Lib Dem Council Tax Fiasco

Scottish Socialist Party General Election 2005

Lib Dem Council Tax Fiasco

Scottish Socialist Party national convenor Colin Fox today poured scorn on the Liberal Democrats saying that they could fulfil their election pledge to abolish the council tax tomorrow morning by signing the SSP's bill before the Scottish Parliament.

Colin said; "Is Charlie Kennedy aware of the constitutional arrangements in the UK ? "Local government finance in Scotland is a devolved issue under the control of the Scottish Parliament. "The Liberal Democrats could fulfil their promise to abolish the council tax tomorrow morning if they instruct their MSP's to sign the bill currently going through the Scottish Parliament to abolish the council tax. "Last week the Lib Dems were spouting hot air about the environment, this week they are proving they don't even understand the constitutional arrangements of the United Kingdom. "Charlie Kennedy and the Liberal Democrats are practising exactly the kind of two faced politics that is destroying people's confidence in the political process."

Free TV licences, housing and heat for OAPs

Evening Times

THE Scottish Socialist Party today launched its manifesto promising free travel, free heating, free social housing, free phone rental and free TV licences for all pensioners.
Retirement would be at 60 with full pension rights on a basic state pension of £160 a week index-linked to earnings.
The party would also replace the Council Tax with an income-based Scottish Service Tax which it says would benefit four out of five households.
Spending on nuclear weapons would shift to hospitals, houses and schools, the rail industry would be taken back into public ownership and the M74 extension through the south side of Glasgow cancelled.
But the manifesto calls for the extension of Glasgow's underground network to Easterhouse, Castlemilk, Drumchapel and Pollok.
The party's spending plans would be funded by taking full control for Scotland over revenues from corporation tax, income tax and North Sea oil and rises in tax for high earners.

The manifesto pledges to tax the rich to redistribute wealth and introduce a two-tier VAT system.
Luxury goods such as sports cars would be rated at 20% while the tax on all other goods would be slashed to 8%

Party leader Colin Fox said: "Glasgow has some of the worst social problems in Europe. The SSP will increase public spending to start dealing with the social exclusion that blights the city."
Policy co-ordinator Alan McCombes, who admitted the party did not expect to win any seats, said the manifesto was not for the "faint-hearted".

KEY PLEDGES:

PENSIONERS: Retirement at 60, basic weekly state pension of £160, free travel, heating, housing and TV licences
COUNCIL TAX: scrapped, with new Scottish Service Tax to be income-based - those earning under £10,.000 will not pay
NUCLEAR ARMS: scrapped, money to go to hospitals, houses, schools and community facilities
NHS: employing thousands more staff
EDUCATION: reducing class sizes to 20, more teachers to be recruited
TRANSPORT: rail industry to be nationalised, M74 extension to be cancelled
PAYING FOR IT: Increase revenue from corporation tax, income tax and North Sea oil; redistribute wealth by taxing rich - two-tier VAT with 20% for luxury goods such as Rolex watches, private yachts and sports car and 8% for all other goods.

SSP Manifesto Online

Read the SSP Manifesto online now!

Manifesto & Campaign Launch

Manifesto & Campaign Launch
Monday 18th April
Glasgow Film Theatre
12 Rose Street,
Glasgow G3 6RB

10.45 for an 11.00am start

BBC: SSP's give-to-the-poor manifesto

The Scottish Socialist Party is launching its general election manifesto with the central theme of the re-distribution of wealth.

It will call for an independent, socialist Scotland and promise enhanced benefits to pensioners

Scotsman - SSP vows to reverse privatisation

Green Left Weekly - SSP gears up for Westminster elections

SSP Joins RMT `Rail Against Privatisation' Demo

Scottish Socialist Party
General Election 2005

SSP Joins RMT `Rail Against Privatisation' Demo

The Scottish Socialist Party will this weekend take part in the RMT
trade unions `Rail Against Privatisation' Glasgow to London mobile
demonstration.

Starting in Glasgow on April 16 and culminating with a rally in
London on April 30, there will be events, meetings and rallies along
the route, as well as in other towns and cities around Britain,
involving every RMT region.
Re-nationalisation of rail is an immensely popular policy, supported
by a massive public majority and the trade union movement, and is
Labour Party policy ˆ and RMT believes the time has come to put it at
the top of the political agenda.

The Scottish Socialist Party is proud that the RMT is an affiliated
trade union and both Colin Fox, SSP national convenor, and Tommy
Sheridan SSP MSP for Glasgow will be taking part in the Scottish
Events.
Alan McCombes, SSP national policy co-ordinator, has written a
pamphlet that will be available on the demonstration; "Reclaim our
railways; show the rail profiteers the red signal".

Colin Fox said today;
"The Scottish Socialist Party is proud to be participating in the
RMT's Glasgow to London demonstration to demand the return of the
railways to public ownership.
"Rail subsidy now exceeds that provided to British Rail, yet services
are substantially worse.
"Since privatisation, private train operating companies alone have
received £10 billion in public subsidy and banked £1 billion in
profits.
"The SSP stands unequivocally behind the call of the RMT for the rail
industry to be taken back into public ownership and for an end to the
plundering of public money by the rail profiteers."
[ends]

GLASGOW
Rally & March - Saturday 16 April 2005
Assemble 12:30pm, St Enoch Square
Rally 1:00pm
Speakers - Bob Crow, General Secretary, RMT
Bill Spiers, General Secretary, STUC
Tommy Sheridan, MSP
March to Duke Street Railway Station - move off 1:45pm

EDINBURGH
March - Sunday 17 April 2005
Assemble 11:45am, Market Street
Move off 12:15pm
Supporters' Meeting - CWU Club, Brunswick Street
Speakers - Bob Crow, General Secretary, RMT
Colin Fox MSP (Convener SSP)
Time - 2:30pm

More backing for anti-war mother

BBC NEWS | More backing for anti-war mother

Justice for Gordon Gentle Campaign

MSPs set to chew over pupils' play

Evening News

MSPs set to chew over pupils' play

SCHOOL pupils are being given the chance to put their views on healthy eating to MSPs when they take part in the first play to be staged at the Scottish Parliament.

The youngsters, from secondary schools in West Lothian, have been invited to perform their play "Life’s a Pizza" by Scottish Socialist MSP Frances Curran.

And the young actors may find themselves playing to a packed house of MSPs, including First Minister Jack McConnell.

Mrs Curran organised the performance as part of her campaign to pass a Bill to deliver free school meals to all Scottish pupils.

All of the country’s 129 MSPs have been invited to attend the show, being held in a conference room of the Parliament tomorrow night.

The nine secondary school pupils taking part in the play, are all members of the West Lothian Youth Theatre.

And during a section of the show they will be discussing the themes raised by the show with members of the audience.

The play itself is about healthy eating and aims to show youngsters that making the right choices, in everything from friends to food, can have a huge impact on someone’s life.

It is split into three ten-minute segments with titles including ‘The Fat Family’ and ‘Life’s a Pizza’.

Poll support for tax rises to fund services

The Herald:
"The findings were welcomed by the Scottish Socialist party, which has policies on tax and redistribution of wealth most closely aligned with the findings.
Colin Fox, the SSP leader, said: 'Scots are in tune with the SSP's policies of redistributing Scotland's wealth to deal with the grotesque situation of abject poverty existing alongside incredible wealth.
'Scots are canny folk and they know fine well that wealth doesn't trickle down to the poorest. It has to be redistributed by government policy.
'The SSP's policies would ensure that high earners are taxed accordingly and that the mega rich and corporations currently evading paying taxes through dodges and schemes are brought to book.'"

£40m spent buying land before M74 extension got go-ahead

Scotsman: "Glasgow Socialist MSP Rosie Kane branded the Executive-appointed inquiry into the motorway extension a 'sham' and claimed the news gave a 'green light for direct action' by those opposed to the construction.

She said: 'The truth about the inquiry is that it was a charade - three quarters of a million pounds of public money spent as a pretence.

'The whole episode is an affront to democracy. The Scottish Liberal Democrats should hang their heads in shame that one of their ministers was complicit in this deception.'"

SSP stand down candidate to back Rose Gentle in East Kilbride

Scottish Socialist Party
General Election 2005
Press Release: 11/04/05

SSP stand down candidate to back Rose Gentle in East Kilbride

The Scottish Socialist Party has agreed not to contest the East Kilbride constituency in the Westminster election.
Instead the SSP will be backing anti-war campaigner, Rose Gentle, in the seat of Armed Forces Minister, Adam Ingram.
Rose is the mother of Gordon Gentle, the soldier from Pollok, Glasgow, who was killed in Iraq.
East Kilbride will be the only constituency in Scotland that the SSP will not contest.
In line with the party constitution, party members at branch, regional and Executive Committee levels all agreed that the party should stand down.

Cathy Pederson, who had been selected as the SSP candidate in East Kilbride said:
“The party locally and nationally has tremendous admiration for the principles and courage of Rose Gentle in her campaign to bring the troops home from Iraq.
"We will be enthusiastically campaigning to hold Adam Ingram to account for the lies, death and destruction resulting from the Iraq war.”

Carolyn Leckie MSP, member of the local East Kilbride SSP branch said:
"I would normally be against the party standing down for independent candidates.
"Cathy Pederson would have been a great candidate and I'm sorry she's no longer standing.
"Rose Gentle lost her son in the carnage in Iraq and she is standing on an anti war, troops out platform.
"Rose Gentle not only deserves the support of the SSP but of all parties that claim to be anti-war.
"The Greens, Lib-Dems and the SNP should also stand down their candidates.
"This is a tremendous opportunity to strike a blow at the heart of Tony Blair’s war cabinet."

Colin Fox, SSP convener said:
"We are proud to back Rose Gentle in East Kilbride.
"Nor will we let Labour run a “Basil Fawlty” campaign in the other Scottish seats.
"Every time they try not to mention the war, we will shout out; “You lied to get us in to this illegal, unjust war” and we will demand “Bring the troops home!”."
[ends]

M74 Consultation a Sham

BBC NEWS | Scotland: "The Scottish Executive has defended spending ?41m on land along the route of the planned M74 extension before it gave the project the go-ahead.

The executive has decided to press ahead with the project despite a public inquiry ruling against it.

The land purchase aimed to minimise disruption to businesses forced to relocate because of the extension.

However, protesters said the move showed that public consultation on the plan had been a sham.

The Scottish Socialist MSP, Rosie Kane, said the emergence of the land purchases had given campaigners the green light to go ahead with direct action against contractors on the M74.

'If the Scottish Executive has no regard for the law and due process, why should we?,' she asked."

System Fails Refugees

The Herald

HUNDREDS of asylum seekers are being left destitute because of simple administrative errors and delays by the Home Office, a new report claims today.
With asylum and immigration issues topping the election agenda, the Oxfam-funded study reveals how the system is failing refugees in Scotland...

Rosie Kane, of the Scottish Socialist party, said: "At the moment, I am aware of an Ethiopian woman, three men from Sudan and recently a woman and child from Sri Lanka – all destitute.
"It beggars belief as the words Sri Lanka should be enough at the moment. At the very same time, we are sending out emergency aid, a Sri Lankan family gets kicked on to the streets of Glasgow – which is as far as anyone needs to go for evidence.
"I am horrified by all this but not surprised. The majority of the time when I am dealing with this, Nass has made a mistake or been negligent. The system is not working."

M77 Struggle Remembered

The united state of pollok - [Sunday Herald] A look back at Pollok Free State and the struggle to stop the M77 back in 1995. Now we face a new fight against the M74.

"Which brings us back to the proposed extension of the M74. Although a £1m public inquiry found against it, the Scottish Executive has given it the green light. Rosie Kane has been campaigning on the issue for a decade now. No trees will be felled, but it will be a loud, brightly lit, 50ft high, eight-lane highway, affecting many residential communities along its five-mile route. Its construction will disturb earth used for chemical fly-tipping in the past century. Protesters believe there are grounds for a judicial review. If this fails, 100 activists are ready to engage in non-violent disruption. American and German campaigners demonstrating at the G8 summit may get involved. Tommy Sheridan and Lindsay Keenan will join the protest."

Radio SSP: Streaming Web Radio from the Scottish Socialist Party

Radio SSP: Streaming Web Radio from the Scottish Socialist Party. The Scottish Socialist Party is proud to bring you our first internet radio broadcast. We kick off with a meeting organised by the Scottish Socialist Youth against the forthcoming meeting of the G8 in Scotland with speakers including Rosie Kane MSP and Donnie Nicholson, SSY national organiser.

Rose Gentle in Election Challenge to New Labour

THE mother of a British soldier killed in Iraq launched her campaign yesterday to take the seat of a Labour minister and denied her grief was being exploited by politicians.
Rose Gentle's 19-year-old son, Gordon, was killed in a roadside attack last June. Now Mrs Gentle will contest the East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow seat against Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister.
Mrs Gentle, 40, from Pollok, Glasgow, said: "Adam Ingram and all those other MPs who voted for war in the House of Commons share the blame for the death of Gordon and all the other victims of Bush and Blair's war for oil.
"I am calling on all those who oppose this war to unite behind me in sending a clear message to Tony Blair – end the occupation of Iraq and bring the troops home now."

SSP stands on radical left wing manifesto

Scottish Socialist Party
General Election 2005
Press Release: 05/04/05

SSP stands on radical left wing manifesto

The Scottish Socialist Party today announced its campaign plans and candidates for the General Election campaign 2005.
The SSP will contest every seat in Scotland with a detailed, radical, 20,000 word manifesto that includes calls for an independent Scottish republic, the return of the rail industry into public ownership and an £8 an hour minimum wage.
While not expecting to win a Westminster seat, the SSP will be appealing to the same left-wing voters who delivered 6 SSP representatives to the Scottish Parliament in 2003 to keep up the pressure on the mainstream political parties who are moving rapidly rightwards.

Scottish Socialist Party national convenor Colin Fox said today;
“The Scottish Socialist Party will contest this General Election with a socialist manifesto that would transform the lives of millions of Scots.
“The SSP will contest every seat in Scotland, offering a socialist alternative to the mainstream establishment parties who are heading further to the right with every passing day.
“The SSP is proud of our socialist vision which includes support for an independent Scottish republic, the bringing back of the rail industry into public ownership and an eight pounds an hour minimum wage.
“This election gives voters the opportunity to voice their anger at the continuing lies and deception that surround the war on terror and the occupation of Iraq.
“A big SSP vote will give an impetus to those who will converge on the G8 Summit in July to protest against globalisation and in favour of fair trade, international aid and policies that promote real justice across the globe.”
[ends]

Defuse health time bomb by giving every schoolchild free dinners

FRANCES CURRAN says healthy meals for all would let parents control children’s eating habits
Sunday Herald

MSP Kane for trial over Trident demo

Evening Times SCOTTISH Socialist MSP Rosie Kane is to stand trial accused of blocking Edinburgh's Royal Mile during a protest against Trident nuclear submarines. Her appearance at the city's Sheriff Court today with others facing similar charges caused chaos when it emerged legal paperwork was not in order.
Some of those who took their seats in the dock should not have been there, while some of those fiscal Karey Henderson thought should be there were missing. Finally Ms Kane, 43, of Govanhill, Glasgow, and three companions pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing or endangering road users. A trial date was fixed for September.

Rasta musician takes on Speaker - Evening Times

Rasta musician takes on Speaker - Evening Times THE Scottish Socialist Party has chosen a Jamaican Rastafarian musician to stand against Michael Martin.
Trade union activist Graham Campbell plans to stand against the Westminster Speaker in the Glasgow North East constituency.
Mr Campbell said: "I will be the SSP's first ever Afro-Caribbean candidate and relish the chance to attack Labour's record on asylum and immigration."

M74 activists step up campaign with vow of direct action

M74 activists step up campaign with vow of direct action - Evening Times

The Scotsman

M74 protesters vow to fight link

"We will cause maximum disruption, targeting their show homes and disrupting their AGMs"
Rosie Kane, Socialist MSP

Campaigners opposed to the M74 motorway extension in Glasgow have vowed to take their fight to the companies who will build the controversial link.
The five-mile stretch of road has been given the go-ahead despite a public inquiry ruling against it.
Supporters said the link would tackle Glasgow's traffic problems.
But protesters have promised to "up the ante" and take direct action which would cause "maximum disruption" to the firms involved in the project.
The campaign set up to oppose the new road, Jam 74, is also planning direct action similar to the treetop protest against the M77 which ended in 1995.
Jam 74 (Joint Action Against the M74 ) said the new link was a waste of £500m of public money and would only lead to more traffic congestion.
Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane said: "These firms will be profiting from the misery of communities and so we're going to up the ante and pay them a visit.
"We will cause maximum disruption, targeting their show homes and disrupting their AGMs.
"We will also take direct action against the Scottish Executive and chambers of commerce who back the road."
She said the road would pass over a community with one of the lowest car ownership rates in Europe.
"This road is not built for them and won't benefit them," said the MSP, whose Govanhill home lies beneath the proposed route.

BBC Scotland News Online

G8 protestors urged to join M74 protests

Sunday Herald

CAMPAIGNERS against the M74 extension are planning to involve G8 protesters from around the world in non- violent direct action to stop the motorway being built...

JAM74, the group that is co-ordinating opposition to the M74 extension, has already been approached with offers of help by campaigners from America and Germany planning to come to Scotland for the G8 summit of world leaders at Gleneagles in July.

Although organisers are reluctant to reveal their precise plans in advance, it is possible buildings could be occupied, construction vehicles prevented from starting work and protest camps set up.

“People might be looking for some some fun on their way to Gleneagles,” said Will Jess, chair of JAM74. “This is the most destructive motorway in Europe, so hopefully other Europeans will help us, too.”

This is not the end of the road... It's just the beginning

One of the first to the barricades will be Rosie Kane, the Glaswegian Scottish Socialist MSP who cut her political teeth protesting against the M77 extension in the 1990s. “If the bulldozers arrive, I will be standing there side by side with the community,” she declared.

“That’s my promise, and I will keep it. If the Scottish Executive is determined to trample over our communities, we have got to start shouting louder.”

She accused ministers of taking “violent direct action” by allowing the motorway to destroy impoverished neighbourhoods. “They have blocked our right to social and environmental justice. If anyone’s being violent and brutal, it is them,” she said.

This weekend thousands of pledge cards are being circulated by JAM74, an umbrella organisation for anti-motorway groups, encouraging people to sign up to “beat the bulldozers”. This is the first step in what organisers promise will be “a highly orchestrated campaign which will bring maximum disruption to construction of the motorway”.

Comparisons are already being drawn with the M77 campaign, which involved thousands of protesters marching, setting up camps and clinging to trees in Pollok Park in 1994 and 1995. The opposition was ended only with the help of scores of arrests, hundreds of police and many millions of pounds of public money.

Alasdair Gray calls for a Republic

Sunday Herald

THE monarchy should be abolished and all parts of Britain should declare themselves republics in order to become true democracies.

The call from leading writer and artist Alasdair Gray makes the controversial case for republicanism in a new political pamphlet called How We Should Rule Ourselves due to be published by Edinburgh-based Canongate in advance of this year’s general election.

The document, which has been co-written with Adam Tomkins, Professor of Public Law at the University of Glasgow, argues that the nations of the United Kingdom can only become truly democratic by axing the Queen and restoring power to the people through properly elected parliaments that are not answerable to the Crown.

The pamphlet is set to reignite the monarchy debate especially as some states, including Australia, are reconsidering their membership of the commonwealth following revelations that after the forthcoming royal wedding Camilla Parker Bowles will technically become Queen upon Prince Charles’s succession.

Gray told the Sunday Herald: “The notion of having government by a royal family is ludicrous. The royal family are the least free human beings in Britain. It’s practically impossible for them to act sanely.”

Although Gray has written pamphlets before, in 1992 and 1997 on the theme of Scottish independence, this is his first overtly republican tract.

He was inspired to write it after hearing Tomkins speak at a demonstration on Calton Hill organised by the Scottish Socialist Party in protest at the Queen’s opening of the new Scottish parliament in October 2004.

Gray e-mailed the academic two weeks after the event and they decided to get together to collaborate on this work. Tomkins, an Englishman living in Scotland, is a committed republican. He published a book earlier this year called Our Republican Constitution...

Like Tomkins, Gray is not part of any political party, although he has supported the Scottish Nationalist Party in the past. He now plans to vote for the Scottish Socialist Party, who share his republican views.

Socialists terminate BNP street campaign in Edinburgh

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 26/03/05

Socialists terminate BNP street campaign in Edinburgh

Scottish Socialist Party members, including two prospective candidates in the coming General Election, today reduced a Scottish wide British National Party pre-election mobilisation to chaos and drove the fascists off the streets of central Edinburgh.
The BNP members had set up a stall on Edinburgh’s world renowned Princes Street which included an Inverness BNP banner.
Alerted by text messages, SSP activists were on the scene within minutes and surrounded the fascist activists who were attempting spread their message of hate.
After attempting to intimidate the SSP members with threats of violence, the BNP were eventually forced to abandon their stall in the face of the SSP’s non violent direct action tactics which included surrounding their stall and drowning out their racist chants.
Two of the SSP activists are prospective candidates in the General Election; Morag Robertson for Edinburgh South and Steven Nimmo in Livingston.
Steven Nimmo was previously involved in direct action which left the BNP’s Scottish Election campaign launch in ruins.
Speaking after today’s events Steven Nimmo said;
“We won’t allow the purveyors of racism and hatred pavement space to peddle their poison in Scotland during the course of this election.
“If they think they are going to be treated as a respectable political party they can think again.
“The SSP stands in this forthcoming election with the message that racism and hatred towards asylum seekers and the traveller and Roma community is completely unacceptable.”
[ends]

SSP Convener urges executive to help free whistleblower Vanunu

SSP leader urges executive to help free whistleblower Vanunu - The Herald THE Scottish Executive was asked yesterday to help put pressure on the Israeli government to secure the freedom of Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli whistleblower.
Colin Fox, leader of the Scottish Socialist party, asked Jack McConnell, the first minister, what representations he would make to allow Mr Vanunu to visit Scotland to take up his role as rector of Glasgow University.
In December last year, the former technician, jailed for 18 years for leaking Israel's nuclear secrets in 1986, was elected to the role at the institution.
He was freed from prison last April but is forbidden from leaving east Jerusalem or speak to foreigners.
Last week, he was indicted – three days after giving an interview to The Herald – for violating the terms of his release. The charges relate to his interviews with foreign media and defying a travel ban.
Mr McConnell said the executive had had no representation from Glasgow University on the issue, but that any response to such a representation would involve consultation with the Foreign Office.
The Socialist party leader told the chamber Mr Vanunu's bail conditions were up for review on April 21 and asked the first minister if he would make representations to UK and EU parliaments, urging them to make every effort to ensure Mr Vanunu's human right to return to Europe is recognised.
Mr Fox said of the first minister's response: "I'm disappointed he can't be more forthright. This is the second time he has opted out of an opinion on the matter."
Looking ahead to July's G8 summit in Perthshire, the Lothians MSP said there could be "no better sight to greet the arrival in Scotland in July of thousands of visitors to these shores" than to see Mr Vanunu at the head of the protests expected to target the event.

M74 Extension Must Be Stopped

The Herald

The M74 inquiry put the brakes on – but the link goes ahead

THE Scottish cabinet drove their ministerial Mondeos through a forest of stop signs and into hostile territory yesterday, pressing ahead with the M74 link in the face of a critical report from an official inquiry.
In a move which could yet end in court or with protesters chained to bulldozers, the Scottish Executive provoked the fury of the environmental movement and opposition MSPs by deciding to ignore the detailed case for scrapping the road plan...

But Rosie Kane, Scottish Socialist MSP for Glasgow, who entered politics on the back of early protests against the M74, said the executive had treated MSPs with contempt, holding back publication of the report until the eve of the Easter recess, six months after it had received it.
"This road will be a five-mile, six-lane monster defacing Glasgow. The M74 campaigners will now be looking at a judicial review, and we warn the executive that its contempt for the democratic process will cost it dearly."

The Scotsman

M74 extension given green light

BBC NEWS: "Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane was 'furious' at the announcement.

She said: 'This is an absolute outrage.

'The Scottish Executive has driven a coach and horses through the whole concept of independent inquiries.

'The Reporter has recommended that the M74 should not proceed and yet the Scottish Executive has treated his report with contempt.'

Vanunu cause to be raised at Holyrood

Vanunu cause to be raised at Holyrood - The Herald: "Colin Fox, leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, said last night he would be asking Jack McConnell, Scotland's first minister, what representations the Scottish Executive would make to the Israeli government to allow Mr Vanunu to visit Scotland to take up his role as rector of Glasgow University"

Tartan Day row over right-wing views of US host

Sunday Herald Scottish Socialist Party convener Colin Fox said it was outrageous that ministers were meeting politicians from the US right. “Tom McCabe appears to have taken leave of his senses. Scottish taxpayers are funding a Labour minister to pay his respects to the vilest form of right-wing, anti-abortion zealot. The meeting should be cancelled,” he said.

Protesters demand troops out of Iraq

Scotland on Sunday THOUSANDS of anti-war protesters took to the streets of Glasgow and London yesterday to demand a return of British troops on the second anniversary of the start of the conflict in Iraq.

The Glasgow rally, organised by the Scottish Coalition for Justice not War and the Justice for Gordon Gentle Campaign, followed a march by up to 1,000 demonstrators through the city centre to St Enoch Square.

The names of some of those who have died during the conflict were read out, along with a so-called "name and shame" list of Scottish MPs who gave their backing to the war.

Maxine Gentle, the sister of 19-year-old soldier Pte Gordon Gentle, a Royal Highland Fusilier who was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Basra in June last year, called on the Prime Minister not to send any more troops.

The 15-year-old said: "I miss my big brother very much and think Tony Blair should be put out because I don’t want him to send in any more troops to help George Bush. My brother died for no good reason."

Trident protester Kane given fine

BBC NEWS Scottish Socialist MSP Rosie Kane has been fined £150 following her arrest at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde.

She was charged with breach of the peace, resisting arrest and blocking the highway during a protest against Trident nuclear submarines in August.

After the case at Helensburgh Sheriff Court, the Glasgow MSP said: "Trident is illegal, immoral and wrong.

"We should use the vast sums of money these weapons swallow up to educate our young and fund the health service."

The sheriff said that if Ms Kane refused to pay the fine she would impose a supervised attendance order.

US socialist to lead May Day parade

Edinburgh Evening News AMERICA’S only socialist congressman is to lead this year’s May Day parade through Edinburgh.

Bernie Sanders, who sits for the state of Vermont in the US House of Representatives, is one of his country’s most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq. And he has led opposition to a spate of corporate scandals rocking America.

Congressman Sanders says he champions "the cause of ordinary hard working American families".

And as the only member of the House of Representatives who does not belong to the Democrat or Republican parties, he occupies a unique position in US political life.

Scottish Socialist Party leader and Lothians MSP Colin Fox said he expected the visit to spark huge interest. He added: "Many people will be surprised to hear that there is a socialist sitting in the US Congress.

"Bernie Sanders is a truly remarkable figure. In 1991 he became the first Independent to be elected to Congress in 40 years. He is now the longest serving ‘Independent’ in American history.

"He has been re-elected six times since to represent the people of Vermont. Bernie is living proof that promoting socialist ideas can win popular support Stateside."

The Edinburgh May Day parade will take place on Saturday, April 30. Mr Fox said: "It is quite a coup for us to get Bernie to come over here and lead our parade."

SSP: British troops must join Italians in leaving Iraq

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 15/03/05

SSP: British troops must join Italians in leaving Iraq

Scottish Socialist Party national convenor Colin Fox tonight called for the immediate withdrawal of all British troops from Iraq following the announcement that the 3,000 Italian troops taking part in the occupation are to leave the country.

Colin said tonight; "The illegal occupation of Iraq is unravelling before our eyes. "Tony Blair will soon be the only ally that George Bush has left in the complete disaster that has unfolded in Iraq over the past two years. "I would urge all Scots who marched against this illegal war and who have been proved absolutely right to join the demonstration in Glasgow this Saturday marking the second anniversary of the invasion. "No more blood must be spilled in the name of George Bush's war for oil; bring the troops home now."

Saturday 19th March
Glasgow Anti-War March and Rally

Assemble Royal Exchange Square 12 noon, march off 12.30 pm to a Rally in St Enoch Square at 1pm where the names of the victims of those killed in Iraq and the names of those responsible will be read out. Speakers including Rose Gentle.

Organised by the Scottish Coalition for Justice not War and the Campaign for Justice for Gordon Gentle.

CalMac staff back strike action

BBC News Online

The Scottish Socialist Party also joined in the condemnation of the government.
Its national convenor Colin Fox pledged his party's support for the CalMac workers and said: "They have the complete backing of the SSP in their fight to defend jobs, pay, conditions and pensions.
"The SSP has done everything we can in parliament to back the CalMac workers and we will continue to do so alongside practical solidarity by our members on the ground and in the RMT.
"By putting west coast ferry services to competition the executive is going against the democratic will of the Scottish people expressed in parliament by a vote not to put the routes out to tender."

SSP pledges support for CalMac strike

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 14/03/05

SSP pledges support for CalMac strike

Scottish Socialist Party national convenor Colin Fox MSP today pledged the support of the SSP for the CalMac workers who have voted to strike to defend jobs, pay, conditions and pensions.
Colin said today;
“The CalMac workers have the complete backing of the Scottish Socialist Party in their fight to defend jobs, pay, conditions and pensions.
“The SSP has done everything we can in the Scottish Parliament to back the CalMac workers and we will continue to do so alongside practical solidarity by our members on the ground and in the RMT.
“By putting west coast ferry services to competition the Scottish Executive is going against the democratic will of the Scottish people expressed in the Parliament by a vote not to put the routes out to tender.
“If public sector unions go ahead with planned industrial action on March 23rd they will be joined by CalMac workers in the biggest show of trade union militancy for many years.
“The SSP is proud to stand alongside all workers taking action to defend their, wages, pensions and conditions against the Thatcherite onslaught of Tony Blair’s New Tory party.”
[ends]

President of Venezuela's Women's Development Bank speaks at Scottish Parliament

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 14/03/05

President of Venezuela's Women's Development Bank speaks at Scottish Parliament

This meeting is organised by Rosie Kane MSP and Global Women's Strike. GWS demands a change in economic priorities and the return of military budgets to the community, beginning with women the first carers. Women in over 60 countries, and men who support our goal that society Invest in Caring Not Killing, take Strike action on/around 8 March, International Women's Day.

Scottish Parliament: 1.30-2.30pm, Tuesday 15 March (Room T22, Holyrood).

Speakers:
* Nora Castañeda, President of the Women's Development Bank (Banmujer) in Venezuela. A renowned economist committed to grassroots women, she was appointed by President Chavez to head the Women's Bank in response to women's demands.
* Angélica Alvarez, originally from Chile, fled to Venezuela after the 1973 military coup against President Allende. As Banmujer's promoter-co-ordinator, she provides crucial support and direction to the Red Popular de Usuarias – the users' autonomous organisation.

Motion to Scottish Parliament:

US plot to assassinate President Chavez and visit to Scotland of Women's Development Bank

This Parliament notes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US government of plotting to assassinate him for refusing to privatise and hand over to US corporations the oil and water that belong to the Venezuelan people; condemns any attempt to overthrow popular elected governments whilst preaching democracy; and welcomes to Scotland as part of their European tour Venezuela's Women's Development Bank, which aims to "eliminate poverty by giving power to the poor, creating a caring economy, an economy at the service of human beings, rather than human beings at the service of the economy". ROSIE KANE MSP

WHY VENEZUELA? The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the world's 5th largest oil exporter, yet the majority of people, mainly people of colour, live in poverty. They elected President Hugo Chávez to get the oil revenue back to tackle poverty, and passed a revolutionary constitution which includes Article 88, which recognizes that housewives create added value and must be compensated with social security. In 2002 they defeated a US-backed coup and then an oil sabotage. In 2004, elections ratified Chavez in power and won 20 out of 22 states. Literacy, education, healthcare, housing, land rights and food security have leapt forward. The users of Banmujer, housewives and mothers who form co-operatives and associations, have been key in every initiative. Defying US attempts to intervene and discredit this "participatory democracy" based on grassroots self-activity, the Bolivarian revolution is a beacon of hope for people everywhere who demand an end to the twin terrors of poverty and war.

MSP Leckie 'can keep' midwife status

BBC NEWS An MSP convicted over an anti-nuclear protest will not be struck off as a registered midwife.

Carolyn Leckie, Scottish Socialist Party MSP for Central Scotland, was arrested during a demonstration at Faslane naval base.

She was jailed for refusing to pay a £100 fine after being found guilty of a breach of the peace.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed that she will not be subject to disciplinary action.

Ms Leckie was jailed for seven days but only spent one night in Cornton Vale women's prison at the end of January.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council informed the former midwife by letter that she would be subject to a preliminary hearing because of her conviction.

Following a hearing, council members decided that there should be no further action taken.

Ms Leckie said on Saturday that she was delighted with the ruling.

She added: "I'd like to thank everyone who offered their support. I'm obviously pleased that the Nursing and Midwifery Council has taken the decision not to proceed any further.

"I had confidence in the professional judgement of the council and that has been borne out by their decision."

Socialist women demonstrate outside prison

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 12/03/05

Socialist women demonstrate outside prison

Approximately 200 members of the Scottish Socialist Party’s Socialist Women’s Network today took part in a demonstration outside Corntonvale Women’s prison in Stirling as part of events around International Women’s day.
Attending the demonstration was Carolyn Leckie MSP who was imprisoned in Corntonvale at the end of January for her part in anti nuclear direct action at Faslane nuclear submarine base.
Carolyn came out of Corntonvale with prisoners accounts of strip searching, prison clothes that didn’t fit and communal showers and toilets with half doors you could see over and male prison staff in attendance.
The demonstrators outside Corntonvale today demanded more appropriate programmes and facilities in communities throughout Scotland, with equal access to help and support for women.
Many of the women in Cornton Vale women’s prison should not be there.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons reports that;
“90 per cent of admissions have addiction problems, 80 per cent have a history of mental illness and over 60 per cent have a history of being abused. The question has to be asked: what will the prison do for them?”

Speaking after the demonstration Carolyn said;
“Today was a fantastic event, organised by the SSP’s Socialist Women’s Network.
“I know that women inside the prison will have been heartened by the event and we could see them standing at the windows waving.
“International Women’s Day celebrates the gains made by women but also causes us to recognise just how much we still have to fight for.
“Today we were calling for a change to the prison system, to demand equality for women across the world and for socialist change to a system that produces poverty, inequality and injustice.”
[ends]

SSP demand answers on pensions

Scotsman.com News - UK - Pensions liability is set to hit £700bn The sensitivity of the pension question was brought home to Holyrood yesterday when Jack McConnell, the First Minister, was questioned on the issue by Colin Fox, the Scottish Socialist leader.

Fox asked McConnell to give yes or no answers to questions on whether the First Minister supported the five-year increase in retirement age and the end to the final salary scheme.

Fox told McConnell: "Each public-sector worker in the country stands to lose at least £20,000, if these changes go through. I’m sure public sector workers across the country will be disgusted by your evasions."

Police break up Trident protest

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Police break up Trident protest Police have arrested 10 anti-nuclear protesters using a 25ft model of a Trident submarine in Edinburgh.

Traffic had to be diverted as a result of the protest, which was organised by the Trident Ploughshares group.

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane was among about 20 people taking part in the demonstration outside Holyrood.

Spokesman David Mackenzie said the protesters were happy for the sub to be dismantled and wanted nuclear weapons scrapped too.

Officers moved in at about 2200 GMT on Thursday, arresting 10 people. The rest of the protesters disbanded by 0045 GMT, police said.

Trident Protest at Scottish Parliament

BBC News

Anti-nuclear protesters used a 25ft model of a Trident submarine to bring traffic to a standstill in Edinburgh.

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane was among about 20 people who took part in the demonstration outside Holyrood.

Traffic had to be diverted as a result of the protest, which was organised by the Trident Ploughshares group.

SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie was told to leave the chamber during First Minister's Questions for refusing to put down a support the protest poster.

Her sign read: "Rosie Kane is not at FMQs because she discovered WMDs."

She was asked to leave after Presiding Officer George Reid said she was guilty of "disorderly behaviour".

Ms Kane said MSPs were not representing the views of the 70% of the Scottish public opposed to Trident.

"Many of us in different parties have tried over a long period of time to get the Scottish Parliament to at least speak up about this," she said.

"Until we get the powers to do something about it ourselves, we will do something on the streets.

"As an MSP, I am simply representing the wishes of the people of Scotland."

The demonstration blocked the Canongate at the bottom of the Royal Mile.

Police said they would not be forcing the protesters, who said they had chained themselves together inside the silver mock submarine, to move on.

The campaigners included 53-year-old Angie Zelter, who said: "Our message is that it's up to Scotland to try and get rid of Trident.

"We have to obey international law ourselves and stop being hypocritical. We are going to stay here until we are dismantled."

End Tax Breaks for Private Schools

Scotsman.com

ATTEMPTS by left-wing MSPs to strip independent schools of their right to tax breaks and rates relief were yesterday defeated in the Scottish Parliament...

The Scottish Socialist Party went further by calling for every private school except special schools, such as Donaldson’s School for the Deaf in Edinburgh, to lose their right to charitable status altogether.

Tommy Sheridan, an SSP MSP, described independent schools as "a symbol of elitism and privilege" that had no right to state support through tax and rates relief. "The people of Scotland want an end to the situation that says these elite institutions are able to hide under the cover of being charities," he said.

International Womens Day 2005

The Scottish Socialist Party wishes everyone a happy International Womens Day.

The Socialist Womens Network will be holding a demonstration outside Corton Vale Women's prison.

Demonstration
Saturday 12th March at 12 noon.
Bus leaves Waverley Bridge, Edinburgh at 10.00 am.

Bring your pals, kids and pots and pans!
let's make some noise!

More info:

Cornton Vale

Many of the women in Cornton Vale women’s prison should not be there. The
chief inspector of prisons reports that, ‘90 per cent of admissions have
addiction problems, 80 per cent have a history of mental illness and over 60
per cent have a history of being abused. The question has to be asked: what
will the prison do for them?’

Poverty

A recent Scottish Prison Service report restates clearly that the key cause
of crime in general is poverty: 155 of the poorest areas in Scotland provide
half of the country’s prison population. In Cornton Vale, almost half of
the women are in custody for defaulting on fines, fines that many simply
cannot afford to pay. The average of these fines is £214 - hardly evidence
of a hardened criminal.

Scottish Socialist Party

SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie was recently imprisoned in Cornton Vale because she
refused to pay a fine imposed on her because of a peaceful protest at
Faslane Nuclear base. Carolyn described conversations with other prisoners
who told of strip searching, prison clothes that didn’t fit and communal
showers and toilets with half doors you could see over and male prison staff
in attendance. What we need are more appropriate programmes and facilities
in communities throughout Scotland, with equal access to help and support
for all women.

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (8th March) celebrates the gains made by women but
also causes us to recognise just how much we still have to fight for. Join
with us in calling for a change to the prison system and a change to the
wider system that reproduces poverty, inequality and injustice.

Asian Dub Foundation SSP benefit concert

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 07/03/05

Asian Dub Foundation SSP benefit concert
April 3rd at the Academy Glasgow.
Support Monkey Tribe, DJ Loki.
Doors open 7pm.
Tickets through Ticketweb; www.ticketweb.co.uk or 0870 771 2000

The London based band Asian Dub Foundation are heading to Scotland in April to play a benefit gig for the Scottish Socialist Party; the only Scottish date on a world tour to promote their new album `Tank'. Asian Dub Foundation started off in 1993 at London based organisation Community Music and were brought to the attention of the UK press when Scottish band Primal Scream took them on tour in the summer of 1997. ADF have helped to demolish many stereotypes of Asian musicians and by extension, Asian people. An acknowledgement of this came in the form of the BBC Asian Award for Music in December 1998.

ADF member Pandit G explained why the band is coming to Scotland to play for the SSP; "Whenever we can help progressives we do. "Because we all live in London we don't hear much about what goes on in Scotland but we know a lot of work's been done in the anti-war movement with the SSP. "Hopefully our gig on April 3rd will be a help."

Scottish Socialist Party national convenor Colin Fox expressed delight at the news of Asian Dub Foundation's benefit gig for the party. Colin said; "Asian Dub Foundation are a major force in popular music worldwide and it is a great honour for the SSP that they have chosen to play their only Scottish gig as a benefit for our campaign funds. "The proceeds from the Asian Dub Foundation gig will go to spreading the message of the SSP; of our continuing outrage at the Iraq war, opposition to the polices of the G8 leaders and our determination to end the gross inequalities of wealth and health in Scotland in the 21st century."

Mother of Dead Soldier Banned from Labour Conference

Scotsman

Mother of Dead Soldier Banned from Labour Conference
By Joe Quinn, Political editor, Scottish Press Association

The mother of a Scots soldier killed in Iraq was refused access to the Scottish Labour conference, she said today.
Rose Gentle, whose Royal Highland Fusilier son Gordon was killed last year, branded the decision a "disgrace."
She turned up with a fellow campaigner at the hotel where visitors are accredited to seek access to the Dundee conference,
"We said we are applying to get into the Labour conference," she said.
"But they said our campaign was not an organised one and we could not get in.
"I asked if we could speak to someone higher, and the person said no," said Mrs Gentle, from Pollok, Glasgow.
Mrs Gentle, who since her son's death has campaigned against the war, speaking in particular at Scottish Socialist Party events, added: "They should have let me in.
"I wasn't going to cause a scene.
"My son was killed in Iraq and I think it's a disgrace."
She said the refusal had strengthened her resolve. She now planned to lobby delegates as they made their way to the conference.
A Labour spokesman said: "It was a very short conversation.
"One of our people was in the corridor welcoming people as they arrived.
"He asked if they were party members or if they had been invited.
"They said 'We are from families against the war' and he said: 'I'm afraid you won't be accredited.'
"There was no discussion, and they left. I don't think there was any difficulty or confrontation."

G8 debate in parliament

Scottish Parliament Debate on G8

Below are the opening and closing speeches in the debate. You can read the full debate at the Scottish Parliament website by clicking on the link above.

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): I hope that this debate is as lively as the one that preceded it.

The Scottish Socialist Party looks forward very much to the G8 summit that will be held in Gleneagles in July. In particular, we look forward to welcoming the people who will join us in the protest against the G8, its agenda and its record. Motion S2M-2506 seeks to reaffirm the basic human right to protest, to dissent and to highlight our opposition. That right is in danger of being compromised.

In my opinion, the scare stories and over-zealous police preparations are creating an atmosphere of fortress Gleneagles. I wonder whether they are designed to prime the population for attempts to curtail our right to protest peacefully. In some quarters, the coverage so far has amounted to ridiculous scaremongering. Many commentators paint a crude picture that suggests that those who wish to pursue their democratic right to protest are set on violence rather than peaceful protest.

This morning, Parliament is being asked to reiterate our right to speak out against those whom we do not support. I hope that no member–regardless of their attitude towards the G8–will oppose such a basic democratic right. Such rights are not granted by the powers that be, but are fought for again and again by the people.

On Tuesday evening in the Parliament, the human rights campaigner Professor Alan Miller of the University of Strathclyde said:

"One of the most positive things coming out of the G8 is that it will internationalise civic society."

Those words ring true. Professor Miller has sought repeatedly to put the debate in context by asking the Executive to keep its promise–made a long time ago–to deliver a Scottish human rights commission. He was quick to point out that Scotland has been condemned throughout the world for jailing children at Dungavel and for forcing prisoners to endure the degradation of slopping out.

Just this week, the Home Secretary tried to introduce house arrest–in other words, detention that is ordered by a politician rather than through the judicial process. That is an even worse blot on the landscape than the infamous Diplock courts. At Belmarsh prison in London, there has been detention without charge. We have no right to rest on our laurels. Such repressive practices are visible throughout the G8 countries.

The counter-argument, which is that we do not have an absolute right to assemble, is never put. It is always argued that that right is to be granted only in certain circumstances and under certain conditions. That explains the compromise amendments from Labour and the Conservatives.

Why do hundreds of thousands of people want to protest against the G8? What is so dreadful about its record that makes people want to come from all over Europe to Scotland in July to protest? The group of industrialised countries that we know today as the G8 was established in 1975 by the heads of state of the leading industrialised economies to consider their shared economic and political interests and the international community. The group has consistently controlled the terms of international trade and of relations between the G8 and the developing countries. It sends out diktats on a host of issues including arms control, the information superhighway, crime and human rights. The G8 heavily loads the help that it gives to developing countries with political, economic and military influence.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has said that, as the host of the Gleneagles summit, he is entitled to highlight two issues–Africa and climate change. If history is anything to go by, many mighty promises will come out of Gleneagles and, true to form, none will be kept. The G8 has been promising to abolish world poverty, hunger, disease and war since its inception 30 years ago and its record is risible. There are more people living in poverty in Africa than at any time before. Throughout the world, 50,000 people die from tuberculosis every day, even though the cure costs just £10 per patient. There are more enslaved people in the world today than there were in the time of William Wilberforce.

In 2002, the G8 announced the heavily indebted poor countries initiative, the aim of which was to reduce the debts of African countries by $19 billion. At the end of 2002, low-income countries in Africa and elsewhere owed the rich world $523 billion, which is roughly half their gross national income. Each year, low-income countries pay back more in debt to the G8 than they spend on education and health. Let us be clear about the fact that the G8 and its policies are the godfathers of capitalism. Those policies are responsible for the perpetuation of inequality and injustice. People who look to the G8 for a solution to world poverty will be sadly disappointed.

The make poverty history organisation–which I know enjoys widespread support from members of all parties–argues that, above all, the "glaringly unjust world trade system"

is at the root of the problem. That brings us to the debate's key question. What forces will be able to get the G8 to change its ways and to hold it to account?

One of the world's leading dissidents, Professor Noam Chomsky, will visit Edinburgh in the next few weeks to speak on that very subject. He has written that the neo-liberal agenda behind G8 globalisation is creating its own gravediggers in the anti-war and anti-capitalist movement. By failing to deliver on its promises to eradicate poverty and, instead, driving ahead with a nakedly imperialist agenda, the G8 is creating a huge worldwide movement of opposition, especially in the third world and the middle east. The anti-war and anti-capitalist movement is the sign of a desire to force an agenda that is entirely different to that of the G8. That is the phenomenon that we will see on the streets of Edinburgh on 2 July and at the summit in Gleneagles.

We should explain to the people of Scotland the relevance of the G8 agenda to them. The G8 is responsible for the privatisation of our public services, the globalisation of trade, the casualisation of the labour market, the low pay in our economy and the denial of basic human and trade union rights. Lest we think that poverty is found only in the third world, on Monday the United Nations Children's Fund highlighted the fact that 20 per cent of children in the United States of America live in poverty.

The G8 alternatives group is part of a vibrant, healthy movement of opposition to the G8 that is flourishing throughout the world. In Edinburgh in July, there will be a carnival of forums, discussion and debate on the theme that another world is possible and necessary. The view that another world is possible and necessary is held by the vast majority of people, who want a socialised economy–one that is run on the basis of providing benefit for the many in the world rather than for the few. That puts them at odds with the G8. We are the many; it is the few. We want a world in which the world's resources and talents are shared equally among all its peoples. We should divide up the world's wealth and, in the first instance, look after those who are in most need.

I move,

That the Parliament puts on record its support for Article 20 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that "everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association"; notes that the G8 summit will be meeting in Gleneagles in July this year, and resolves to uphold and support the right to peaceful assembly and protest in Scotland, in particular in Edinburgh at the Make Poverty History demonstration and at the summit itself in Gleneagles.

Summing Up for the SSP:

Rosie Kane (Glasgow) (SSP): In July this year, the G8 summit will be held in Scotland. Personally, I am happy about that, not only because the world will get to see how beautiful Scotland is, but because the people of Scotland will be able to show the world what they think of the leaders who make up the G8. The First Minister, Jack McConnell, once described G8 members as "the top table". He was not far wrong. These jokers get to sit at the world's top table and feast, while the rest of the world sits below the table waiting for the crumbs to fall and hoping to receive some sustenance.

At this year's summit, there will be a high profile make poverty history campaign, which we all support. The summit will follow on from the terrible, devastating effects of the south-east Asian tsunami, which has focused the eyes of the world on our so-called leaders. Ordinary people have dug deep to help their sisters and brothers throughout the world. The focus will be on Africa, on civil war, on starvation, on war in Iraq, on weapons of mass destruction, on environmental destruction–[Interruption.]

The Deputy Presiding Officer: Order.

Rosie Kane: Thank you, Presiding Officer.

On all those fronts, the vulnerable on this planet have taken the brunt.

Under such very current pressures, the G8 public relations machine will no doubt tell us how the G8 leaders will deal with those issues. They will claim that the G8 will make poverty history. Many folk out there who want a better, healthier world might want to feel reassured. However, poverty is not a new phenomenon and nor is the G8, so why is our world spiralling deeper and deeper into disaster despite the fact that these geezers have been meeting for years? What have they done for the world so far?

I will tell members what the G8 leaders have done. The socialists are here for today's debate to highlight how some world leaders have acted in tandem with the multinationals. The world has been raped and pillaged of everything, from oil to diamonds, so that those at the top table – and their buddies–can prop another cushion under their gold-plated, fat backsides. Let us not kid ourselves that G8 members are caring and compassionate. The folk who dug deep for the tsunami or who drew attention to, and collected money for, the relief of poverty across the globe are the ones whom we should celebrate.

Let us take a look at who these G8 leaders are. Japan's Koizumi is pro-business and pro-privatisation–[Interruption.] Members on the Tory benches may well cheer. At least they align themselves honestly; this lot on the Executive benches pretend.

Germany's Schröder is for big business and is pro-war. France's Chirac is pro-nuclear weapons, pro-big business, anti-trade union and pro-privatisation. Russia's Putin is pro-war, anti-human rights, anti-free speech and anti-democracy. He presides over hideous and continuing brutality in Chechnya. He is corrupt to the core. Canada's Martin is a multimillionaire tax avoider, union buster, environmental law-breaker, social services cutter, private finance champion–[Interruption.]

The Deputy Presiding Officer: Order.

Rosie Kane: Italy's Berlusconi is a multimillionaire and flogger of public services. He has been under investigation for everything from fraud to corruption and bribery, but has got out of it by changing the law to protect himself. America's Bush is pro-war, pro-big business, anti-environment, anti-gay, anti-women, anti-trade unions, pro-nuclear weapons and pro-death sentence. Britain's Blair is pro-war, pro-big business, anti-environment–[Interruption.] Presiding Officer, do you mind?

Blair is anti-environment, anti-trade union and a liar. [Interruption.] Presiding Officer, I must complain about the decibel levels.

The Deputy Presiding Officer: Order.

Rosie Kane: The whole lot of G8 leaders are out for themselves and out for their pals. It is not in their best interests to eradicate poverty.

They have blood on their hands. They know that, members know that and those who will converge around Gleneagles know that. It bothers me that many politicians and less responsible sections of the media have set their focus on riots and violence. If they want violence, they will find it not in the minds of protesters but in the actions of the G8 and their big-business pals who attack the planet, push people aside and put greed before need. The talk of water cannons, rubber bullets and even ground-to-air missiles is a diversion. A frenzy has been whooped up to divert attention from the real issues. The First Minister should not kid himself or the public that the G8 will end poverty. The G8 is the problem, not the solution.

As a child, when I was fed my dinner at night with my brothers, my mother or father would tell me, "If you don't eat your dinner, you're wasting it, when there are children starving across the world." In my childlike mind, I imagined how I who had enough could send that food to all those children. It turns out that, for every £1 that we send in aid, £3 is owed in debt repayments. Under those circumstances, had I sent my dinner across the world, the child in Africa who received it would have had to put gravy on it, put silver service with it, give me a tip and send it straight back. That is what the G8 has done for us. It was like that then, and it is like that now.

If the G8 is so good, so kind and so righteous, why must it meet behind a security shield? When the G8 leaders say that they will make poverty history, they lie and millions die. As Martin Luther King said, a lie cannot last forever. I hope that the G8 cannot last forever. I hope that protest worldwide will expose the G8 and bring about its downfall, rather than the downfall of the planet.

I ask that members support the motion in my name, support the right to protest and reject the G8.


Scotsman Report

SSP Debate G8 in Parliament

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Ministers promise G8 demo rights Ministers have promised campaigners the right to protest at the forthcoming G8 summit as long as they do so within the bounds of the law.

MSPs discussed arrangements surrounding the Gleneagles event during a Holyrood debate on Thursday.

The Scottish Socialist Party leader, Colin Fox, sought assurances about the public's right to protest...

The SSP used its parliamentary time to stage the debate. During his first major speech as the SSP's new national convener, Mr Fox claimed people's right to protest was already being "eroded" by scare stories.

Over-zealous police preparations were also helping to create an atmosphere of "fortress Gleneagles" for the July event, he said.

He added: "As the G8 fails to deliver on promises to eradicate poverty and instead drives ahead with a naked imperialist agenda - especially in the third world and the middle east - they are behind them creating a huge worldwide movement of opposition."

Give pupils more pukka meals, MSP tells minister

Edinburgh Evening News DEPUTY education minister Euan Robson was today urged to act more like TV chef Jamie Oliver and deliver healthier school meals.

Scottish Socialist MSP Frances Curran said the Executive’s current policy had failed and called on the Scottish Parliament to back free school meals across Scotland.

"As a society we are supporting and condoning stuffing our kids full of over-processed food laden with salt, fat and sugar," she said during a parliamentary debate.

And she urged the Executive to take a lead from Oliver, whose current TV series, Jamie’s School Dinners, has tackled the poor state of food in some schools.

Mr Robson was today visiting Leith Primary School to promote healthy meals, but he rejected the SSP’s call for free meals for pupils.

He said: "Providing free school meals to all pupils will not improve their health if the food itself, as well as the atmosphere in which it is eaten, is not appetising and stimulating."

Tory MSP Brian Monteith said many pupils did not want nutritious meals. He recalled a visit to Leith Academy, where he said the canteen menu included pasta, baked potatoes and broccoli.

"Where were the pupils? They were outside the school. It was the teachers enjoying the broccoli."

But Ms Curran said: "If you accept the argument that kids won’t eat healthy food, then you’re accepting that multinational food companies will slowly poison a generation of Scottish children and that we will be bystanders."

Summit plans come under scrutiny

BBC NEWS MSPs are set to debate the arrangements for the G8 world leaders' summit in Gleneagles.

The Scottish Executive is keen to use the July event as a showcase and to stimulate discussion of the issues of climate change and poverty in Africa.

But the Scottish Socialist Party says the right of people to protest against the G8 leaders must also be guaranteed.

The Socialists say talk of high security and intensive policing is intimidating to potential protestors.

They believe police in riot gear may even provoke violence and feel the executive should be doing more to uphold the right of peaceful assembly.

Ministers will argue on Thursday that the police will facilitate peaceful protest but they have to be prepared for the minority who may use the occasion to engage in unlawful or violent behaviour.

Parliament to debate school meals & right to protest at Gleneagles

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 02/03/05

Parliament to debate school meals & right to protest at Gleneagles

The Scottish Socialist Party will use its business time in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday to highlight the party's priorities ranging from socialist internationalism around the mobilisation for the G8 summit at Gleneagles to the fight to improve Scots children's health through free school meals. The SSP will highlight the inadequacy of the Scottish Executive in relation to the health of Scots schoolchildren by moving a motion congratulating Labour administrations which have taken radical measures in relation to school meals; the National Assembly for Wales and the city councils of Hull and Glasgow. The motion will be moved by West of Scotland MSP Frances Curran who said today; "Free school meals is an idea whose time has come. "It would be the biggest single anti-poverty and pro-health measure introduced in Scotland for generations. "Scotland's health crisis is notorious the world over. A man in parts in the East End of Glasgow can expect to die 25 years younger than a man in Dorset. "Poverty, combined with our junk food culture, is literally killing us. "We have to start the fight against ill health in our schools by ending the burger and chips culture. "Let's call a halt to the queue at the bakers for meat pies and doughnuts at lunchtime. "By far the best way to do that is to provide attractive, healthy, free school meals for all."

A motion in the name of Rosie Kane calls on the parliament to support the right to "freedom of peaceful assembly and association" under Article 20 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in respect of demonstrations around the G8 summit. The Scottish Socialist Party has been at the forefront a broad based movement building support for a massive show of opposition to the leaders of the G8 when they arrive in Scotland in July. SSP national convenor Colin Fox will move the motion. Colin said today; "The Godfathers of capitalism will be arriving in Scotland in July and the thousands of people who wish to make clear their opposition to world poverty, to the catastrophic policies of the industrialised nations in relation to the environment and over the Iraq war have the right to demonstrate at Gleneagles. "The SSP Group will be joining the demonstrators and we are determined that the right to peaceful protest should be upheld despite the fact that the UK now has one of the most authoritarian governments in Europe."

*S2M-2507 Frances Curran: School Meals and Our Children's Future "That the Parliament notes that all serious nutritionists are predicting that obesity will double in Scotland over the next 10 years, causing a health crisis which will dramatically increase demand for health services and lower average life expectancy; therefore endorses the principle that radical action is required to tackle Scotland's diet- related health problems; believes that there can be no better use of Scotland's resources than to invest in our children's future, and congratulates the National Assembly for Wales and the city councils of Hull and Glasgow for their action in providing free breakfasts for all primary children and the councils for their further commitment to extending free, nutritious school lunches to all their primary school pupils.

*S2M-2506 Rosie Kane: The Right to Protest at Gleneagles "That the Parliament puts on record its support for Article 20 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that "everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association"; notes that the G8 summit will be meeting in Gleneagles in July this year, and resolves to uphold and support the right to peaceful assembly and protest in Scotland, in particular in Edinburgh at the Make Poverty History demonstration and at the summit itself in Gleneagles.

Firebrand Brown fights for his life

Scotland on Sunday - Politics - Firebrand Brown fights for his life

All of Ron's comrades in the Scottish Socialist Party send their best wishes to a veteran class fighter, friend and comrade.

SSP call for peaceful protest at G8 Summit

Sunday Herald

EVERY Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) MSP is to undergo non-violent direct action training in preparation for demonstrations against the G8 summit at Gleneagles in July.

The party’s six MSPs will each pay around £100 to take part in a two-day training session, run in April or May, by the Scottish Centre for NonViolence in Dunblane. They also intend to call on SSP supporters and others planning to join in the protests to consider undergoing similar training.

Frances Curran, the party’s enterprise spokeswoman, said: “Some of us have done the training before – including [MSPs] Carolyn Leckie and Rosie Kane – but we are all going to do it for the G8 because we are intent on having a peaceful protest. The training teaches you what to do when you’re facing riot police.

“It urges you to think why you are protesting and what are you trying to achieve.”

Thousands of protesters are expected to join demonstrations against the gathering, in Perthshire from July 6 to 8, of world leaders from the G7 group of wealthy nations plus Russia. Anti-capitalist and anti-war protesters are planning a week-long campaign of events around the summit, including a march of up to 200,000 people, in Edinburgh and associated events at Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde (home of Britain’s Trident submarines) and Dungavel detention centre in Ayrshire, where asylum seekers are held.

Police are planning to draft in 10,000 officers, including hundreds from London, to deal with the threat of disruption to the summit.

In response, several groups, including Trident Plough shares and Seeds for Change, are now running courses on non-violent direct action in the run-up to the summit.

Curran added: “We will be calling on other SSP members and suggesting everybody goes through [training]. Most of our members have been on countless demonstrations across Scotland and there has never been one hint of trouble.”

Curran is to meet Tayside police in Perth on Tuesday, and on Thursday the SSP is using its allotted time in parliament for a debate on the summit.

Students to vote for a Coke boycott at unions

Edinburgh Evening News - Students to vote for a Coke boycott at unions STUDENTS are set to ban Coca-Cola from shops and bars at Edinburgh University over alleged human rights abuses at an overseas factory.

The Edinburgh University Students’ Association is next month expected to back a proposed boycott of the giant drinks firm.

The move would mean the company would lose its £120,000-a-year contract with EUSA and all advertising rights in buildings owned by the student union.

Eleven other universities worldwide - including four in England - have already introduced similar boycotts.

A global campaign was launched amid allegations that Colombian workers who attempted to unionise one of the firm’s factories were tortured, and another activist was murdered outside the plant’s gates.

Edinburgh Youth Against the War film wins award

Scotland Today: "With the Oscars taking place this weekend, on Wednesday February 23 all eyes were on on some young filmmakers from Scotland who were in London being honoured for their own work. Jude Law, Stephen Fry and Sir Ian McKellen were among the judging panel who heaped praise on the pupils' short films.

The First Light film awards, celebrating films made by young people, was held at the Odeon West End in London's Leicester Square and it was a great day for Scotland and a group from Edinburgh.

Actor Colin Salmon announced: 'The winner of the first light award 2005 in the category of best documentary is - quite right too - Old Enough To Know Better.

Brian McLeod and Nick Erdly, John Cooper and Devon Simonsen are Pilton Video and they produced a documentary on the mass protest and school walkouts in Edinburgh in the days leading up to the Iraq war.

On had to lend their support to the proceedings were Lord Of The Rings star Sir Ian McKellen and Rupert Grint, famous, of course, as Harry Potter's mate Ron Weasley.

Rupert Grint said: 'It's wicked because I sort of started out quite young when I was 11 and it's such good experience, it's really good fun so it's good to see like younger ones as well getting into film as well.'

Sir Ian McKellen added: 'The films I've seen are quite extraordinary. I could have done nothing like that at their age or my own age.'"

SSP leader Fox accuses ministers of censorship

Edinburgh Evening News - Politics - SSP leader Fox accuses ministers of censorship

NEW Scottish Socialist Party leader Colin Fox has accused the Scottish Executive of censoring debate on his Bill to scrap prescription charges.

A decision by the Scottish Parliament’s business bureau means the Bill will not be debated in the parliament until Christmas - a full two and a half years after it was first lodged.

Mr Fox, a list MSP for the Lothians, claimed the Executive parties, which have a majority of the votes in the bureau, were deliberately delaying the proposed legislation despite widespread public support.

"So much for the idea the parliament is ready to spring into action on new ideas," he said. "This suggests it has all the spring in its step of an extinct dinosaur.

"It means 75,000 people in Scotland will face another year when they will go without medicines they need because they don’t have the money."

Scottish Campaign to Remove All Prescription Charges

Free School Meals for All

The Herald Editorial

It is enough to have Gordon Brown choking on his bowl of rice. The chancellor, who is visiting China, is a firm advocate of targeting state benefits on the basis of need. He believes universal benefit, with the odd exception, is wasteful. The Scottish Executive is at one with Mr Brown on the matter of free school meals. More than two years ago, it opposed a private member's bill in the name of Tommy Sheridan of the Scottish Socialist Party to introduce universal free school meals for primary and secondary pupils, in place of the means-tested model. The bill was defeated in the Scottish Parliament. Ministers argued that, if introduced, it would be a costly and wasteful policy.

Much to the discomfort of ministers, universal free school meals will not disappear from the political menu. The Herald reports today that the policy has been endorsed by academics at Dundee University in a paper welcomed by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). One of the authors is an SSP activist who supports the policy. The other describes himself as the "departmental Conservative". This suggests that the collaborators' findings are balanced. They certainly deserve to be taken seriously by Scotland's political class.

The authors concede there would be a cost in extending free school meals to all Scottish children. However, they maintain that the price would be worth paying because it would have a disproportionately beneficial impact on poor families. Some 100,000 Scottish children live in poverty and, according to the CPAG, many are either ineligible for free school meals or do not claim them. Serving them a meal a day (perhaps the only one) would mitigate the effects of poverty. Providing nutritious, appetising food would also improve long-term health prospects; encourage the habit of healthy eating; and raise educational standards over time.

These are also the executive's aims. Ministers are, however, dead set against universal free meals because they say the cost would be some £200m a year and maintain that resources would be better targeted on those who would benefit most. But, according to the academics, many of those who could benefit most, do not. Universality would include them. Opponents argue that the policy flies in the face of common sense because better-off families do not need it. Including them is therefore seen as a waste of resources. The report's authors conclude that waste becomes a significant factor in the case of only the wealthiest 10% of families. Many probably send their children to private schools, where the policy would not apply.

But where is the waste if children take free school meals? The uptake in those Scandinavian countries where there is universality (around 100%) suggests the initiative would also be effective in Scotland. The academics say poor families would gain most. Universality would remove the stigma attached to receiving the benefit. It would also be more cost-effective to administer. The paper makes a compelling case for the policy. If ministers are serious about tackling poverty, they must pay it proper heed so that, when universal free meals next come before the parliament for debate, they do not merely write the policy off as the work of an irritating opposition party. There is too much at stake for that.

Defend the NHS

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.”

Youth Anti-War Film up for Prize

Edinburgh Evening News

YOUNG filmmakers from the Capital are to rub shoulders with the UK’s biggest movie stars after being nominated for a national award.

A programme highlighting the city’s youth anti-war movement in 2003 is in line for Best Documentary at the First Light Film Awards for films made by young people between the ages of five and 18.

The young filmmakers will be guests at the glittering "mini Oscar" ceremony in London’s Leicester Square next week.

Alfie star Jude Law, filmmaker Stephen Fry and Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint are among the panel of celebrities judging the films.

Made by Edinburgh Youth Against The War, Old Enough to Know Better documents the mass school walkouts staged by thousands of schoolchildren in protest against the Iraq war.

The documentary, produced by Pilton Video, was part of a four-film project with an overall budget of £48,000, and has already received critical acclaim and a host of awards after being shown at film festivals around the world.

Solidarity with Iraqi workers

Public Meeting

Solidarity with the Iraqi workers

Speakers

• Hassan Jumaa Awad, president of the General Union of Oil Employees, Basra, Iraq


• Frances Curran MSP, Scottish Socialist Party


• Rose Gentle, Justice4gordongentle.

7-30pm Wednesday 16th February 2005
Partick Burgh Halls, Burgh Hall Street, Glasgow.

Nearest Underground and train station Partick, Buses 9, 16, 16a, 62, 89, 90

SSP's Best Days Are Ahead Of Us

Statement by new SSP National Convenor Colin Fox.

I am thrilled and honoured to have been elected as National Convenor.
The SSP has come through a difficult few months. Alan McCombes and I both agree that the real winner from this weekend is the party itself. We are united and strengthened by our experiences.
I have known Alan for more than 25 years. He is a friend of mine. He is an enormous political asset to the SSP. He was the first person I told I would stand for the post and he was the first person I spoke to after I heard the result on Sunday.
We intend to work closely over the next few months to bolster the confidence of the 130,000 people who voted SSP in May 2003.
I want to assure SSP members that we share a commitment to an Independent Socialist Republic in Scotland. We also share a vision of a party based on rank and file democracy and rooted in the politics of the streets, communities, workplaces and colleges. We will work together outside and inside Parliament.
Where do we go from here?
* Our first priority is to get back to what we are good at - taking the fight to New Labour and New SNP.
* The General Election is around the corner. The SSP will be standing candidates in every seat in Scotland and we will be campaigning on the issues which are important to people - health, education, jobs, pensions and of course Labour's murderous deceit in Iraq.
* And with the huge G8 protests set for Edinburgh in July we get a golden opportunity to present our unique anti-capitalist message to an audience at home and abroad.
There is much for the SSP to look forward to in the next couple of months and beyond. The best days of the SSP are ahead of us.

SSP News apologises for the display problem which affected this site for users on Windows Internet Explorer. The issue should now be resolved.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Fox elected as new leader of SSP

SSP Elect Colin Fox to convenorship

Colin Fox was today elected to the convenorship of the Scottish Socialist Party at our annual conference in Perth.

The results of the elections were Colin Fox 252 votes (62%), Alan McCombes 154 votes (38%).

Alan and Colin both took to the stage following the announcement in a show of friendship and unity. To a standing ovation from the conference Lothians MSP Colin pledged to continue the party's implacable opposition to war and poverty and to bring that message to the general election and to the protests at the G8 summit later this year.

SSP Conference Preview

Scotsman.com

Our Commiserations

Edinburgh Evening News

TOMMY SHERIDAN wants the Scottish Parliament to congratulate Prince Charles for making an honest woman of his "bidie-in" - but extend its sympathy to Camilla Parker Bowles on marrying into a "dysfunctional" family.

The former leader of the Scottish Socialist Party - which believes in an independent, republican Scotland - has tabled a motion on the forthcoming Royal nuptials, which he hopes will be called for debate.

Iraq elections

The Scottish Socialist Party today warned that many more Scottish soldiers of the British Army would face being killed in the illegal occupation of Iraq and that the thousands of Iraqis who had voted in the elections would be desperately disappointed if they believed that by voting they would be able to free Iraq of the occupiers.

An SSP spokesperson said today;

"The SSP does not believe that elections imposed by an illegal military occupation can be regarded as legitimate. "The elections that have just been staged by the occupiers cannot be regarded as legitimate as they were deliberately manipulated using national rather than provincial voting rolls in order to reduce Sunni representation and to anoint US-supported groups who will allow this occupation to continue.

"The SSP does recognise that after decades of dictatorship under Saddam there is very real desire amongst many Iraqis to express themselves at the ballot box with tens of thousands voting for party's that are opposed to the occupation.

"The SSP also recognises that an enormous propaganda and news manipulation exercise was orchestrated by the occupiers in order to convince Western public opinion that these elections were legitimate. "Those Iraqis who voted in the election in the hope that the occupiers will leave if the Iraqi people wish them to will be desperately disappointed.

"The US invaded Iraq not to bring democracy to the people but to plunder the oil and resources of the country and to alter the military balance of power in the region.

"Military experts estimate that the US is in the process of constructing 12 permanent military bases in Iraq as an extension of US power and influence in the Middle East.

"The occupiers will not leave Iraq unless forced to do so by a united movement of the Iraqi people, crossing ethnic and religious divide. "To that end the Scottish Socialist Party offers support and solidarity to all those independent and free trades unionists in Iraq who oppose the occupation and have no links to the puppet regime of Iyad Allawi and to all those Iraqis who wish to see an independent and free Iraq.

"The Scottish Socialist Party warns that many more soldiers of the occupying armies will be killed if the occupation continues and that the only solution is for the immediate withdrawal of all occupation troops.

"The SSP unreservedly condemns all atrocities committed against the civilian population of Iraq committed by both by the occupying armies and religious extremists with statistics showing that the vast majority of civilian deaths have been perpetrated by the occupying military forces." [ends]

MSP says half the cost of axing pills charge would be recouped

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Colin Fox said the estimated £45 million that would be lost through introducing free prescriptions would be offset by up to £20m of savings, mostly as a result of fewer people needing hospital treatment.

The Lothians list MSP was today formally unveiling his Bill to abolish prescription charges, following the example of the Welsh Assembly, which voted to scrap the charges last year.

Mr Fox said: "Prescription charges are a lie to the promise the health service gave in the 1940s that it would provide universal healthcare free at the point of need.

"It’s not free and 75,000 people in Scotland have gone without the medicines they needed because they did not have the £6.40 per item for the prescription."

Mr Fox branded the current charges a tax on the sick. But he said an analysis of the financial impact of abolishing the charges, carried out by parliament officials, had shown large savings could be made through lifting the cash barrier to people getting medicine.

Scrap Prescription Charges website

MSP jailed after nuclear protest

BBC NEWS | Scotland | MSP jailed after nuclear protest

SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie jailed for nuclear protest

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release

SSP MSP Carolyn Leckie jailed for nuclear protest

Scottish Socialist Party MSP for Central Region Carolyn Leckie has been jailed for seven days for non payment of a fine after being arrested at Faslane nuclear submarine base. Carolyn appeared at East Kilbride District Court on Thursday and after making it clear that she would not pay the fine in protest at the continuing presence of weapons of mass destruction in Scotland. Carolyn had said previously; "I won't be paying the fine, to do so would be an indication that I had done something wrong. "I was protesting against Britain's weapons of mass destruction, I regard that as a duty not a crime."

Carolyn faces the possibility of losing her ability to practise as a midwife after the Nursing and Midwifery Council wrote to her advising that she was being investigated for "misconduct" in relation to the court case.

Fellow SSP MSP Frances Curran has also been arrested at Faslane and said this afternoon; "The Scottish Socialist Party is proud that we have representatives who are prepared to take a stand on issues of principle. "Carolyn is a woman in public life with principles who is prepared to risk her livelihood in order to take a stand against nuclear weapons. "I am outraged that Carolyn has been jailed for taking a stand in the best democratic traditions. "Carolyn has been criminalised for dissent and that is an outrage."