send comfort and concern from this chamber to the entire community. I thank the Presiding Officer and the First Minister.

Only solution to the unfolding nightmare

Letter in The Herald
THE Scottish Socialist Party group in the Scottish Parliament appeals to every individual and political party in Scotland and the UK who protested against the illegal invasion of Iraq to now unite behind the call to bring the troops home.
It is clear that there is no military solution in Iraq, the troops are fighting an unwinnable war. The argument that withdrawing US and British troops from Iraq will result in civil war is completely untenable when it is the presence of those very troops that is the cause of the bloodshed and slaughter seen on a daily basis.
If the troops are not withdrawn immediately from Iraq the situation can only get worse and many more young Iraqis, British and Scots will be fruitlessly killed or maimed.
A political settlement in the Middle East that brings justice to the peoples of the region is the only solution to the nightmare now unfolding, an end to the plundering of the oil wealth by predatory multinationals while millions live in abject poverty, and a settlement that brings justice to the peoples of Palestine.
Rosemary Byrne, MSP, Frances Curran, MSP, Colin Fox, MSP, Rosie Kane, MSP, Carolyn Leckie, MSP, Tommy Sheridan, MSP, The Scottish Parliament.

Troop withdrawal call is rejected

BBC News Online
Scotland's first minister has rejected a claim that he should call for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
Scottish Socialist leader Tommy Sheridan asked Jack McConnell to admit that military action in the Gulf had been "wrong".
He said that the UK should follow Spain and withdraw its forces.

The SSP leader asked Mr McConnell to admit he had been "wrong" to tell MSPs that an attack would be justified if the Iraqi regime remained unwilling to relinquish weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Mr Sheridan then challenged Mr McConnell to accept recent poll findings which, he said, showed a majority of ordinary Iraqis viewed US and UK troops as an occupation force rather than as liberators.
"These are the opinions, now, of the Iraqi people," Mr Sheridan said.
"Will you be honest and consistent enough to call on Mr Blair to follow the example of the Spanish Socialists, and withdraw troops from an illegal occupation of Iraq?"

Asthma Epidemic - Decent Housing the Key

The Herald: Rise in asthma cases brings calls for fresh approach

A FRESH focus on asthma was demanded yesterday in the wake of worrying reports about the disease.
Opposition politicians in Scotland called for a new strategy to try to combat the epidemic which has become more prevalent over the last 40 years.
Carolyn Leckie, the Socialist MSP, said there needed to be a radical shift focusing resources on preventing the spread of the condition rather than cure....
Ms Leckie, whose daughter has asthma, added: "There is so much money being spent on treatments and there are queries about how cost-effective these treatments are. Surely it would be better to invest in housing conditions in society as a whole to stop people developing asthma. With the difference in asthma rates across the world it is clearly an environmental problem. We need prevention rather than cure."

The Scotsman: Coalition fights off moves to alter PR council poll plans

Evaluating Thatcher's legacy

BBC News Online
TOMMY SHERIDAN. LEADER OF THE SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY
Scotland's communities suffer the brutal legacy of Margaret Thatcher to this day.
Just as she gave the order that sent 323 young Argentineans on the warship General Belgrano to their grave, so Thatcher carried out the wholesale decimation of Scotland's industries.
Factories, shipyards and thousands of associated workplaces closed their doors.
The hopelessness and despair as a generation were sacrificed on the alter of a creed of greed still echoes through Scotland's communities.
The poll tax marked a turning point, it's introduction in Scotland a year earlier than the rest of the UK both a calculated insult and a monumental blunder.
From the grassroots uprising against the poll tax was born a new spirit in Scotland, a determination to re-forge a spirit of co-operation and human solidarity.
In that respect, six Scottish Socialist Party members of the Scottish Parliament are also a legacy of Margaret Thatcher.

Suspended SNP MSP says he would consider joining Socialists

Scotland Today: Suspended SNP MSP says he would consider joining Socialists

Suspended SNP MSP Campbell Martin says he would consider joining the Scottish Socialist Party. Mr Martin is due to face a special disciplinary hearing next weekend which could result in expulsion from the SNP.

The move to suspend him came after he said he would consider leaving the party if John Swinney remained as leader. He told Scottish Television's Politics Now programme he had more in common with Tommy Sheridan than the SNP leader.

He said: "I have a lot in common with the Scottish Socialist Party. I get on well with a number of the SSP members in the Parliament and I'm good friends with Lloyd Quinan who left the SNP and joined the SSP. But I'd like to think my future's in the SNP."

Asked who he had most in common with, either Tommy Sheridan or John Swinney, he said: "On a personal basis I would say Tommy Sheridan."

Withdraw Iraq troops now

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 01/05/04

Scottish Socialist Party: Withdraw Iraq troops now

One year to the day after President George Bush proclaimed the war in
Iraq won, Scottish Socialist Party national convenor Tommy Sheridan
has appealed for all Scottish political parties and individuals who
opposed the war to unite together and demand the immediate withdrawal
of coalition troops from Iraq.

Mr Sheridan and the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) were leading
voices in the anti war movement that swept Scotland a year ago, with
over 100,000 people demonstrating in Glasgow on February 15th 2003.
Following the SSP's vocal and determined opposition to the war, its
Scottish Parliament group increased from one representative to six in
the elections that took place on May 1st 2003.

Mr Sheridan said;
"The nauseating photographs of bestial torture committed by US and
British troops in Iraq are an affront to the civilised peoples of the
world.
"Millions of people around the world took to the streets in
opposition to the war before it was launched and they have been
proved absolutely correct.
"The resounding majority of the Iraqi's want the coalition troops
withdrawn and we are calling on all those political parties and
individuals who were opposed to this bloody and futile war to unite
in demanding troops out of Iraq now.
"If the troops are not withdrawn immediately from Iraq the situation
can only get worse.
"It is clear that there is no military solution in Iraq, the troops
are fighting an unwinnable war.
"There has to be a political settlement in the middle east that
brings justice to the peoples of the region.
"There has to be an end to the plundering of the oil wealth by
Western companies while millions live in abject poverty and a
settlement that brings justice to the peoples of Palestine.
"The Scottish Socialist Party calls on all political parties and
individuals in Scotland who opposed the war on Iraq to join together
and demand that British troops are withdrawn from Iraq immediately."