Campaigners for free school meals have declared their intention to use every possible opportunity in the Scottish Parliament to secure legislation giving all Scottish primary school pupils the right to a healthy school meal without any charge.
Here Frances Curran MSP outlines why we need free school meals and how we will fight for them at a meeting in the Inch area of Edinburgh last week.
See the rest of her speech here:
SSP MSP Frances Curran- Free School Meals Bill Part 2
SSP MSP Frances Curran- Free School Meals Bill Part 3
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Friday, November 10, 2006
Student protest at police unit presence
Dundee Evening Telegraph
Students today lodged a letter of complaint with Dundee University over a decision to allow a controversial police unit on to campus.
Tayside Police’s Special Branch community contact unit was set up to gather intelligence from sources such as community leaders so they can identify possible extremists.
The unit was originally set up on a trial basis last year, but Tayside Police soon decided to make it permanent.
A range of student and non-student organisations, such as Dundee Scottish Socialist Youth and the Dundee Student Socialist Society, signed a letter asking to meet with the Student Advisory Service about the activities of the SBCCU.
Angela Gorrie, from Dundee Scottish Socialist Youth said, “Hopefully this will be the start of a dialogue with the Student Advisory service to find out how and why they made the decision to allow the SBCCU on campus.”
Ms Gorrie said the SBCCU would not just target Muslim students and could put students off from getting involved with any political organisations.
“People are afraid they are going to be reported and don’t know what information is being kept on them,” she said.
She said campaigners would now be starting a petition against allowing the SBCCU to carry out its investigations on campus.
A spokesman for the University of Dundee said, “We are aware of the campaign being run by the student socialist group.
“We are aware the Tayside Police community contact unit liaises with a range of faith groups on campus and those contacts are entirely voluntary on the part of those faith groups.
“The university will continue its attendance at Tayside Police’s lay advisory group.”
Students today lodged a letter of complaint with Dundee University over a decision to allow a controversial police unit on to campus.
Tayside Police’s Special Branch community contact unit was set up to gather intelligence from sources such as community leaders so they can identify possible extremists.
The unit was originally set up on a trial basis last year, but Tayside Police soon decided to make it permanent.
A range of student and non-student organisations, such as Dundee Scottish Socialist Youth and the Dundee Student Socialist Society, signed a letter asking to meet with the Student Advisory Service about the activities of the SBCCU.
Angela Gorrie, from Dundee Scottish Socialist Youth said, “Hopefully this will be the start of a dialogue with the Student Advisory service to find out how and why they made the decision to allow the SBCCU on campus.”
Ms Gorrie said the SBCCU would not just target Muslim students and could put students off from getting involved with any political organisations.
“People are afraid they are going to be reported and don’t know what information is being kept on them,” she said.
She said campaigners would now be starting a petition against allowing the SBCCU to carry out its investigations on campus.
A spokesman for the University of Dundee said, “We are aware of the campaign being run by the student socialist group.
“We are aware the Tayside Police community contact unit liaises with a range of faith groups on campus and those contacts are entirely voluntary on the part of those faith groups.
“The university will continue its attendance at Tayside Police’s lay advisory group.”
Thursday, November 09, 2006
CURRAN SLAMS “DEMOCRATIC OUTRAGE” AS FREE SCHOOL MEALS BILL BLOCKED
SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY
Media release
CURRAN SLAMS “DEMOCRATIC OUTRAGE” AS FREE SCHOOL MEALS BILL BLOCKED
Frances Curran MSP tonight slammed as a “Democratic outrage.” A decision by the Scottish Parliament’s communities committee to block the progress of her Free School Meals Bill claiming there is not enough time to deal with it.
Said Frances “The letter may be signed by Karen Whitefield communities committee convenor but it has the fingerprints of Jack McConnell all over it.”
“I have not the slightest doubt that this is the work of a Scottish Executive running scared of an idea whose time has come. The Bill has the support of scores of children’s, educational and other bodies and the support of thousands of Scots.”
“This crude blocking makes a mockery of the claims that Holyrood is an open democratic parliament and is a shameful denial of democracy.”
“I warn Jack McConnell and the Scottish Executive that they have bitten off more than they can chew and that they will face a massive backlash on this issue.”
“I will be urgently raising this with Presiding Officer George Reid who has duty to guard the rights of the parliament from this type of crude manoeuvring.”
“I am also urgently seeking to convene a meeting of the campaign groups supporting the Bill which takes in a large range of campaigning and expert opinion and am sure that they will be as angry as me about this shabby move.”
“I can promise that there will be major public campaign to reverse this crude attempt to subvert democratic discussion of the Bill and force the politicians to listen to the people on this key issue.”
Media release
CURRAN SLAMS “DEMOCRATIC OUTRAGE” AS FREE SCHOOL MEALS BILL BLOCKED
Frances Curran MSP tonight slammed as a “Democratic outrage.” A decision by the Scottish Parliament’s communities committee to block the progress of her Free School Meals Bill claiming there is not enough time to deal with it.
Said Frances “The letter may be signed by Karen Whitefield communities committee convenor but it has the fingerprints of Jack McConnell all over it.”
“I have not the slightest doubt that this is the work of a Scottish Executive running scared of an idea whose time has come. The Bill has the support of scores of children’s, educational and other bodies and the support of thousands of Scots.”
“This crude blocking makes a mockery of the claims that Holyrood is an open democratic parliament and is a shameful denial of democracy.”
“I warn Jack McConnell and the Scottish Executive that they have bitten off more than they can chew and that they will face a massive backlash on this issue.”
“I will be urgently raising this with Presiding Officer George Reid who has duty to guard the rights of the parliament from this type of crude manoeuvring.”
“I am also urgently seeking to convene a meeting of the campaign groups supporting the Bill which takes in a large range of campaigning and expert opinion and am sure that they will be as angry as me about this shabby move.”
“I can promise that there will be major public campaign to reverse this crude attempt to subvert democratic discussion of the Bill and force the politicians to listen to the people on this key issue.”
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
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