if you liked the bedroom tax you’ll love …...£1 •issue 417 •10th - 23rd may 2013 bedroom...

£1 • issue 417 • 10th - 23rd May 2013www.scottishsocialistvoice.net

Bedroom Tax: the fightback is on - evict theTories, not tenants. Join the march & familyfun day against the hated tax on Sat 18 May

• see pages 6, 7 & 8

by Ken Ferguson

THE sweeping gains by the“fruitcakes” of UKIP - which welook at elsewhere in this Voice- throws a harsh spotlight onthe growing chasm betweenthe politics of England andScotland.

Bluntly put, in the main-stream of Westminster’slargely English-based politics,the dominant trend is movingpolicies increasingly to thehard right backed by shrill

campaigns - often racist - inthe tabloid press, which in turnset the tone of the debate.

So after the UKIP surge, apromise to take a hard-line onthe EU as over 100 Tory MPspress for more right wing poli-cies to counter the damageUKIP could inflict on the Tories.

Media stunts such as takingtellies off English prisoners orpensions from UK pensioners’foreign partners have done lit-tle to stem the tide.

• Continued on page 3

Vote ‘Yes’ to stop the Westminster MADNESS

GLASGOWSAT18MAY

GEORGESQat 11.30am

BEDROOMTAXMARCHAND FAMILY FUN DAY

NIGHTMARE: UKIP spiv Nigel Farage and TV’s Boris Johnson

IF YOU LIKED THEBEDROOM TAX...YOU’LL LOVETHENEXT COALITION

NEWS

2 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 417

by Bill Bonnar

THE surge in support for UKIPin the recent South Shields byelection and local governmentelections has sent shock wavesthrough the British politicalscene and wider afield.

It demonstrates an alarmingshift to the Right in English pol-itics with the other major partiesrunning hard to catch up andbegs the question; who are theUK Independence Party?

Labels can often be misleading.In a recent article, the respectedcolumnist, Ian Bell, referred toUKIP as fascism-lite. The prob-lem with a term like fascism is thatit is often used as an insult ratherthan a term of analysis and there-fore loses much of its meaning.

A more accurate term would beradical right; a movement seekingto change society in a radical rightwing direction. UKIP haveemerged as the largest move-ment of the radical right sinceOswald Mosley’s British Unionof Fascists in the 1930s.

‘Radical right’Of course, UKIP are not the

BUF because it exists in a verydifferent time and place yet it doesoccupy that same space to theright of the Conservative Party. Italso shares much in common withother radical right movementsacross Europe.

The party describes itself as a‘traditional conservative and lib-ertarian party’ whose core policiesinclude: • immediate withdrawal ofBritain from the European Union• restrictions on immigration• an end to Britain’s ‘disastrousmulti-cultural experiment’• an end to Britain’s ‘softly softly’approach to crime

Like other such parties theyhave successfully positionedthemselves as an anti-establish-

ment party rallying people againstout of touch politicians and face-less Brussels bureaucrats who arefailing to listen to the authenticvoice of the British people. Over-whelming white their core sup-port consists of disenchantedmiddle class Tory voters althoughrecent evidence points to theirsupport base widening.

Rather than a unitary politicalparty they are broad coalition offorces ranging from people whoare fascist and proud of it to peo-ple who embrace right wing sin-gle issue campaigns.

A UKIP supporter, whilestrongly opposed to immigra-tion, is likely to be equallystrongly opposed to speed cam-eras, wind farms, gay marriageand the metric system.

These kind of parties often em-brace a heady mixture of patriot-ism, racism, xenophobia andreligious and cultural intoleranceand tend to be authoritarian in na-ture both in terms of the internalstructure and solutions for society.

On the latter point; UKIP mightnot be quite there yet but givethem time. Ultimately their vision

for the future is deeply reac-tionary. They want to turn theclock back to a real or imaginedtime before all the current prob-lems raised their heads. In UKIP’scase it would be Britain in the1950s before the Common Mar-ket; significant immigration andthe evils of the permissive society.

PlagueIt is too early to tell how this

particular story will unfold but itdoes reflect a more profoundchange. British society has movedconsiderably to the right over thepast 30 years and is continuing todo so. Not everywhere. Scotland,by and large, has resisted thismove and remains a society dom-inated by the ideas and values ofsocial democracy; somethingwhich fuelled the creation of theScottish Parliament and continuesto fuel the drive for independence.

The writer, William McIlvanie,once describes the ideas ofThatcherism as if, ‘a right wingplague had descended on Britain’.That legacy remains strong todayand has informed every postThatcher government ever since.

The current government’s likelycourse of action will be to em-brace the core policies of UKIPand perhaps embrace UKIP itself.

It has been outflanked on theright and will now rush to reclaimthat space. Unfortunately theLabour Party is unlikely to be farbehind.

All of this adds fuel to the de-bate around independence forScotland.

The reality is that this is morethan a constitutional issue. Interms of political values and ide-ology Scotland has become a verydifferent country and the prospectof Scotland continuing to be ruledby a Westminster Government,whether Labour or Conservative,which is restricts immigration,persecutes the poor and defendsthe wealth and privileges of therich seriously undermines the ideathe we are ‘Better Together’.

The No Campaign in the run upto the referendum is banking onscaring enough Scottish peopleinto voting for the status quo.When that status quo becomes in-creasingly unpalatable, independ-ence becomes the only option.

As UKIP drives Westminster to the right...

Yes vote can block the extremists

SEND THEM CRASHING: Scotland can resist Westminster’s inevitable rightward shift with a Yes vote

NEWS

issue 417 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 3

• Continued from page 1Bubbling just under the sur-

face, the truth is that many ofthose who form the backboneof the Tory organisation have lit-tle real differences with UKIPand favour an alliance withthem in order to dump the hap-less Lib Dems.

This trend was most clearlyarticulated by Tory grandee andDevon MP Dominic Rees Mogg,an establishment figure and sonof a former Times editor.

PactSpeaking on Radio 4, Mogg

breathlessly backed a pact withthe UKIP extremists, pointingout that such a project had thepotential to deliver a bigger ma-jority than Thatcher in order tostamp their right wing ideas onthe country.

Then, in a Times article, for-mer Thatcher-era ChancellorNigel Lawson backed an EU pullout. What is clear is that such ascenario would dump bothCameron and his Lib Dem coali-tion partners. Speculation of aBoris Johnstone/Nigel Faragecoalition replacing the ConDemsis no longer unthinkable.

Despite attempts by unioniststo play all this down, the fact is

that Scots, having been fed a re-lentless diet of vote-Yes-and-dietales, are now seeing the realitythat the politics of the union willbe the politics of the hard right.

Reinforcing this is the fact thatin the elections last week,Labour - the flag bearer for thenon-Tory segment of the Nocamp - performed poorly.

So, beyond the scare stories- mortgages at risk, pensionsunpaid and the pound taken offus - what has the No camp gotby way of positive reasons topersuade non-Tories to stick

with Britain? Apart from appealsto sentiment not a lot. Welfare“reform” - in reality an assault onthe poor - which delivered thedetested Bedroom Tax hassome way and a lot of unpleas-ant attacks on people still to go.

Yet the party which Scotsused to turn to to rebuff such at-tacks – Labour - is in a three-way, cross-class alliance withthe very parties which are lead-ing the attacks.

Indeed, in a recent media in-terview New Labour apologistHarriet Harman confirmed that

benefits such as elderly traveland winter fuel payment facethe chop under a Miliband ad-ministration. In this she was, ofcourse, echoing her ScottishParty chief Johann Lamont whoinfamously slammed “freebieScotland” last year.

The real danger for the Nocampaign is that an increasinglyunder pressure public grows in-creasingly unimpressed byscares about frontier posts atGretna and a ban on CoronationStreet as they face the reality ofWestminster cuts and sackings.

OpportunityIn the 500 days between now

and the referendum, this pres-ents those backing a Yes votewith an opportunity that must beseized and, along with exposingthe reality of staying British in anincreasingly right wing UK, a co-herent picture of how independ-ence can chart a different futurecan be put front and centre ofthe campaign. In the Thatcher-era, Scotland decisively rejectedher right wing dogma, and thatis the foundation of today’s pro-gressive consensus, and win-ning that for a Yes vote mustnow be the decisive task for in-dependence campaigners.

To subscribe, fill in this form and send it to: Scottish Socialist Voice, Suite 370, 4th Floor, Central Chambers, 93 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 6LD.Or telephone: 0781 126 5388Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to ‘Scottish Socialist Voice’Visit our website: www.scottishsocialistvoice.net

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IF YOU LIKED THE BEDROOM TAX...YOU’LL LOVE THE NEXT COALITION

PM BORIS? a Tory coalition with UKIP - scary but not unthinkable

HIDDEN HISTORIES


CONTRARY to some modern versions ofthe story, Scotland was not bankrupt whenEngland came calling in 1706 with plans for aBritish Union. It is correct to record that manyScots nobles had lost fortunes through backingfor the Darien Scheme of 1698 to 1700, butthe country of Scotland actually had a rela-tively prosperous economy - one contempo-rary writer noted economic growth of 2.5 percent in the year prior to the Acts of Union.

The Darien Scheme was an attempt bywealthy Scots to copy England’s imperialismby establishing a foreign colony. They chosethe area of Darien on the Isthmus of Panama.

Had the Scots nobles not been blinded bytheir vision of the great wealth they expectedto accrue from their colonialist ambitions,they might have stopped to ask why the all-conquering Spanish had left Darien alone.Essentially, the area was swampland.

A great deal of money and many Scottishlives were lost in the failed attempt to establisha colony in the Americas. But the financiallosses belonged to individual investors in theDarien Scheme, not to the nation or exchequerof Scotland. However, the failure of Dariencertainly played a major part in the subsequentunion between Scotland and England. From

the perspective of ordinary Scots, the unionwith England was marked by treachery.Robert Burns best described the situation inhis work Parcel O’ Rogues:

Fareweel tae aa oor Scottish fame,Fareweel oor ancient glory, Fareweel e’en tae the Scottish name, Sae fam’d in martial story. Now Sark rins ower the Solwaysand, An’ Tweed rins tae the ocean, Tae mark whaur England’s province stands, Such a parcel o rogues in a nation.

What force or guile could not subdue,Through many warlike ages, Is wrought now by a coward few, For hireling traitor’s wages. The English steel we could disdain, Secure in valour station, But English gold has been our bane, Such a parcel o rogues in a nation.

Oh would e’re I had seen the day, That Treason thus could sell us, My auld grey heid had lain in clay, Wi’ Bruce an loyal Wallace. Wi pith an power, till my last hour, I’ll mak this declaration, We were bought and sold for English gold, Such a parcel o rogues in a nation!

The members of the Scots parliament whosold-out their country were motivated by self-interest. The fact Scotland would disappear asan independent nation mattered far less to themthan the accumulation of personal wealth.

Many of the Scots nobles who backed unionwith England were the same individuals whohad lost fortunes trying to emulate the Englishcolonialist model through the Darien Scheme,and what actually took place in 1707 had strik-ing similarities to the economic crisis of today.

Currently, ordinary men, women and chil-dren are paying the heavy price that stemsfrom the collapse of global capitalism, an eco-nomic system based on exploitation and greed.

In order to accrue ever greater personalwealth, bankers and speculators in financial mar-kets exploited and fleeced everyone, from other

banks to men and women desperate for a mort-gage to put a roof over the heads of their chil-dren. Then, when their corrupt system collapsed,they looked for a bailout – and so it was with theScots who voted for union with England.

Many of the so-called nobility in Scotlandsaw union as providing trading and financialopportunities by allowing access to England’sgrowing colonies, but the principle attractionwas the offer of English money to offset lossescaused by the failure of Darien.

It was not the nation of Scotland that re-quired a financial bailout in 1707, it was pri-vate individuals - the capitalists of their daywho, motivated by greed, had sought to ex-ploit and fleece others, only for their corruptventure to collapse.

By far, the most highly-paid of the Scotsnobles willing to sell-out their country wasthe Duke of Queensbury, acknowledged asbeing largely responsible for the successfulpassage of the Act of Union through the Scot-tish Parliament, who received from the Eng-lish the sum of £12,325, broadly equivalenttoday to £1,718,000.

Other payments made to the “parcel o’rogues” who voted for union with Englandranged from £1,104-17s-7d (equivalent to£154,000 today) paid to the Earl of March-mont, down to £11-2s (£1,500) pocketed byLord Banff.

In all, records show England made pay-ments to 30 Scottish Earls, Dukes and Lordsto buy their support for union: the total figurepaid was equivalent to around £3milliontoday, which means Scotland’s independencewas sold for little more than the £2.7milliontax-free lump sum paid in 2008 to disgracedformer Royal Bank of Scotland boss FredGoodwin on his resignation.

Bought and soldfor English gold

In the first of a series looking at thehistory of the Union from 1707 tonow, Campbell Martin looks behindmyths to see who actually profitedfrom the union, finding some strikingparallels with today.

DUKE OF QUEENSBURY: union rogue

McALLION


John McAllion suggestssome reasons

WITH still around 500 days togo to the independence referen-dum, Scotland’s print and broad-cast media have been engulfedby a tidal wave of doom monger-ing by the Bitter Together cam-paign and its supporters in theBritish establishment.

Scotland, they tell us, is toosmall to properly manage its vastoil and gas resources. It is toopoor to pay for the pensions andpublic services its people willneed. It has too many old peopleand not enough people of work-ing age. It cannot properly defenditself. Businesses, capital andjobs will all disappear south of theborder if there is any prospect ofa yes majority in 2014. In short,without British life-support, Scot-land is an economic, social andpolitical basket case.

Currency vetoMost recently, the British

Chancellor warned that the restof the UK would veto any pro-posed currency union with a postindependence Scotland andwould not allow Scots to use thepound sterling.

Then he shifted his groundand said that if they did agree toa currency union the Bank ofEngland would then place suchconditions and limits on the Scot-tish Government’s economic de-cision making as to effectivelyneuter any independence thatthe people had voted for. Thepro-Brit press rallied behind theChancellor’s warnings. Scottish

banks, they screamed would notbe allowed to issue separateScottish bank notes.

Scotland would end up likeGreece in the Euro zone in eco-nomic and social meltdown.Scotland, like Panama using thedollar without US permission,would sink into economic subju-gation under its larger neighbour.

The Daily Mail even invokedthe spectre of the Darien disasterin 1690 and warned against yetanother feeble attempt at eco-nomic independence.

Yet if Scotland really is the eco-nomic basket case that Bitter To-gether suggests, why is the restof the UK so exercised by theprospect of Scotland leaving theirunion? If we are the subsidyjunkies that they make us out tobe, would they not be better offwithout us? If the balance of tradebetween us and the rest of theUK matters so much to us and so

little to them, why don’t they justcut us loose? Are we really ex-pected to believe that there is noeconomic or political advantagefor the rest of the UK in keepingScotland tied in to a union thatthey dominate? Scotland, ofcourse, matters a great deal tothe rest of the UK. For more than40 years now, the petroleum rev-enues from the North Sea havebeen keeping successive Britishgovernments financially afloat.

Thatcher’s governmentswould have sunk without trace inthe 1980s but for the bonanza ofoil and gas revenues. As recentlyas 2011, oil and gas revenueswere contributing £40billion toBritain’s balance of payments.

Some recent estimates sug-gest as much as £60billion in rev-enues could pour into theTreasury coffers over the nextfive years. The prospect of losing90 per cent all of that because of

Scottish independence terrifiesthe Treasury and the Govern-ment alike. This explains thenegativity pouring out of Govern-ment departments and the halftruths, deceits and downright liesflowing from a range of Westmin-ster select committees in relationto Scottish independence.

Britain’s political elite know thatwithout oil and gas revenuestheir country is in big economictrouble. They will go to anylengths to thwart a Scottishbreakaway. Nor is it just about oiland gas. Without the nuclearbases at Faslane and Coulporton the Clyde, Britain’s so calledindependent nuclear deterrent isdoomed. There is nowhere elsein the UK that is economicallyand politically feasible as an al-ternative home for Trident.

Nuclear weaponsTrident renewal cannot hap-

pen if Scotland becomes inde-pendent and bans nuclearweapons from its territory.

Britain’s role as a global powerwith a permanent seat on the UNSecurity Council is directly threat-ened by Scottish independence.

Whether its Britain being un-able to meet its renewable en-ergy targets without Scotland’sinput or the threat to the sover-eignty of the Queen-in-Parlia-ment from the territorial break-upof the British land mass, theBritish establishment are desper-ate to return a No vote in thecoming referendum.

The rest of the UK needs Scot-land a lot more than Scotlandneeds the rest of the UK.

If Scotland really is the basket-case suggested by the No camp...

WHY ARE THEY DESPERATETO MAINTAIN THE UNION?

BITTER TOGETHER: unholy doom-mongers alliance, the No camp

BEDROOM TAX


by Richie Venton

THOUSANDS are expectedto march against the Tory Bed-room Tax in Glasgow on Satur-day 18 May, determined to bringabout its downfall.

This march, rally and family funday has been called by theNo2BedroomTax campaign, whichinitiated and organised the huge 30March demo. And it has beenbacked by the Scottish trade unionmovement, in the form of theSTUC conference, as well asUNITE Community union.

Unity between different sectorsof the working class is critical inresisting the vicious onslaught ofthe Westminster millionaires’razor gang.

Cameron and Clegg have sys-tematically tried to divide and ruleworking class people on behalf oftheir class of parasites.

For months they talked of ‘shirk-ers and workers’ as they cappedbenefits at 1 per cent for each of thenext three years - trying to bury thefact that 65 per cent of those ham-mered by this one cut alone arepeople in work - facing cuts inWorking Tax Credit, child benefits,housing benefit and the likes.

Lourdes!They demonise the sick and dis-

abled as they hire multinational out-fits like ATOS to drag peoplethrough assessments on their fitnessto work, conducted by ill-trainedstaff, hounding people off margin-ally higher rates of benefits by de-claring them fit to work.

No wonder ATOS’ headquartersin Glasgow has been dubbed‘Lourdes’, such is the miraclecures they perform, declaring verysick people well as they leave thebuilding!

But it’s no joke - vast numbershave died within weeks of beingdeclared fit by these profiteeringhit-men for the government.

But perhaps the most con-sciously divisive of all the Tory-LibDem cuts to benefits is the Bed-room Tax. They thought by pickingon 105,000 Scottish householdsthey could isolate them from therest of us. In vain!

People joining the marches areoften there on principle, not di-rectly affected themselves. Themost common expression used bythe thousands who have stoppedand signed Scottish SocialistParty street petitions is “It doesn’taffect me, but...”.

This crude theft of incomesfrom the poorest sections of theworking class - in part designedto pay for the bankers’ bailoutand the millionaires’ recent taxcut - has infuriated tens of thou-sands and given them the chanceto lash out at a government theydetest for all its other attacks.Unity between those directly af-

fected and tens of thousands ofothers is growing.

People on the streets condemn aTory Tax that tells disabled peoplethey are not allowed an extra roomfor lifeline disabled facilities, orfor sleepovers by carers unlessthey are getting 24/7 cover fromregistered carers.

Daylight robberyThey are appalled at multi-mil-

lionaires like Lord Freud - govern-ment Welfare Minister, who haseleven spare bedrooms in his twoluxury mansions - telling separatedparents they face the punishment ofthe Bedroom Tax for having a bed-room for their own kids to stay inseveral nights a week.

Likewise, with grandparentswho share in the upbringing oftheir grand-kids, or couples whoneed an extra bedroom to get anight’s sleep because of severehealth problems such as COPD.

The term ‘daylight robbery’ ar-guably arose 450 years ago whenKing William introduced a Win-

dow Tax and people avoided it bybricking up their windows. TheBedroom Tax is daylight robbery,21st century style. It is deprivingchildren, parents, grandparentsand disabled people of theirhuman rights. It is stealing£500million a year off the poorestto give to the richest, from theneediest to the greediest, from themillions to the millionaires.

The Bedroom Tax is now well-known for stealing 14 per cent ofhousing benefit off over 80,000Scottish households, and 25 percent cut off nearly another 25,000.

Robbing an average of £14 aweek off people often on weeklyincomes of £71 is of course whatthe Tories exist to do: they are theparty of the millionaires and multi-national capitalists.

But this might as well be calledthe Disability Tax, or the Single-endTax. In Scotland, 8 out of every 10households hammered by it have atleast one family member with aregistered disability.

And when they tell people they

BEDROOM TAXUNITE AGAINST THE TAX: thousands will attend the Glasgow rally on Sat 18 May PHOTO: Simon Whittle

BEDROOM TAX


need to uproot themselves - oftenafter decades in the family home,or in the immediate aftermath oftheir partner’s death - because mil-lionaires living in mansions dictatethey have ‘too many bedrooms’,they are trying to drive peopleback to the overcrowded condi-tions of past generations.

Why should people have to up-root themselves from the home theyhave invested time, money andmemories in, or from the neigh-bours whose friendship and solidar-ity they depend upon for a decentlife? People should stay put, refuseto budge, and join the fight to scrapthis vicious tax.

Whilst millionaires were re-warded an annual ‘pay’ rise of£107,000 through tax cuts lastmonth, the same government’s owncivil service calculated that 42 percent of the households hit by theBedroom Tax were literally unableto afford to pay it from day one.

People in this rich nation havealready suffered the choice of heat-ing or eating. Now they are con-

fronted by the impossible choicesof heating, eating or paying theBedroom Tax. With Food Bankstrebling in number over the lastyear, we are well and truly travel-ling back to the Hungry Thirties oreven Victorian times.

The choice is blunt: in thewords of one of the main slogansof the working class movementof the 1930s, we either “Struggleor Starve”!

People in abject poverty beingrobbed by the Bedroom Tax is arecipe for evictions - which is whythe anti-Bedroom Tax movement isso important.

Reclassify roomsThe campaign is determined to

help people appeal every housingbenefit cut decision - on time,within a month of the authorities is-suing the letter of decision.

This can be on grounds rangingfrom upholding clauses of theHuman Rights Act to Children’sActs to challenging what the so-called spare bedroom is actually

used for. Several legal challengesare in the courts, and if any suc-ceed, those who have submittedwritten appeals could win conces-sions or exemption.

Alongside individual appeals, thepressure which campaigners, in-cluding the SSP, have put on coun-cillors, Housing Association bossesand the Scottish Government tooutlaw all Bedroom Tax evictionsis critical - and has already reapedimportant dividends.

Protests at council meetings,street campaigning and fighting de-mands in local media calling onthese people in power to declarethere will be no evictions has forcedthem to sit up and listen.

In a number of councils - includ-ing South Ayrshire, Edinburgh,Renfrewshire, Highlands andDundee - they have taken at least afaltering step in the right direction,pledging there will be no evictionsfor at least the next year.

After a series of big SSP publicmeetings, which went on to organ-ise several protests at council

meetings - pounding those inpower to outlaw all Bedroom Taxevictions, reclassify houses so asto avoid rooms being eligible forthe tax, and to demand the shortfallin rents from the Scottish Govern-ment - North Ayrshire Council hasgone further than any other so farin Scotland.

Partial victoryThe SSP led local people in de-

manding they follow the exampleof Knowsley and Nottinghamcouncils and reclassify rooms.Under this pressure, as well as de-claring no evictions for at least ayear, the council has now said theywill reclassify two-bedroom houseswith a small room to become one-bedroom and a boxroom.

Also, to make their one-bedroomhouses available to all ages, not justthe elderly; and to give those askedto downsize an extra 50 housingpoints so as to increase theirchances of getting rehoused.

This is a partial victory for theSSP-led campaign in the area,

struggle or starve!SHOW OF STRENGTH: the No2BedroomTax campaign initiated and organised the huge demo on 30 March PHOTO: Simon Whittle

BEDROOM TAX


which has been ferocious andpersistent.

But it’s still only partial; we arestepping up the pressure on coun-cillors to reclassify all their hous-ing stock, and importantly tolaunch a campaign alongside ten-ants and council workers for fund-ing off the Scottish Government tofill the gap left in rental income bypeople simply being unable to paythe Bedroom Tax.

Failure to do this could lead notonly to cuts in jobs and services, butalso to the threat of evictions by an-other route in the future.

People who don’t pay becausethey can’t pay will end up in ar-rears. Unless the pressure is sus-tained on the politicians in charge,they could then decide such tenantsface eviction procedures becausethey did not “take all reasonablesteps to avoid getting into rent ar-rears” - the clause adopted by everysingle council and housing associ-ation that has so far pledged ‘noevictions for at least a year’.

Outlaw evictionsSome of these tenants may al-

ready be on a repayment pre-evic-tion arrangement, and if they nowget clobbered by the Bedroom Tax,they could be driven by povertyinto defaulting on their paymentsand face eviction procedures.

That’s why the No2BedroomTaxcampaign and the SSP will keepbuilding local networks of peopleready to form human walls of soli-darity against any evictions, as wellas demanding local Housing Asso-ciation bosses and the ScottishGovernment come off the fenceand outlaw evictions.

That is why the campaign needsto sustain the demand for fundingoff the Scottish Government of theguesstimated loss of £53million thisyear in rent to social landlords. Oth-erwise some local Housing Associ-ations will declare cuts andredundancies - one in Glasgow hasalready issued redundancies and cutthe pay of longstanding staff by upto £5,000 a year.

And some of them might evengo under, which is an added mo-tive behind the Tory Bedroom Tax;

to drive people into the privaterented sector to be exploited byprofiteering shark landlords whoare subsidised by public fundsthrough housing benefit - and toeven drive weaker ones into theclutches of the banks and the prof-iteering private sector.

The SSP will unite with anyoneprepared to resist the Bedroom Tax.But we do not share Labour’s viewthat it should just be reformed andapplied differently. Labour’s aspir-ing future government ministerHelen Goodman has blurted outthey would keep it but only apply itif a tenant is offered a smaller houseand declines it!

The SSP is not out to reform oramend the Bedroom Tax, we areout to scrap it, to help build a move-ment that makes it unworkable andforces the government to abandonit. And we will never tire of expos-ing the fact there is absolutely noexcuse for introducing this, or anyother benefit cuts.

The government peddles the liethat cuts are unavoidable due to thenational debt and annual deficit inpublic spending. But the figures forthese were consistently higher thanthey are now for most of the pastcentury - including during thedecades when the NHS and wel-fare state were built, millions ofcouncil houses were built, and un-

employment reached an all-timelow. The cuts to benefits are basedon ideological dogma, oppositionto social provision and universalbenefits - something which the To-ries and Lib Dems share with NewLabour! - as well as a crude driveto divide the working class andmake it easier to carry out a wealthtransfusion to the very richest awayfrom the rest of us.

There is no excuse for these sav-age cuts to living standards giventhe fabulous wealth of the nation.It’s not a problem of the wealthavailable, but its outrageously un-equal distribution.

Last year, the tiny elite richest1,000 people in the UK - makingup a minuscule 0.003 per cent ofthe population - increased theirwealth by £35billion. That’s morethan the entire budget spent onDLA, ESA and similar benefits! Itwould pay, twice over, for the£18billion cuts to the benefits billimplemented so far.

And the bloated rich - individualsand big corporations - systemati-cally dodge £120billion a year intax, which is 240 as much as theirTory-Lib Dem political representa-tives are robbing off the poorestthrough the Bedroom Tax.

There is no excuse for these cuts.And there is an alternative - social-ism. The SSP is fighting to scrap the

Bedroom Tax, halt all benefit cuts,and for the Scottish Government tostand up to the Westminster dicta-torship by refusing to carry our theirbutchery, demanding back thestolen billions that could expandjobs, services and incomes.

Contrary to the SNP leadership’smessage, the Scottish Governmentdon’t have to choose between pro-tecting the NHS, education, councilservices, Council Tax payers andtenants battered by the BedroomTax. They should mobilise all theseand more in a Scottish rebellionagainst the Westminster thieves, de-manding back the billions stolen bythem, that could be deployed tomassively invest in jobs, services,housing, pay and benefits.

Fight for abolitionWe are campaigning for an inde-

pendent Scotland with the powerand political willpower to abolishthe Bedroom Tax.

We are fighting for a socialistScotland where by taxing the richand taking vital services, natural re-sources, energy, construction, bank-ing and major industry intodemocratic public ownership, wecould guarantee a well-paid job andapprenticeships for all those fit towork; a living income for those un-able to and the retired; and decent,affordable social sector housing forall needs, built to the highest envi-ronmental standards.

Unite through No2BedroomTaxcampaigns to fight for the abolitionof one of the most vicious attacksin a whole package of savagery.Build a mass movement to evict theTories, not tenants.

Join the SSP for an independentsocialist Scotland where the wealthof the nation is owned, controlledand used for the benefits of the mil-lions, not the millionaires.

TAX THE RICH! there’s no excuse for these cuts PHOTO: Simon Whittle

NEWS


by Sandra Webster

DISCRETIONARY housingpayments are not a new solutionto those who find themselves infear of being evicted or arehomeless. In the past they wereused to rehouse families evicteddue to falling behind with rentpayments and even help somehomeless people get together adeposit for a home in the rentedprivate sector.

This year however, with theintroduction of the BedroomTax additional funds are beingintroduced by the DWP to topup the housing benefit reducedfor many tenants of social land-lords.

The DWP has given £10mil-lion out of a total £125millionpayment to Scottish local au-thorities and social landlords.This was due to their fears thattheir rent revenue would begreatly affected as individual’shousing benefit was cut.

ShortfallSome of the shortfall could

be made up by direct grant paidto social landlords who couldthen encourage their affectedtenants to apply.

Although anyone affectedcould apply most local authori-ties have prioritised need in ac-cord with DWP guidelines. Thefirst two prioritised groups arefoster and kinship carers andpeople with disabilities inadapted accommodation.

However, evidence is nowemerging that many of the mostvulnerable are being denied ac-cess to Discretionary HousingPayments.

“Karen” who has asked forher name not to be disclosed,

cares for her husband who hasa terminal illness. Two yearsago they were forced to leavetheir old family home and moveto a housing associationadapted for his needs.

This is a two-bedroom housewith the extra room being usedfor the storage of medicalequipment.

They applied for a Discre-tionary Housing Payment twoweeks go but recently found outthat they have been refused dueto their “additional” income.The couple are in receipt ofwelfare benefits with only DLAand carers allowance beingextra payments.

“John” a single parent for hisadult son was also refused extrasupport by his local authority.They had asked in line withguidelines being used by othertenants to redefine their addi-tional spare room as a diningroom. Especially as they have

no other room for a dining roomin their home.

They were turned down asthe room was deemed to be toobig to be a dining room. BothKaren and John have been leftdevastated by these decisionsand worried about their abilityto pay.

Disability Living Allowancewas first introduced byThatcher’s government to helpalleviate the additional cost ofliving with a disability.

Carers Allowance is paid tothose who offer high qualitycare to their family memberoften around the clock.

DWP guidelines are clear thatthey should not be taken intoaccount as income but it seemsthat some local authorities areignoring this advice.

There is also no classificationof the definition of the sizewhen a spare bedroom is toobig to be dining room but some

social landlords are again mak-ing their own decisions.

So where is the moneygoing? Is it all going to supportkinship and foster parents? TheScottish Government estimatedthat the £10million from theDWP would only support 10per cent of those affected by theBedroom Tax leaving 90 percent with no support.

If people with disabilities inadapted houses are not beinggiven any support it seemslikely that they have underesti-mated how far the £10millionwould stretch to meet needs.

Some local authorities maynot even be claiming the fullgrant they are entitled to whiletheir tenants struggle to makeends meet.

ArrearsThe future remains uncertain

with the introduction of Univer-sal Credit more and more ten-ants may find themselves inarrears not of their own makingbut of inability to pay.

The Discretionary HousingPayment Grant from the DWPhas not yet ben decided. How-ever with rising costs and theindependence referendum myfear is that tenants will be usedas political pawns caught in themiddle of wars between West-minster and Holyrood.

The decision of whether ornot to vote Yes for many of theundecided voters will be aboutquestions such as these whichare crucial to everyday people’slives.

If we want to show how anindependent Scotland can carefor its own, let’s set an examplebefore the independence refer-endum.

Housing payments notreaching the most needy

ANGER: the most vulnerable are being denied access toessential Discretionary Housing Payments

NEWS


by Voice Reporter

THE Scottish Housing Billhas caused a divide in itssupport from housing charitiesand organisations.

The Scottish Governmentpropose to introduce“probationary” tenancies tonew tenants for a twelve-month period after which theywill be transferred to theScottish secure tenancy whichis enjoyed by the majority ofScottish Social Housingtenants.

While some welcome thebill with its increasedflexibility to tackle housingproblems before they ariseothers see it as an attack onthe most vulnerable tenants.

Graeme Brown, Director ofShelter Scotland, said:

“People need to feel safeand secure in their home - nothave the threat of evictionhanging round their neck.

“At the start of a newtenancy, people need supportnot suspicion and penalties.

A step backwards“Introducing probationary

tenancies would be a big stepbackwards in tenants’ rights.

“It is totally unnecessary associal landlords already have arange of tools at their disposal- backed by legislation - todeal with anti-social andcriminal behaviour if itoccurs.”

He added: “At a time whensome UK politicians havesought to stigmatise socialhousing tenants as scroungersand welfare cuts threatenfamilies’ ability to keep theirhome, Scotland’s politicianshave the opportunity to strikea different tone.

“We believe it is a mistaketo follow the lead of Englishlandlords or mirror

Westminster’s language ofdivision. We are calling onScottish Ministers to rejectprobationary tenancies whichsimply penalise all newtenants for the behaviour of asmall minority.

“Everyone needs a secureaffordable home and we willcampaign vigorously todefend the rights of all ofScotland’s 595,000 householdsliving in social housing.”

A coalition of groups leadby Shelter Scotland havewritten to housing and welfareminister Margaret BurgessMSP criticising the new bill.

The new tenancy may see atwo-tier system incommunities and mayeventually lead down the pathto the demise of the ScottishSecure Tenancy for all clients.Shelter emphasise that thismeasure will only affect newtenants not those with longterm anti social behaviour.

They accused the Scottishgovernment as using the newlegislation as a method ofdemonstrating they are gettingtough on anti-social tenants.Even those broadly in favourwith the new legislation have

spoken out about thestigmatisation of sociallandlord tenants and theassumption being made thatthey are more likely to be a“bad” tenant compared to aprivate tenant.

One other question thatarises is what the definition ofa “bad” tenant is. With theBedroom Tax and cuts inwelfare benefits will thosewho fall into rent arrears beseen as anti-social.

Easier evictionsSuch legislation will make it

far easy for social landlords toevict someone without havingto go down the legal evictionroute.

Anti-social behaviour doesblight our communities. It isan issue that people haveraised on our website.

At first this may seem theright approach by givingpeople a probationary tenancy.However this will do little totarget the behaviour that isalready prevalent in all ourcommunities.

A family might lose theirassured tenancy, have to berehoused and spend years

constantly being moved todifferent areas.

Not good for the childrenwho live in such homes whomore than most need stabilityin school and health services.Given landlords more powertoo will have an impact ontenants rights which have beenfought for and won by many.

Perhaps most importantlythis will lead to even greaterpressure for some of the mostvulnerable tenants in a timewhen cuts to housing supportservices find many peoplestruggle.

This discussion also meansattention is taken from thecontinuing impact of welfarecuts and the ConDem agendawhich they hope will lead tothere being no social housinglandlords but all the housingavailable being in the hands oflandlords who will put profitbefore people.

Do we want a return to thedays of the slum landlords?Social Housing should beavailable for all who need itonly a proper buildingprogramme for the many newhomes that are required canbegin to meet that need.

HOUSING BILL DIVIDES OPINION

WARNING: a coalition of Scottish charities have written to Margaret Burgess MSP criticising the bill

Join the SSP hereFill in this form and send it to: Scottish Socialist Party, Suite 370, 4th Floor, Central Chambers, 93 Hope St, Glasgow G2 6LD.Or telephone: 0781 126 5388Or see our website: www.scottishsocialistparty.orgg I would like to join the Scottish Socialist Partyg I would also like to join Scottish Socialist Youthg I would like more info on the Scottish Socialist PartyName........................................................................................Address...........................................................................................................................................................................................Phone.........................................................................................Email...........................................................................................

INTERNATIONAL


by Mick Napier, Scottish PalestineSolidarity Campaign

THE St Andrews Jewish Societyand an American-type fraternityannounced a charity fund-raisingball for the end of April in a localhotel for the Friends of the IDF(Israeli Army) and the JNF (Jew-ish National Fund), a racist charitywhich has Tony Blair and GordonBrown as Patrons and works todispossess Palestinians and toplant trees over Palestinian villagesites to obliterate all signs of theethnic cleansing that has been tak-ing place from 1948 until today.

The Golf Hotel received overa hundred letters of complaintand finally pulled the plug on theevent when it became clear thatthere would be significant num-bers of noisy protestors outsidetheir door on the night.

Cloak and daggerAn event of sorts went ahead

at a secret venue on 26 April. Invarious spots around St Andrews,participants gathered in smallgroups before being collected bytaxis and taken to a destinationunknown to them.

From the 100 attendees ex-pected at the Golf Hotel, around

35 went through the cloak anddagger rigmarole to raise fundsfor the Israeli Army.

The JNF is not having a goodyear, or a good decade. Startingwith the protests against theirfund-raiser in Glasgow in De-cember 2001, which was attendedby Bill Clinton and a representa-tive of the Scottish Executive, thecampaigning pressure to removethe taxpayer subsidies to thischarity has built up.

The year after Clinton spokefor the JNF, Israeli General ShaulMofaz spoke at the same Glas-gow Hilton, and hundreds ofangry demonstrators blocked themain entrance for hours. The

catering staff declined to servethe JNF event, and the diners al-ready inside had the novel expe-rience of having to servethemselves. How can one enjoya good banquet without servants!

It was not always easy,though, possibly because somewere scared off by the inevitabil-ity of accusations of “anti-semi-tism” for taking on what is anextension of the Israeli State.

An example was the series ofJNF fundraisers across the UK,where Colin Powell spoke and -although the Glasgow leg wasvigorously protested by hundreds- was met with only a handful ofprotesters in London. Today, in

contrast, no public JNF event inBritain goes unchallenged and theracist organisation - whose activ-ities in Israel/Palestine would becriminal if carried out here -called off its Glasgow Hiltonfundraisers after Goldie Hawn re-galed the Hilton banqueters in2008 on the theme of ‘Laughter isthe Best Medicine’, while Gazawas cold and hungry and waitingfor the massacre that Israel un-leashed on them later that year.

Charitable statusSixty-eight Westminster MPs

have signed a motion calling forthe JNF to be stripped of its char-itable status, and so toxic has theJNF brand become that DavidCameron has resigned as a Pa-tron and Ed Miliband and NickClegg have declined that samestatus, traditionally held by allthree main party leaders.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brownremain as JNF Patrons.

The next opportunity to hastenthe defeat of the JNF is at theJNF’s charity shoot at Cowan’sLaw, near Galston in Ayrshire onTuesday 4 June.

• Details: scottishpsc.org.uk Contact Mick Napier at:[email protected]

St Andrews protest: bad newsfor racist Jewish National Fund

SOLIDARITY: join the next anti-JNF protest in Ayrshire on 4 June

by Sandra Webster

THE future of FaslanePeace Camp seems lessuncertain after a weekend ofactivity at the site. Activistshad given themselves adeadline of the end of May tofind eight new people whowould be committed to livingthere in the coming year.

Peace activists want tobroaden the campaign andtake the battle about the roleof Trident in an independentScotland to the heart of theargument in the Holyrood andWestminster parliaments.

At the weekend whichattracted over 60 people, pastand present campers sharedtheir stories of the actionsthat have taken place there.Saturday was also a work dayto show what practical livingat the camp entails.

Living a life off-grid with noelectricity or running watercan be a challenge,

especially combined with anapproach which means themajority of campers work aswell as participate in regulardemonstrations.

The camp, which is now theoldest occupation in the world,is 31-years-old this year. Oneof the people attending theweekend was young SSPmember Lindsay Webster.

She has been visiting thecamp over the past year sinceher first visit with SSP CampsieBranch. She had attended toconsider if she should join thecamp. Lindsay said:

“It’s so important, in thelead-up to the referendum,that the Peace Campcontinues. I have to thinkabout my future studies butwill be considering beingmore involved with the camp.

“If I’m not staying full time,I’ll definitely be spending partof my week here.”

With the camp’s futurelooking slightly more secure,

it’s important that we offerpractical support.

Part of the intention of theweekend was to begin toorganise a support groupwho will allow campers timeaway, and to offer supportwith physical work as well asfundraising. New camperswill need a lot of people toget behind their efforts.

The Acting Strange TheatreCompany and SSP CampsieBranch have invited otherpeople to come along to thecamp with them on 28 Junewhen they’ll be sharing musicand drama and demonstrating.

Rosie Kane and herbrother will be sharing songsand words from Rosie’sshow. Also on the bill will beMarie Collins, a youngtalented singer-songwriterfrom Paisley.

• If you are interested in joiningus on 28 June, please email:[email protected]

Issue 41710th - 23rd May 2013

[email protected]

for Socialism, Independenceand Internationalism

Peace camp future in spotlightPEACEFUL CAMPER: full-time resident, Gwilym. Faslane Peace Camp needs eight new full-timers

RMT accuseOrkney Ferriesof ‘contempt’for workforceby Voice Reporter

SHIPPING union RMT hasslammed management’scomplete contempt for theworkforce in a long-runningdispute over pay on OrkneyFerries and warned that thearrogant and bullying attitude ofthe company could force anescalation of the current action.

Despite repeated attempts byunion representatives tonegotiate a settlement to thedispute, which currently involvesaction short of a strike by RMTmembers, the Orkney Ferriesmanagement wrote to therecognised unions refusing pointblank to move from their “offer” ofa below-inflation pay award ofjust 1 per cent - a de-facto paycut and an undermining of theirstaff’s standards of living.

CutsLate last year staff rejected the

company’s position that any payincrease must be funded throughcuts to jobs and conditions.

RMT General Secretary BobCrow said:

“Orkney Ferries have nowforced a stand-off through theirsheer contempt towards theirstaff. The union will be discussingthe next move which could, ofcourse, include an escalation ofthe action as we head towardsthe busy summer months.”

Steve Todd, RMT NationalSecretary, added: “It is down tothe company to recognise theanger and resentment that theirstance has generated and toagree to get back round the tablefor meaningful talks aimed atresolving this dispute rather thanslamming the door in our faces.”

if you liked the bedroom tax you’ll love …...£1 •issue 417 •10th - 23rd may 2013 bedroom...

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