scottish socialist party launches 2015 manifesto

FOR AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST SCOTLAND:

STANDING UP FORSCOTLANDS WORKINGCLASS MAJORITY

2015 General Election manifestos

FOR AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST SCOTLAND:

STANDING UP FORSCOTLANDS WORKINGCLASS MAJORITY

2015 General Election manifesto

CONTENTS

Introduction

Independence deferred

More powers for Holyrood

Standing up for Scotlands working class majority

How is this programme to be paid for?

Building Scotlands Socialist Party

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ISBN 978-0-9571986-7-8Design and layout by @revolbiscuit

Promoted by Colin Fox, 81/5 Clerk Street, Edinburgh EH8 9JG. Printed by Events Armoury, 9 West Richmond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9EF

www.ScottishSocialistParty.org

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 5

INTRODUCTIONThe outcome of this General Election hangs inthe balance. Labour and the Tories are runningneck and neck in the polls. Neither hassufficient support to form a government.Neither enjoys the confidence of a majority ofvoters. Each may try to govern as a minority ormore likely form a coalition with the much-reduced and much-despised Lib Dems. David Camerons plea to be given a second

term rests on the premise that the Tories havesteered Britain out of a recession and out of therecord indebtedness Labour left behind. But hisappeal appears to have fallen on deaf earslargely because millions of people across Britainhave seen no real improvement in theirstandard of living and are in fact 1,800-a-yearworse off than they were in 2010. [Source: TUC] The widespread hostility towards the Tory/Lib

Dem Coalition and their austerity measuresshould mean Ed Miliband is well ahead in thepolls. So why isnt he? The answer is that people recall Labours

own insipid economic performance last time.And their uninspiring programme and leaderintends to implement 90 per cent of Tory/LibDem cuts should they win on 7 May. There is apalpable lack of enthusiasm for Ed Milibandbecause he offers no real alternative to theTories. And yet Labours problem is morefundamental than that. No one knows whatLabour stands for anymore. They do notinspire confidence among working class peoplelooking for change and desperate to see animprovement in their standard of living.

If the Tories lose, Cameron will be forced toresign and will most likely be replaced byanother Eton public schoolboy Boris Johnstonor George Osborne. If Labour loses, Milibandwill be similarly dumped. The other main loser in this election may

well be UKIPs Nigel Farage. For years thedarling of the right-wing media who offer himevery platform to espouse his odious view thatimmigrants and Europe are to blame for theeconomic and social crisis caused by Citybankers. It is clear UKIP will win barely ahandful of seats. And in such circumstancesthe three pro-EU parties at Westminster areunlikely to grant him the IN/OUT referendumon Europe he demands. For working people however one thing is clear

this election will change very little 8 May willfollow 7 May as usual. Austerity and cuts inpublic services will continue to bite. The jobsmarket will continue to be dominated by povertywages and zero hour contracts. Our publicservices will continue to deteriorate in quality andreach. And the corporate elite who hold Britain to

ransom will continue to call the shots through thepoliticians they keep in their pockets. In stark contrast to the inconclusive outcome

expected at Westminster however MaysGeneral Election in Scotland, the first test ofpublic opinion since the independencereferendum, looks set to produce a dramaticreversal for Labour. They currently hold mostScottish seats. But the polls suggest Labourcould lose two thirds of them as its chronicpolitical decline, a process the ScottishSocialist Party first identified 16 years ago,reaches a dramatic climax. The independence referendum was the last

straw for many Labour voters who saw theparty of Keir Hardie, Anuerin Bevan and TonyBenn get into bed with the Tories. And tocompound their sense of betrayal Labourbacktracked on The Vow Gordon Brown madeat the height of the referendum debate todeliver substantial new powers to Holyrood. This widespread desire for more powers has

unified former Yes and No voters. The party seento be associated most with that outcome is theSNP. And their perceived ability to force the issueat Westminster has transformed the politicalscene in Scotland in a way not seen in 40 years.

It is ironic that responsibility for Laboursimminent collapse in Scotland lies with theirmost electorally successful Prime Minister.Tony Blairs legacy will not be the Iraq War andhis lies above all, nor his support forprivatisation of the NHS, education and ourpublic services, nor tuition fees, or his viciousattacks on the poor, or his cosy relationshipwith George Bush and with Rupert Murdoch atNews International. It will in the last analysis behis conviction that ideology is dead and thatall that matters is what works. Hundreds ofthousands of Scots were further angered byJohann Lamonts revisionist claim thatuniversal benefits represented the somethingfor nothing culture. It is a matter of public record that the Scottish

Socialist Party wanted to see IndependenceAlliance candidates contest all 59 Scottishseats this time round. We felt that was the bestway to inflict most damage on Labour andmaintain the strength of the broadindependence movement. We wanted the SNPand the Greens to join us in presenting unifiedsingle candidates in each constituency. But itwas not to be. The SNP rejected our offer.We are therefore standing in a limited

number of seats to present the socialistalternative to neoliberalism, maintain our ownprofile and provide vital experience for thosehundreds of new Scottish Socialist Partymembers who have joined the party in recentmonths.

6 SSP General Election Manifesto 2015

All four mainstream parties standcondemned by Scotlands appalling levelsof poverty and inequalityA recent Scottish Government report

concluded that more than half a million Scotslive in poverty. In 2012/2013 for example 4 percent of Scots were living in extreme poverty.Over 510,000 people, including 100,000children and 80,000 pensioners living inhouseholds where the income was lower than11,500. A further 230,000 had householdincomes lower than 9200. [*ScottishGovernments Severe Poverty in Scotlandreport March 2015] Working age adults and children were more

likely to live in poverty particularly after housingcosts. In 2012/13, around 10 per cent ofworking age adults and 10 per cent of childrenwere living in severe poverty, as were 8 percent of pensioners. After housing costs, 16 percent of working age adults, 15 per cent ofchildren and 6 per cent of pensioners inScotland were living in severe poverty. Overthe last decade, while the rate of relativepoverty has fallen, a greater proportion ofhouseholds in poverty were in severe orextreme low income in 2012/13.

The statistics also show that employment isno longer a protection against poverty as 44per cent of working age adults in extremepoverty lived in households where at least oneadult was in employment, as did 60 per cent ofchildren. Half of children living in extremepoverty were in households where at least oneadult was in full time employment. The Scottish Socialist Party believes this is

the most important issue in this election andwe have no confidence in any of the otherparties half-hearted efforts to turn this dismalsituation around. The other parties contesting these elections

may cry crocodile tears about this widening

divergence in earnings between workingpeople and their bosses but they stand fullsquare behind the neoliberal economic systemthat manufactures such inequalities. TheScottish Socialist Party does not. We offerworking class people the democratic socialistalternative to neoliberalism. There is, we insist,nothing new, liberal or democratic about thesystematic and widespread exploitation ofScotlands working class majority. Our support for a 10-an-hour living wage

and an end to zero hour contracts forms thecentrepiece of our commitment to workingpeople in Scotland. It stands alongside ourcommitment to independence and our supportfor extra powers devolved to Holyrood toprotect working class Scots from the ravagesof further Westminster attacks.

Scotland average10%


INDEPENDENCE DEFERREDSupporting Scotlands democratic right to self-determination doesnt make you a Scottishnationalist it makes you a democrat ColinFox, Yes Scotland Advisory Board member andSSP joint national spokesman. The result of the referendum was decisive.

The Scottish people made it clear theypreferred more powers for Holyrood at thisstage because that in their view offeredsufficient protection from the political ideologyprevalent at Westminster.The SSP wants to see further powers

devolved to Holyrood as promised. In oursubmission to the Smith Commission reproduced below we made it clear we wouldcontinue to advocate full powers for ourParliament. Whilst we continue to support anindependent socialist Scotland, a moderndemocratic republic, as democrats we acceptthe 18 September result and recognise thevote was an endorsement of the DevoMaxoption where all powers except Defence andForeign Affairs should be devolved toHolyrood.

MORE POWERS FORHOLYROODThe Smith Commission turned out to be theproverbial damp squib recommending a set ofwholly inadequate and very limited additionalpowers. We want far greater and more far-reaching powers than that. For the ScottishSocialist Party the power to change things infavour of Scotlands working class majority iscrucial. We want to prize economic andpolitical control out of the hands of an un-elected, corporate elite in order to eradicate thewidespread poverty, inequality and injustice soprevalent in 21st century Scotland. The Scottish Socialist Party has supported

independence since our inception in 1998. Wecampaign for an independent socialist Scotlandand have been prominent in this debate for thepast 16 years. As one of the founders of thecross-party Scottish IndependenceConvention in 2005 and the Yes Scotlandcoalition in 2012 together with the SNP and theScottish Green Party, we were represented onthe Yes Scotland Advisory Board throughoutthe referendum campaign.There can be little doubt Scotland is far more

broadly engaged and politically energised todaythan it was before the independence debatebegan. We regret the Commissions decision touniquely exclude the Scottish Socialist Partyfrom its multilateral deliberations. The fact thatall 5 other parties involved in the referendum

campaign were included and the SSP wasexcluded shows, as far as we are concerned,poor judgement on the Commissions behalfand reflects a rejection not only of the spirit ofthis debate, but also the specific instructionslaid down by the Prime Minister that thisdiscussion should involve cross-party talks andfacilitate an inclusive engagement processacross Scotland.

The excuse offered to us, that only partiesrepresented at Holyrood were to be invited toparticipate fully, ignores the fact that thisreferendum was not a Parliamentary event buta rather unique national plebiscite. Notwithstanding these weaknesses in the

Commissions approach we made the followingsubmission in good faith and believe ourproposals, as outlined below, are in keepingwith the wishes the Scottish people expresseddemocratically on 18 September 2014.The Scottish Socialist Party believes the

powers bestowed on Holyrood by TheScotland Act 1997 must be significantlyaugmented. We support the devolution of allfiscal and tax raising powers for example toallow Holyrood to eradicate the terrible socialproblems, stark inequalities and appallingdeprivation that blights this wealthy nation ofours. We believe the Scottish people have littlefaith that such outcomes will ever be achievedvia Westminster.

It cannot surely be acceptable to anyone inthis debate that one in three children in someareas of our country live in poverty, that800,000 are now classed as working poorbecause their pay levels are so low, that nearlyone in three households continue to suffer theindignity of fuel poverty and that 157,000families languish on the apparently nevershortening waiting list in need of a decenthome to live in. Yet that is the stark reality of21st century Scotland. This is not the type ofsocially divided, low wage economy our peoplewish to build. And the Scottish people haveshown time and again they want to see theeconomic and financial powers to deal withthese matters devolved to Holyrood.We further contend that the referendum

highlighted the need to build a moreprosperous, fairer and more democraticScotland. Far too many of our countrymen andwomen are denied the chance to live in such aland and fulfil their potential.


STANDING UP FORSCOTLANDS WORKINGCLASS MAJORITYThe SSP has consistently fought for theinterests of working class Scots against theirexploiters, for the millions against themillionaires, for labour against capital. We are a working class party who intend to

replace capitalist exploitation with socialistdemocracy including democracy in ourworkplaces and communities.

1. JOBS FOR ALL DECENT JOBS!The Tory/Lib Dem Coalition boast of falling

unemployment but beneath the statistics lurksan ugly reality of 1.5 million new jobs createdin the UK since 2010 only one in 40 are full-time and permanent. There are 80,000 fewerfull-time jobs in Scotland in 2015 than in 2010.And 32 per cent of the new jobs are self-employed. Most people would prefer a securejob but cant find one. 80 per cent of the self-employed now live in poverty.The working class is cursed by casualisation

with insecure, temporary, part-time and low-paid jobs the main alternative tounemployment. Hundreds of thousands ofpeople now struggle to survive on 8-12 hours aweek. There is a vast pool of people desperatefor extra hours who are abused byunscrupulous employers who use them only inbusy spells with no overtime or premiumpayments for anti-social periods. Many workers rely on two or three jobs to

pay the bills, losing out on paid breaks, sickpay, holiday pay and other in-work benefits.Under-employment is the new 21st centuryvariant of the mass unemployment previousgenerations endured.

Zero Hours Contracts - zero rightsThe pinnacle of job insecurity and lack of

workplace rights are the notorious Zero HoursContracts. An estimated 200,000 workers inScotland are living with this constant insecurity. It means being contracted to work but with

absolutely no guarantee of how many hoursyou will get each week. Workers on Zero Hour Contracts are

expected to be on call, unpaid, waiting to findout when theyre wanted. When people declinea shift offered to them they are frequently notoffered any more thereafter, as bossesexercise their power to punish them.These obnoxious forms of modern serfdom

are not isolated to the outer fringes of theeconomy they are at its epicentre in every HighStreet and retail park, fast food outlet,university and social care provider in the land.Our grandparents generation would never

have put up with such an affront to theirsecurity of employment. We believe in fullemployment with equal rights and in-workbenefits for all part-time, fixed-term contractand agency workers.The Scottish Socialist Party would abolish

Zero Hours Contracts and legislate to providesecure employment with guaranteed hours forall, whether part-time or full-time.

2. AUSTERITYBefore the last election Conservative,

Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP politicianswent before voters with plans to slash publicspending and sell off our public services,supposedly to reduce the debt taken on by theBritish government when it bailed out thebanks.As many economists have pointed out Britain

has had a National Debt or deficit for over 100years. So when Nick Clegg claims on TV [TheLeaders Debate 2/4/15] that the country pays42billion-a-year in interest as if it wasunprecedented he is quite wrong. The economic illiteracy of austerity has been

exposed a thousand times over since DavidCameron took the helm. His government ispushing our social security system to breakingpoint, with the Department of Work andPensions (DWP) pressing staff to sanctionclaimants to meet arbitrary quotas. Around650,000 people were sanctioned in 2011, whenunemployment peaked but that number roseto nearly 900,000 in 2013, despite statisticspurporting to show unemployment nearing pre-2008 levels.

In the past year, more people weresanctioned than fined by the courts. Dr DavidWebster of Glasgow University, givingevidence to a Westminster inquiry, said theDWP ran an amateurish, secret penal systemwith little accountability. The welfare state thatprovides a safety net for vulnerable people isbeing dismantled.Millions of pounds from Holyroods budget for

devolved policies have been spent mitigatingthe effects of the deeply unpopular bedroomtax and the abolition of council tax benefit,which would have otherwise plungedthousands of families into debt.The SSP will bring down the housing benefit

bill by building 100,000 affordable homes forrent over four years, rather than letting moneycontinue to flow into private landlords pockets.We would reinstate housing support grants toprovide councils with funding to build andrepair homes.Last year, research funded by the Equality

and Human Rights Commission found thatwomen, ethnic minorities and disabled people


have been hit the hardest by the UKs austerityagenda. The Tories have used immigrants as ascapegoat at every opportunity for theeconomic crisis caused by their friends in thefinancial sector.Across Europe, austerity brought a backlash

in Greece, Spain and Ireland where anorganised movement has emerged, rejectingthe right-wing economics that dominateEurope.In Scotland, 1.6 million voted to reject the

British state last year. Many rightly viewedindependence as a blow against Thatcherismand its legacy, opening an avenue to adivergent political future.The SSP is at the forefront of the movement

against austerity because there is a betteralternative.

3. POVERTY PAY Poverty pay is now endemic in Scotland. It is

outrageous that in the 14th-richest nation onearth we have one million people living on orbelow the breadline. Some 52 per cent of thosein poverty are in work. Traditionallyemployment was seen as the route out ofpoverty, but as wages have fallen as a share ofnational wealth low paid work has become thebiggest source of poverty.Two-thirds of people who found employment

in 2014 were paid less than 7.65-an-hour.The government boast that 1.2 million

workers will enjoy a 20p increase in theminimum wage in October 2015, rising to6.70-an-hour. The SSP regards that level of wage as

inadequate. It is far too low to be a livingwage. We support a legally enforced living of10-an-hour for all over 16.We call for that 10 rate now not 2020 or

some other distant date based on the modestformula of a legally enforced minimum set attwo-thirds median male wages in Scotland. Wealso insist this should be accompanied byequal pay for women.The government admits that you need to be

earning 10-an-hour in order to pay your ownway today. They accept that anyone earningless than 10-an-hour will still qualify for top-upbenefits because their wages are not highenough to live on.We share the policy of the Bakers union

(BFAWU), and indeed the entire TUC, whichvoted unanimously for a 10-per-hourminimum wage for all workers at its 2014Congress. The SSP demands:

A legally enforceable living wage of 10 now,for all over 16, with equal pay for women. Carers Allowance to be set at the 10minimum wage level.

Inspection of the accounts of any Small andMedium Enterprise which claims they cantafford 10-an-hour, with government subsidiesin cases of genuine proven need. A 35-hour maximum working week withoutany loss of earnings as the first step towards afour-day week. A minimum of 6 weeks paid annual leave forall workers, plus public holidays (includingdefence of the May Day public holiday). 12 months statutory paid maternity leavewithout loss of rights; and one monthsstatutory paid paternity leave with partnersbeing given the option of transferring some oftheir maternity/paternity leave to each other.

Protect jobs and servicesThe financial power to intervene in the

Scottish economy to protect jobs and servicesunder threat should also be devolved. Webelieve the Scottish public made it clearthroughout the referendum that they wish tosee key industries and services vital to oureconomy, like The Royal Mail, our railways andthe energy sectors, returned to publicownership. Such powers would then ensurethat decisions about how our services andindustries are run in Scotland would rest withthe Scottish people and would be driven bysocial need not corporate profit alone.It is clear that the privatisation agenda, so

prevalent in the policies of successiveWestminster regimes, has little support north ofthe Border. The Scottish people have made itrepeatedly clear they prefer public ownershipto privatisation and the SSP supports the viewthat the power to return industries and servicesto public hands must also therefore bedevolved to Holyrood.

Power to eradicate povertyThe Scottish Socialist Party believes financial

and legal powers to protect Scotland'semployees in both the private and public sectorfrom 'poverty pay' and exploitation are alsoessential. Millions of people in Britain are nowpoor and in work. They earn a pittance and relyon state benefits to make ends meet. That, inour view, is not the 'full employment' theScottish people support. A competitive, modernScottish economy cannot be constructed onslave wages. We therefore suggest all powers over the

national minimum wage be devolved toHolyrood and we support the establishment ofa statutory new 'Living Wage' as the ScottishTrades Union Congress and others haveadvocated. Moreover as current Employment laws offer

little meaningful protection to workers from'slave wages', indignity and humiliation at work


or the bullying of unscrupulous employers werecommend all Employment legislation shouldalso now be transferred to Holyrood. And since a large majority of our citizens

wish to belong to an appropriate trade unionthat might afford them some protection at workwe believe such powers should also betransferred from Westminster to Holyrood. Insuch circumstances the worst anti-union lawsin Europe would be have to be immediatelyrescinded. The Scottish Socialist Party supports powers

being ceded to Holyrood to allow theintroduction of a statutorily enforceable LivingWage as recommended by the Trades UnionCongress and the Living Wage Foundation. Butwe would go further and insist that the mosteffective way to tackle the problem would beintroduce 10-an-hour for every employee inScotland now. This is the level researchershave found a person needs to be earning inScotland today in order to pay their own wayand not have to rely on additional state benefitsbecause their wages are so low. Under currentcircumstances the taxpayer is in effectsubsidising bad employers.

Rescind the anti-union lawsThe SSP also believes employment legislation

should be devolved to Holyrood to establish alevel-playing field between employees andemployers in Scottish industrial relations.In the 30 years since the miners' strike of

1984/5 collective bargaining rights fororganised trade unions have been virtuallybanished from three-quarters of workers,leading to lower wages, worse health andsafety, and a general climate of fear in UKworkplaces.Unscrupulous employers and governments

have driven down workers' rights using themost repressive battery of anti-trade unionlaws in the whole of Europe. Devised byThatcher they were retained by New Labourduring their 13 years in government and addedto by David Cameron since 2010.The Tories want to make it impossible to

exercise the right to withdraw your labour indefence of wages, jobs or rights at work. Noother party has pledged to repeal these anti-trade union laws. The SSP will work with theSTUC in campaigning for the ScottishParliament to have the powers to implement aCharter of Workers' Rights, including: The guaranteed right to join a union and helporganise it without fear of victimisation. rights and facilities for union reps and officialsto openly recruit to the unions in allworkplaces. defence and restoration of the 'check-off'system of collecting union subs.

guaranteed rights and facilities for electedunion reps to represent members duringworking hours. full legal employment rights from day one ofemployment. abolition of all fees for Employment Tribunalhearings. trade union recognition in all workplaceswhere members join. reinstatement of full, free collective bargainingin all sectors and workplaces, including onwages, conditions, training, equalities, healthand safety. the constitutional right to strike after a simplemajority vote, including the right to takesolidarity action with fellow workers, andremoval on the ban on so-called politicalstrikes. workers' control of health and safety at workthrough elected health and safety stewards. boards of management to have a majoritymade up of elected, accountablerepresentatives of workplace unions and thewider working class, to establish genuineworkplace democracy.Jobs, pay and workplace rights are central

issues for the SSP. These issues more thanany show working people whose side politicalparties are on. We stand for decent, dignified,secure, well-paid jobs and workplacedemocracy.

4. FUEL POVERTYWith fuel poverty now also a major problem in

one in three households in Scotland, we believethe government needs to act against profiteeringenergy companies by imposing a windfall tax ontheir profits. This could pay for additional fuel-poverty programmes to protect the mostvulnerable and extend energy efficiencyschemes. Both measures represent a wise long-term investment as far as we are concerned. And the power to ensure renewable

electricity generated in local communities ispublicly owned and made freely available tothose local communities most affected particularly since many are not on the nationalgas grid is also recommended.The SSP would return the oil and gas

industry to public ownership. Another industry with vast job expansion

potential is the renewable energy sector.Scotlands offshore renewables industry hasbeen described as the Saudi Arabia of greenenergy. George Osbornes recent Budget handed

over 1.3billion in tax cuts to North Sea Oiloperators. If theyd been taxed at the samelevel as in Norway, that would have raised anextra 118billion over the last decade forinvestment in clean green energy.


Private ownership of the renewables sectormeans profiteering by big landowners andmultinational energy companies.The SSP demands:

Democratic public ownership of all forms ofenergy, including renewables, oil, gas,electricity, hydroelectric, to democratically planinvestment, massive job creation andproduction that would benefit both people andplanet.

5. FRACKINGThe Scottish Socialist Party opposes onshore

hydraulic fracturing in Scotland. We believe theevidence from Australia and the United States,where energy companies have been extractinggas using this method for decades, has shownshort and long term damage to theenvironment.We have been prominent in local campaigns

across Scotland opposed to fracking. SSPCouncillor Jim Bollan led the successfulcampaign in West Dunbartonshire to banfracking, making it the first Scottish Council todo so.We believe the companies involved in

fracking show far too little regard for thedamage they inflict in local communities in theirpursuit of profit.The SSP advocates a responsible energy

policy that ensures long term supplies and yetprotects the environment. That is why wefavour greater investment in renewables whereScotland has the potential to be a world leader.

6. TAX-RAISING POWERSThe Scottish Socialist Party believes all taxes

and duties raised here in Scotland should bespent here. And that includes Income tax andNational Insurance Contributions, VAT, dutieson alcohol, tobacco and fuel, Corporation tax,Capital Gains Tax, Road Tax, oil revenues, AirPassenger Duty etc. Such revenues could thenbe directed towards the social democraticmeasures the people of Scotland support suchas the eradication of poverty, the introductionof a living wage for all, public ownership of vitalindustries and services, and the provision offree public transport to combat climate changeand greater social mobility.We reject the claim made by some English

Tory MPs in particular that Scotland would loseout in such circumstances as we areapparently subsidised by taxes raised inEngland. The fact is for the last 35 yearsScotland has paid in more into the UK Treasuryin taxes than we ever got back in serviceprovision. Last year for example 9.8 per cent ofall UK taxes were collected in Scotland despitehaving only 8.4 per cent of the UK population.The devolution of Income tax alone for

example would, we estimate bring in 11billionto the Holyrood exchequer annually. We also recommend the power to introduce

windfall taxes on those corporations declaringexcessive profits such as the energy firms inrecent years should be devolved.And we must also move to ensure the burden

of taxation moves progressively from the poor tothe rich. The legal power to pursue those whoseek to evade their obligations by secreting theirwealth abroad in so-called tax havens is also ameasure we believe should be devolved. Allsuch revenues recovered could then be used tofund poverty busting initiatives.

7. REPLACE THE COUNCIL TAXWITH AN INCOME-BASEDALTERNATIVEOne way to shift the burden of tax from the

poor to the better off would be to replace theunfair Council Tax with an income-basedalternative. The Scottish Socialist Party advocates the

introduction of a 'Scottish Service tax' to payfor local government services raised via a levyon an individual's income. Their tax obligationwould rise as their earnings rise. Under ourplans someone whose income is less than12,000 pays nothing, those on the Scottishaverage of 17,800 would pay less than theydo at the moment in Council Tax and asincomes rise so does the person's tax bill. Across Scotland, hard pressed families are

facing up to additional pressures being placedon their living conditions by local government.The first is the round of cuts and austerityprogrammes that Labour, the SNP and theTories are pushing through at local level. Thesecond is the regressive Council Tax whichensures the richest pay a far smaller sharethan anyone else. For whilst the gap betweenthe richest and poorest grows wider and wider,the Council Tax ensures those with the mostwill never pay more than three times those withthe least. Proportionally this means those leastable to pay face the highest tax bill.

The Scottish Service Tax will not be based onarbitrary household bandings that favour therich, but on a progressive income tax model,recognising the ability to pay. The proposition issimple and the scheme works like this: the first 0-12,000 of income would be tax-free Income between 12,000 and 30,000 wouldbe taxed at 4.5 per cent Income between 30,000 and 40,000 wouldbe taxed at 15 per cent Income between 40,000 and 50,000 wouldbe taxed at 18 per cent Income between 50,000 and 90,000 wouldbe taxed at 21 per cent


Income above 90,000 would be taxed at 23per centFor example, on an income of 16,000 a

year, the first 12,000 is under Band 1, so youwould pay no tax on that. The following 4000would be taxed at 4.5 per cent, under band 2,giving you a total bill of 180 each year underthis example.Under these proposals not only would

enough revenue be generated to avoidimplementing cuts to local services, but thesystem by which such revenue is generated isfar more equitable, leaving up to half of allfamilies and households facing a lower tax bill,whilst only the richest 16 per cent or so wouldfind themselves paying more, at a rate muchcloser to their fair share.Protecting communities against brutal cuts is

entirely possible. Not only will the SSPcontinue to oppose cuts at every stage, we willfurther continue to work to provide clear andwell costed alternatives to the brutal austeritythat have imposed upon us.

8. HOUSING Scotland suffers from an appalling shortage

of affordable housing. With 157,000 familiesnow on the waiting list the problem is gettingworse not better. The Scottish Government isfacing a losing battle as things stand withoutthe money or the powers to effect change. The Scottish Socialist Party calls for a

massive social house building programme tobe undertaken and the powers and resourcesneeded for such a plan are now urgentlyrequired. Monies raised from the new propertydevelopment tax in Scotland could in our viewbe used to part fund this much-needed newsocial housing plan. The SSP aims to build 100,000 new social

housing sector homes over the lifetime of thisParliament. Built to the highest environmentalstandards these homes would be available forrent to the neediest first. As well as solving thechronic housing shortage this programmewould also create thousands of jobs andapprenticeships, giving decent wages anddignity to young and older workers alike.The Scottish Socialist Party believes that the

private sector cannot meet Scotlands housingneeds. The SSP believes housing is a socialneed and should be met with social provision.Whether provided by local authorities orhousing associations this represents a bettermodel for the delivery of good quality housingat reasonable rents which actually meet thehousing needs of the whole people. The SSPalso takes the view that people do not simplylive in houses they live in communities andsocial housing providers needs to invest in theeconomic and social developments of their

local communities. Scotland suffers fromwidespread shortage of good, affordablehousing; a by-product of the disastrous Right toBuy Scheme now thankfully abandoned. AnSSP government would commit itself to asubstantial house-building programme as partand parcel of an ambitious programme ofsocial and economic regeneration. At the sametime it would take action to support hard-pressed mortgage payers while bringing intough regulation to control the private sector. We promise:

to build 100,000 new social sector housesavailable for rent over the four years of theParliament, to the highest environmentalstandards in Europe. an emergency action programme to renovateand install free insulation in every social sectorhouse in Scotland. to take the construction and supply industryinto democratic public ownership. to create thousands of jobs and 5,000apprenticeships per year for a massive buildingand renovation plan, with guaranteed tradeunion rights and conditions, with a ban onblacklisting and jobs and proper justice offeredto all past victims of blacklisting.

9. FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORTTo help Scotland meet our international

climate change obligations to reduce CO2emissions a raft of powers need to bedevolved. The Scottish Socialist Partyadvocates free public transport on all buses,trains, trams and ferries in Scotland. Thismeasure has many advantages but it isprimarily an initiative designed to encouragepeople to leave their cars at home anddramatically reduce the level of hazardouspollutants like CO2 and Nitrous Oxide [NO] inthe atmosphere. This measure would also offersignificant extra help to those poorer parts ofour society who use public transport most andit would therefore assist greater social mobility.The cost of such a measure is estimated to

be around 500million per annum measured bythe loss of current revenues and the cost ofextra rolling stock, buses and infrastructurerequired to cope with the increased demand.The Scottish Socialist Party believes therevenues from Road Tax and Air PassengerDuty in Scotland could be used to offset thesecosts.Such a joint approach to pollution and social

mobility has been introduced with remarkablesuccess in many cities in Europe and NorthAmerica. Again this is a power presentlyretained at Westminster that Scotland couldbenefit from devolving. The SSP is unique in advocating free public

transport. The measure has been adopted in


many cities in the world but Scotland would bethe first country to implement it as a innovativecontribution to combating CO2 emissions andaddress the poverty and social isolationsuffered by hundreds of thousands of Scots. Itwould greatly assist Scotlands battle againstpollution and climate change. It would alsocreate skilled manufacturing jobs to build fleetsof trains, buses and ferries, as well as directlycreating jobs on an integrated public transportnetwork.The SSP demands:

the return of all forms of transport into publicownership, with democratic, elected boards ofmanagement involving workers, communities,passengers and representatives of local andnational government. investment in the infrastructure andworkforces to establish a fare-free publictransport network.

10. WELFAREThe need to develop welfare policies in

keeping with Scotlands social democratic andsocialist values is sharply posed by legislationpassed at Westminster, which does notcomplement these aspirations. Indeed theentire tenor of the debate on welfare atWestminster seems predicated on holdingclaimants to account for an economic andfinancial crisis they did not cause. Such anunjust approach is understandably unpopularand unsupported in Scotland. The changes to housing benefit proposed

with the hated bedroom tax show just howalien such an approach is to Scotland. That isa proposal that would never have won amajority at Holyrood. The people of Scotlandwish, in our view, to see housing benefitpowers devolved as well as a wide range ofother measures designed to close the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor inthis country.That is the direction the people of Scotland,

on both sides of the independence debate,would like to see welfare and tax policiesmove.

Clearly closing the inequalities gap involvesgrowing the Scottish economy, but it alsorequires new power are devolved to Holyroodto ensure far greater investment in the highquality public services upon which the poor relydisproportionately. All welfare spending decisions affecting

Scotland should therefore in our view bedevolved to Holyrood not just housing benefitas some in the Better Together campaignhave suggested. Unemployment benefit,disability allowances, pension rights, taxcredits, child benefit, etc all should be devolved

in order to again reflect our social democraticvalues not the neoliberal concepts prevalent atWestminster.

Citizens IncomeThe SSP would introduce a Citizens Income

(CI) to address the widespread poverty andinequality in society today. Paid by governmentto all adults without means testing the CI wouldreplace most existing benefits (income support,child benefit, tax credits, jobseekers allowance,state pension, pension credits) and would formpart of wages for those in work (and taxedproportionately). In addition to eradicatingpoverty, a CI would rid the social securitysystem of its current stigma and provideeveryone in society the freedom to flourish.People would have the financial freedom tovolunteer, care for relatives or children, learn,or be artistically or musically creative. Therewould be the freedom to take work only whenemployers pay sufficiently to make it financiallyworthwhile. It would assist those starting upsmall businesses who often struggle during theearly stages to get a sufficient income to liveupon. A universal benefit, CI would reducestigma and promote solidarity. The CI wouldbecome a source of pride for Scotland, like theNHS, and would send a strong signal thateveryone in our society is valued no mattertheir personal circumstances.

Supporting carersWith the passing of the Self-Directed Support

Bill there should be more options for carersand those they support. Unfortunately this isnot the case. There is a postcode lottery withdifferent criteria applying throughout Scotland.More and more services usually offered bylocal authorities are being farmed out tocharities. We will campaign to make daycentres and respite provision a choice open tocarers. We call for an end to the care taxwhere disabled people are asked to contributemoney from their disability benefits as acontribution to their direct payment. Carersoften feel patronised by those representingthem. We will campaign for a carersParliament with real power to define policieswith representation decided directly by carersthemselves. Carers need regular respite. Wewill ensure carers have at least 14 nights ofrespite a year or the equivalent in hours whenit suits them. Carers should have a choice ofthe service provider of their choice. We opposethe closure of day centres and resources whichpeople with disabilities regard as a place tomeet their friends. We recognise the socialmodel of disability where there should beaccess for all in all areas of our community andwill fully support projects that enable this.


We believe carers should receive a livingwage. After all carers contribute ten billionpounds in unpaid care. We know many carerswork over sixty hours a week. As a start thoughwe would fund forty hours a week at the rate ofa living wage. We call for every school to havea young carers worker to offer practicalsupport. For older young carers we call foradded support when applying for furthereducation and employment.

BenefitsIf there is one group of workers who have

Bourne the brunt of Tory and Lib Dem attacks itis those living on benefits. The last five yearshave seen an unprecedented and viciousassault on the lives of the most vulnerable.Private companies such as ATOS andMAXIMUS have been employed to houndpeople off Disability Living Allowance. The SSPbelieves people with disabilities should beoffered support to find work where it is relevantand at the individual's own pace. The atrociousattacks on people with disabilities witnessed inrecent years is entirely driven by ideology in abrutal attempt to make sick people pay for afinancial crisis cause by the bankers. Benefit sanctions are having a detrimental

impact on many individuals lives. We will endthe need for people to have to apply for over60 jobs a day to receive their Job SeekersAllowance. We condemn the use of languagesuch as skivers to define people in receipt ofbenefits. The Scottish Socialist Party backs animmediate and complete end to the welfaresanctions regime.

11. HEALTHScotland is widely known as the sick man of

Europe because of its higher mortality rates incomparison the rest of the continent. We havea higher rate of heart disease, cancer, stroke,alcohol- and drug-related deaths, as well as ahigher prevalence of mental health problems.Health inequalities, the differences in healthoutcomes we see across the population fromrich to poor, are also wider. This means whereyou are born determines how long you arelikely to live, and how long you are likely to livein good health a damning indictment of 21stcentury Scotland. The most important factorswhich determine the health of the populationrelate to the socioeconomic inequalities insociety; housing conditions, the availability ofgood quality work, transport and the socialsecurity system. The SSPs policies across allof these areas would mean that the health ofthe Scottish population would be radicallyimproved, and the health inequalities acrossthe population would be radically reduced. TheSSP supports a publicly owned and run, free,

NHS, including prescriptions, optical care anddentistry. The NHS is the most effective andefficient way of providing high quality healthservices in the world. The NHS in Englandhowever has been disbanded by theTory/Liberal-Democrat Coalition (building onNew Labour privatisations and legislation priorto 2010) and now represents only a badgeand a funding stream from government. Privateproviders have been contracted to provideservices for profits and the remaining publiclyowned facilities have to compete to continue toprovide hospital and primary care services.Over time in England this will lead to acomplete privatisation of the system withmassive profits extracted and the public will beforced into a situation where they have to takeout private health insurance to be able toaccess a full range of health services.In Scotland we are in a better position with

very little involvement of multinationalcompanies in delivering NHS services.However, we must not be complacent. Weoppose the use of private financing deals tobuild or maintain parts of the NHS this is apolicy which is now draining money to privatecompanies from our health boards.

The pharmaceutical industry makes a hugeprofit out of the NHS (as a customer) and alsothe academic expertise and training providedthrough the Scottish education and researchfunding systems. Yet, we remain at the behestof the pharmaceutical industry in relation to theresearch areas they prioritise, the quality (orlack of quality) of the research they do and theproduction and marketing of medicines thatthey undertake. We therefore propose toreassert the role of the Scottish MedicinesConsortium in assessing which medicines areeffective and which should be funded by theNHS. We also propose to build a publicly-owned pharmaceutical company for the NHS inScotland to take the profits out of the systemas much as possible.There is also a renewed danger of

privatisation in Scotland with the creation ofJoint Integration Boards as part of theintegration of health and social services. Privatecompanies are circling around looking for a wayto make profits out of the system profits thatwould only be extracted by reducing the amountand quality of services provided, and throughattacks on the wages and conditions of staff.This is even more acute with the internationalTTIP agreement which the UK government isforcing through which may lead to privatecompanies suing the government if they areprevented from bidding to run the NHS.The SSP is committed to a fully publicly

owned and run health service. We work to


ensure the NHS is accessible to all as part of auniversal service, but which also meets thegreater need in the nations most deprivedareas. It makes most sense to spend NHSresources in preventing ill-health occurringrather than treating health problems after theyoccur. To that end, we support increasedinvestment in primary care whilst maintainingthe current network of local district generalhospitals and the services they provide.We support the increase in direct

employment of GPs and dentists (and otherparts of primary care) within the NHS. Wesupport a convergence of pay across the NHSgrades with no workers or contractors receivingless than a living wage of 10-per-hour.

12. EDUCATIONAusterity politics have taken their toll in

education, as in every other part of the publicsector. Over the last few months campaignshave had to be initiated in Falkirk and WestDunbartonshire to prevent Councils reducingthe amount of hours children are taught inprimary education. This shows how the fundingpressures from the Westminster governmentare now threatening the very fabric of this keyservice.Whilst our devolved Parliament has so far

avoided the Coalitions dismantling of stateeducation in England, it does not mean thatScottish education is immune from cuts.Schools in Scotland have been through aperiod of significant change with theintroduction of new National Qualificationswhich have brought new challenges to pupils,teachers and parents. The fact that it has beenintroduced against a background of a reductionin teaching posts of 4000 since 2007 givessome insight to pressures faced by those whowork in education. This has led to retreats onpromised reductions to class sizes.Colleges have also gone through a

prolonged period of uncertainty and changewith mergers that have often taken placeagainst the wishes of staff. College placeshave been cut and press reports suggest asmany as 10,000 are on waiting lists forcourses. With 1 in 5 young people currentlyunemployed there is a crying need for morecollege places, not less.We may have avoided tuition fees in

Scotland but university students are stillgraduating with an average of 22,000 of debtand working class young people are stilldramatically under represented at ouruniversities.The biggest disgrace of all however, is that by

far the biggest determinant for educationalattainment remains income and social class.According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

children from our poorest communities will be10-13 months behind in educational attainmentby the time they are 5. Whatever warm wordswe hear from mainstream politicians abouteducation they mean nothing whilst theobscenity of wealth inequality continues to growas a result of their continued policies of austerity.The SSP will:

fight poverty and inequality to close theattainment gap in education. return teacher numbers to pre-2007 levels. retain qualified teachers in every nursery close private schools for a fullycomprehensive, publicly owned andaccountable education system. oppose all cuts in hours for primary education

Higher educationThe Scottish Socialist Party supports free

education at all levels and believe it should beaccessible to all. We are pleased that inScotland students do not have to pay tuitionfees however things are far from perfect.Higher education in Scotland, like the rest ofthe economy, is being subjected to increasedmarketisation with profit increasingly takingprecedence over providing an intellectuallyinspiring experience for students. This isexemplified by the fact that lecturers andtutors, people at the pinnacle of theirprofessions, are increasingly findingthemselves on exploitative Zero Hour Contactsworrying about whether they'll have a job at theend of the academic session- this is notacceptable. Students, like the wider population,are struggling to cope with rising costs- rents inparticular are out of control.The SSP will reverse the marketisation of the

higher education system, egalitarianism anddemocracy, not profit, should be the tenets ofour higher education system. The SSPsupports the re-introduction of student grantsas a means of overcoming student poverty. Wealso support giving students the right to claimhousing benefit. We call for investment in goodquality, affordable accommodation for students.We believe education is for all and wouldincrease the provision of adult learningprogrammes, as well as ensuring thatemployers support staff that take time off fortraining or educational purposes.

13. ENHANCING DEMOCRACYThe historic independence debate also proved

there was an enormous appetite in Scotland nowfor extending democracy economic, social andpolitical democracy to a population eager totake on greater responsibility. And there will bewidespread agreement between all parties thatScotlands democracy could well do with it. Civicparticipation in local government by-elections for


example in recent years has become a nationalembarrassment at times with successfulcandidates emerging with as little as 10 per centof the electorate supporting them. Many willwonder how long the 97 per cent registrationlevel achieved for the referendum will hold or the91 per cent turnout rates achieved in someareas without a profound change in culture? The challenge for the Smith Commission

then is to bring forward recommendationswhich allow Scotland to harness and channelall that energy and enthusiasm for our ongoingpolitical benefit by developing a model forgreater democracy in 21st century Scotland.The Scottish Enlightenment provided the world

with much scientific and democratic rationalecentred on the principle that national sovereigntyultimately rests with the people. The SSPbelieves the tremendous democratic awakeningof 2013/14 represents another period ofdemocratic enlightenment and renewal and itprovides Scotland with a golden opportunity toadapt our political and civic institutions to makethem fit for purpose. This adaptation shouldinclude the following initiatives:

A written constitutionThe referendum debate offered up the

possibility of a Written Constitution for Scotlandand revealed Britain is one of the few countriesin Europe not to have one. The SSP believesHolyrood should be afforded the power to comeforward with such a Written Constitution forScotland that sets out and enshrines the valuesupon which we wish to build our modern nation.The Scottish Governments proposal to begin awide consultation on the matter enjoyedsupport on both sides of the independencedebate. We believe it is therefore an issue theSmith Commission should examine further andbuild on the cross-party progress made on thematter over the last few months.

Votes at 16And there can surely be little doubt that one

of the many successes of the referendum wasthe level of engagement and participation of 16and 17 year olds voting for the first time inScottish history. The SSP believes 16 and 17year olds should continue to enjoy thedemocratic franchise in all future elections inthis country from now on.

A modern democratic republicWe also believe it to be an outdated

anachronism that Scotlands Parliament mustseek the permission of an un-elected,unaccountable and unrepresentative monarchbefore any of its laws can be enacted. Webelieve such a situation is not only un-democratic but also anti-democratic. The case

for a national debate on whether Scotlandshould have its own elected Head of Stateaccountable to, and representative of, thepeople they purport to serve is in our opinionoverwhelming and long overdue. Theconclusion of the Scottish Enlightenment thatthe sovereignty of the Scottish people is utterlynegated by laws protecting hereditaryprivileges and the divine right ofKings/Queens. The fact that every MSP inScotland, elected their constituents, must swearan oath of allegiance, not to those they weresent to serve but to a monarch is completelyludicrous in this day and age. Bills passed bythe Scottish Parliament can just as easily besigned into law, not by the Queen as at present,but by the Presiding Officer/Speaker.

Extending democracy in this way is, in ouropinion, the best tribute the Commission couldpay to the tremendous civic renewal seen thiscountry has seen as a consequence of the2014 Constitutional debate. The Scottish Socialist Party supports a

modern, democratic, republic for Scotland. TheBritish monarchy is antiquated, class riddenand anachronistic. The world today is guidedby values of democracy, accountability andequality, which are the antithesis of monarchy.The SSP stands alongside those who seek to

extend democracy and equality. We support awide range of democratic reforms, includingeconomic and local, which we believe areurgently needed.Our case for extending reason and

democracy today belongs in the ScottishEnlightenment tradition. Feudal institutionsbased on hereditary privileges and divine rightspassed down to monarchs from The Almightyhave no part to play in modern politicalstructures and democratic constitutions let aloneat their apex. The British monarchy is clearly notmodern, it is patently not democratic and it iscertainly not egalitarian. Yet such values areuppermost in working class peoples ambitionstoday for the type of world we wish to see.

Whilst no one would argue Britains politicalinstitutions are run directly from BuckinghamPalace it would be equally foolish to suggestthe monarchy plays no role in British politicallife. It is most certainly not an institution contentto amuse tourists, entertain foreign dignitariesor fill the pages of Hello magazine. The StateOpening of Parliament is after all not yet aprivilege afforded to Posh and Becks or thelatest winner of Im a Celebrity Get Me Out ofHere! Her Majesty is there to remind us of theclass nature of British society and its peckingorder. Both Houses of Parliament [one anti-democratic and un-elected, the other corrupted


by big business and its cash] are frequentlysummoned to attend Her Majesty. Those who argue in favour of keeping the

monarchy on the grounds that she brings inmillions of tourists might wish to reflect on thefact the Queens home at Windsor Castle wasonly the 24th most popular tourist attraction inthe UK last year. As the campaign groupRepublic points out York Railway museumdrew more crowds than any Royal attractionlast year. Perhaps we should make Thomasthe Tank Engine our un-elected,unrepresentative Head of State?

Human rights protectionHuman Rights legislation is another area that

tends to highlight the gulf in attitudes betweenWestminster and Scotland. Westminster isfostering an agenda that seeks to roll backprogressive Human Rights legislation emanatingfrom Europe and the international courts. Scotson the other hand tend to support the protectionssuch laws bring to vulnerable groups andminorities. We therefore believe the power toimplement and oversee all Human Rightslegislation should be devolved to Holyrood.

14. IMMIGRATIONAnd if there is one issue above others which

shows the growing chasm between the politicsof Westminster and the political centre ofgravity in Scotland it is surely immigration.The Scottish Socialist Party believes

immigration brings substantial economic,cultural and social gains to Scotland. Wewarmly welcome those new Scots who havechosen to come here and make this country aricher place as a result. We highly recommendthat powers should be urgently devolved toHolyrood to enable Scotland to implement theinclusive, beneficiary policies we need ratherthan suffer at the hands of xenophobic bigotryand an anti-immigrant atmosphere that is nowgripping Westminster by the throat.The Scottish Socialist Party believes

immigrants who come here make this countrywealthier and more diverse, not poorer. Werecognise that migrant workers pay far moretaxes into the UK Treasury than they take out.The NHS and other key services and industryhave benefited enormously from the efforts andskills of immigrants over many decades.Immigrants come here for work not ourgenerous benefits 70-a-week JobseekersAllowance. Young workers from Poland, Spainand elsewhere have successfully helped haltScotlands chronic population decline. Ourquality of life in Scotland is greatly enhancedby our treasured multi-culturalism and such arich and diverse community of peoples. Scots have emigrated for centuries in search

of a better life. People who uproot themselvesand their families and travel thousands of milesin search of a better life here should be given awarm welcome and receives our admiration fortheir courage and determination. We Scots knowall about emigration. It is an experience Scotsfamilies have been forced into for generations.To those angry about immigration we adopt a

patient and persistent constructive dialoguethat reminds them It wasnt immigrants whocause the collapse in our living standards. It wasnt the Romanians who caused the

worst recession in 80 years or the Bulgarianswho bankrupted the economy. It wasnt immigrants who embezzled

100billion by avoiding their tax obligations. It wasnt immigrants who introduced the

bedroom tax or sold off the Royal Mail. It wasnt immigrants who forced one million

households in Scotland into fuel poverty.

15. EUROPE The EU is ultimately run, as far as the

Scottish Socialist Party is concerned, for andby the large European multi-nationalcorporations. It is a neoliberal trap. If it is everto be run in the interests of the peoples ofEurope, all 500million of us, then a clear,democratic, socially just pan-European planneeds to be set out and implemented. Thisbold political proposition may sound utopian inthe current climate but it is one the SSP andmany sister parties across Europe have beenworking towards for decades. It is to say theleast linked to the success of the working classmovement across the continent.Notwithstanding its challenges this approach ismore attractive to us than the idea of leavingthe EU and somehow seeing greaterdemocratic and economic progress beingachieved in the UK and across Europeseparately and yet simultaneously.For these reasons and upholding principles

of international solidarity the SSP is committedto working in a pan-European socialist allianceto achieve our goal of a socialist federation ofEuropean nations.

An in/our referendumWhilst big business in Britain is determined to

see the UK remain in the EU the Tories are allover the place. They have been split on Europefor 40 years. David Cameron must constantlytry to placate two opposing factions of hisparty. On the one hand he says he is notagainst a referendum but will try to avoid oneby trying to renegotiate EU Treaties to Britainsadvantage. Should that approach fail, and theodds are stacked massively against him, hewill campaign to stay in the EU. There is nocertainty however that the British Conservative


Party as it presently stands will survive thebattle so deep are the divisions. UKIP is theembodiment of that Tory fault line.Labour is against a referendum on Europe

arguing it is not the priority at this time. If thereis a referendum they will campaign to stay inalthough some Labour MPs will rebel. The SNP by and large take the same view as

Labour as do the Liberal Democrats.Arguing against a referendum in the current

atmosphere however looks increasingly anti-democratic and smacks of defeatism.The SSP are proud internationalists. We have

no truck with the outlook of Little Englanders[or Little Scotlanders for that matter] who wantto pull up the drawbridge as it were and leavethe EU. We favour closer ties between all thepeoples of Europe on a democratic and sociallyprogressive basis. We are in favour ofcommercial trading and equality as well asenhancing closer social and cultural links withour 500million European neighbours. But theTreaty of Rome, the foundation stone of the EU,is essentially an exploitative corporate charter abosss edict to do what they like with workers inall 28 countries. The policies pursued by the EUare based on upholding the rights of capital.The treaties signed in Maastricht and Lisbonset down terms even more beneficial tocorporate Europe and even more detrimental tothe working class majority across Europe.

Is it better to leave the EU then than try tochange it from within?The SSPs view is that working class people

in Britain are being fed an illusion by UKIP [andothers] that leaving the EU will somehow makethings better. It will not. Thereforenotwithstanding the views of a sceptical publicwe challenge Europes corporate elite by linkingup with other like-minded allies across Europeto democratise and socialise it. That is far betterdone on a continental basis than at UK levelwhere the neoliberal right entrenched in theirCity of London redoubt are far more dominant.Leaving the EU puts the British working class

at the mercy of the UK ruling classes and thoseright-wingers behind Farage who will feelemboldened by their success. The British ruling class and its big

corporations are very heavily pro-EU since it isin effect their toy. But they are no friends of theworking class either here or abroad.

16. CLIMATE CHANGEThe Scottish Socialist Party believes lobbying

corporations to behave more responsibly withregards to the environment is futile.Corporations have one priority profit. Onlypolicies putting people and planet before profitcan tackle the gathering social and

environmental crisis in an effective manner. Webelieve priority should be given to production forneed not profit resulting in sustainable productsmeeting needs and, for example prioritisingsustainable homes over Trident missiles. Weaccept that environmentalism cannot happen ina vacuum. If we are to establish ourselves as aliving, breathing example of sustainability, wewill need to face down not just climate scepticsbut the profit driven destruction of profit hungrymultinationals. We seek a world that issustainable, forward-looking and in whichpeople can thrive.

The SSP demands: a 90 per cent reduction in emissions ofcarbon dioxide internationally by the year 2030together with significant reductions of othergreenhouse gas emissions. investment in alternative energy technologies,including community-owned wind farms, tidalpower clean coal technology and hydro. public and community ownership of energy,including oil, wind farms, electricity, coal andgas, with a proportion of all profits ring-fencedfor investment in alternative energy. an end to the imposition of pre-paymentmeters on those who owe debts to gas andelectricity companies. refunds backdated by five years to householdswhich have been forced to pay the highercharges associated with pre-payment meters. increased taxation on aviation fuel, with revenueused to improve high-speed rail and ferry linksbetween Scotland and mainland Europe. resistance to the building of any new nuclearpower plants in Scotland, and the setting of aclear timetable for the decommissioning ofexisting nuclear power stations. legislation making it illegal to own, as well asto import, illegally logged timber. all biofuels to have sustainability andgreenhouse gas certification. the establishment of elected anti-pollutionboards at national and local level to monitorand enforce pollution controls, and for theseboards to have the power to impose penalties. the rural economy to be geared towardsproviding quality local foods for regionalmarkets, rather than exports. local management of sea fisheries, based onthe Finnish model, where environmentalsustainability is a key priority alongsidecommunity sustainability.

RenewablesDramatic change in Land Reform Policy

which would return all land, and seabeds fromthe Crown Estates to the people of Scotland.This includes all country homes. In the creationof a Scottish Republic a gesture of goodwill in


line with historical association would result inthe leasing of Balmoral as a country home,(With a vastly decreased land mass.) Thiswould be offered at an annual fee to the CrownEstate and subject to Scots laws and taxes. An 80 per cent reduction in subsidies for

landowners for placement of onshore windfarms. Further subsidies will take the form ofenergy cost reduction and a lasting agreementthat wind farms will not be built in areas offarming or agriculture. An increased role for the Scottish

Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) toensure the safety of wildlife and conservation.

Creation of a Scottish Renewable EnergyCommission (SREC) which would regulate andtender all renewable licenses for wind farms.The commission will also be responsible forensuring any private companies involved in themanufacturing or servicing of turbines adhereto a minimum 10-an-hour living wage for allworkers and the ascension of workers to thecompany board of directors. An agreement that all manufacturing of

turbines will take place in Scotland with specificconsideration of urban areas designed forregeneration. A further agreement that an additional 1 per

cent of all profits be placed into the existingNational Renewables Infrastructure Fund(NRIF) which will be matched by thegovernment to ensure continued stability inspite of any future economic downturn. If these criteria are not met tendering will go

to the newly formed Scotland RenewableCompany (SRC). Which will launch a bid ineach tender creating a nationalised renewableenergy company. An appeal to be launched to the European

Commission that the creation of off shore windfarms must be nationalised in the interest ofnational security, if such a bid is successfulthen above measures will not be required. TheSREC would continue as an advisorycommission in terms of licensing and play alarger role in the manufacturing and servicingof renewable energy.

TridentThe SSP have been active in the peace

movement for decades now. We have alwayssupported the need to rid Scotland of Trident.We believe the 100billion earmarked forTrident would be much better invested inhousing, healthcare, education, social servicesand eradicating inequality which would lead to astronger society. Scottish CND have said thetime-scale for removing weapons of massdestruction from Faslane and Coalport wouldtake two years. We support this view. We will

continue to protest against their existence untilScotland is nuclear free. We have alsoexpressed our solidarity with the workers atFaslane and Coulport. We will ensure their skillsare used elsewhere for peaceful purposes.

DefenceThe Scottish economy is too heavily

dependent on defence industries and MODcontracts as far as we are concerned. Outsidethe food industries it would appear Scotlandsonly volume manufacturing nowadays relates todefence and armaments production. This is notthe type of economic balance the ScottishSocialist Party supports. We are wholeheartedlyopposed to the further militarisation of Scottishsociety. Far too many Scots are employed inindustries dedicated to killing our fellow humanbeings. We favour diversification of all thosejobs and industries currently connected to armmanufacturing and so called defence in favourof peaceful, peacetime progressive production.That would surely be Scotlands peace dividendfollowing the end of the Cold War.

17. EQUALITYThe SSP fully supports the Equalities Act 2010.

However the creation of an equal society meanssociety must provide the resources to supportthis legislation. This includes full benefits fordisabled people which reflects the average wage. We advocate Supported Employment

initiatives, not benefit sanctions, for all disabledpeople who want to work. Above all, we work in consultation with those

groups who represent the voices of peoplediscriminated against and minorities to developa grass roots democratic infrastructurethroughout government and policy makingbodies, ensuring that all public decisions mustinclude an equalities impact assessment.

18. WOMENS RIGHTSThe SSP as a party campaigns for equal

rights for women. We dont just campaign forthem, we founded our party on equality. We arethe only political party to introduce 50/50gender balance throughout our party. Women have paid the price for austerity and

cuts. In fact 85 per cent of austerity cuts andtax changes have been borne by women,making womens lives much harder. We standfor the immediate reinstatement of tax creditsand housing benefit cuts. Womens incomes are directly affected

because they are concentrated in low paidjobs, they also take most of the responsibility incaring for children and elderly relatives. Thisrole is undervalued and under resourced. We would introduce a 10-an-hour minimum

wage to tackle low pay and a carers allowance


which reflects the average workers wage. Wewould introduce a minimum 12 monthsmaternity leave on full pay, for all workers, withthe right to return part time if preferred. The SSP campaigns against the sexual

exploitation and objectification of women. Wesupport legislation to decriminalise womeninvolved in prostitution, recognise men whobuy sex as abusers, and increase policeresources to enforce a clamp down on kerb-crawlers in red light districts. We support a zero tolerance approach to

mens violence against women. We wouldintroduce full funding for Womens Aid andother agencies which provide refuges,helplines and drop in centres for women whohave experienced violence and abuse. In addition we support equal representation of

women at all levels of government. This is vitalon the road to reaching equality for women.

19. ECONOMIC POLICYCentral to the economic policy of the Scottish

Socialist Party is the belief that key industriesshould be brought into public ownership andplaced under democratic control. These wouldinclude the rail network, the energy companies,the banks and oil industry. Many of theseindustries had been in public hands in the recentpast until a disastrous wave of privatisation stolethem from the Scottish people. It is our belief thatScotlands national interests would best beserved by returning them to public ownershipwhile expanding this programme into otherareas. At the same time we would challenge theextensive support given by government to largeprivate companies in the form of grants,subsidies, tax breaks and infrastructure support.Our view is that where public money goes publicownership should follow. A socialist governmentwould reject the idea that the private sector iscentral to Scotlands economic development andwell-being. This strategy is consistently faileddespite the best efforts of successivegovernments. Future development will bepromoted by expanding the public and statesector and this will drive the social and economicprogrammes of government. The disastrous freemarket ideology which has done so muchdamage to society will be replaced with astrategy based on social ownership, planning,regulation and the moving towards an social-economic system which puts the needs of thepeople first; socialism.

Public ownershipThe Scottish Socialist Party wants to see the

railway industry returned to public hands as apublicly owned utility to benefit and improve ourpublic transport network in favour of ordinarypeople to create and develop jobs and using

modern technology to support our environmentalaims as part of an overall public transportsystem run for people and not for profit.The national rail network should be run as a

public service to benefit all the people asopposed to the ideology tool for the Tories andthere friends in big business who are moreinterested in profit than providing good efficientrail and public services ,still the same twistedideology of privatisation that was behind therecent attack on the east coast main line and theselloff of the governments stake in the euro starboth very short term methods aimed at making aquick buck for the Tories and their liberalcoalition friends, not being used for investment inthe railways ,but to help tackle the deficit whichin reality meant election bribes for the Tories andtheir friends in the City Of London.The majority of people connected with the

railway industry in particular passengers andrailway staff are in favour of re nationalisationand surveys that have been carried out show amajority percentage of the population are infavour of the railways being publicly owned.The Scottish Socialist Party are committed to

the public ownership of the railway industryand would renationalise it in the unitedkingdom as a matter of priority we would alsodevolve all authority for railways in Scotlandand Wales to the Scottish Parliament and theWelsh assembly through the establishment ofpublic owned railway companies in both thesecountries.

20. INTERNATIONALISMThe Scottish Socialist Party believes an

independent Scotland can play a positive andprogressive role in world affairs. The startingpoint of this would be the removal of theTrident nuclear weapons from the Clyde andScotlands withdrawal from NATO. This is anaggressive military alliance which hasspearhead conflict throughout the world indefence of capitalism and imperialism. The SSP has a proud history of supporting

the peace movement throughout the world andspeaking out against warmongering.Under an SSP government Scotland would

seek to ally itself with other progressivegovernments and lend support to peoplesstruggling against imperialism throughout theworld. Whether it be support for progressiveindependence movements as in Catalonia orthe Basque Country, links with leftgovernments in Latin America or support forthe establishment of a Palestinian stateScotland will prove to be a good friend to thosestruggling for progress, justice and againstglobal capitalism. Scotland would also look to play a key role in

shaping some of the great international issues


of our time such as Climate Change and WorldPoverty and would actively side with those whowant radical action as opposed to those whosestarting point is to defend the interests ofcapitalism. For the Scottish Socialist Partyanother world is possible and Scotland can bepart of that new world.

21. ANIMAL RIGHTSThe Scottish Socialist Party supports:

a ban on animal testing for cosmetics,household products and military research. a ban on unnecessary use of animal testing inmedical research. the replacement of the ineffective DangerousDogs Act with new non-breed based legislationwhich recognises the responsibility of ownersfor aggressive behaviour by their dogs.

HOW IS THIS PROGRAMMETO BE PAID FOR? The Scottish Socialist Party do not accept theoft heard excuse from the four bosses partiesthat 'there is no money for this and no money forthat'. It isn't true, not when 100billion is to bespent unnecessarily on a second generation ofTRIDENT nuclear weapons. Not when we spent200billion bailing out incompetent greedybankers. Not when billions of pounds aresecreted away abroad annually by wealthyindividuals and companies who refuse to paytheir tax obligations. Not when the rich havenever been so wealthy.We believe the profits made by multinational

corporations need to be taxed at higher rates. We also favour the 'Tobin tax' on financial

transactions which would also see billions inrevenues to the Exchequer. The rich in Britain have never been so wealthy

in all history. Yet income inequalities are widerthan ever. That is no accident. It is what thecorporations and their politicians intended.

Scotland's socialist party believes action mustbe taken now to reverse inequality anderadicate poverty. There is no shortage of funds, there is a

shortage of willingness to halt the flow of fundsinto the pockets of the wealthy and out of thehands of the majority. The SSP would raise taxes on the wealthy.

We would raise Corporation tax to 50p the levelit was when Margaret Thatcher came to powerin 1979. The financial block grant provided by

Westminster is insufficient to achieve the goalsthe Scottish people expressed over the pasttwo years. Further financial powers musttherefore be made available to make the

changes we all want to see. The power toborrow on the international money markets forexample just like any other administration is inour view essential. Long-term infrastructureimprovements could then be brought forwardby the Scottish Government to begin work onthose much-needed new projects to modernisenational systems, transport links and other keynetworks.

BUILDING SCOTLANDSSOCIALIST PARTYIf the polls are accurate Scotland is about totopple the one party state that has existed herefor the past 50 years. The socially conservativeand politically corrupt Labour Party in Scotlandis about to suffer a seismic defeat. And goodriddance, for only the most hackneyed Blairitewill mourn its passing. At UK level this election is a stalemate

between a government that does not deserveto be re-elected as it has governed for a richcorporate elite that believes it is untouchable andomnipotent, and an Opposition so bereft of ideasthat all it can do is ape the reactionary policies ofgovernment on all the main issues of our time. Meantime the vast majority of Britains

population its working class majority hassuffered a fall in its living standard as itsworking conditions have atrophied and it facesaffronts its grandparents generation wouldnever have tolerated for a second and isblamed for an economic, financial and politicalcrisis it played no part in creating. The realculprits, the City spivs and greedy venturecapitalists walk away Scot free protected by allthe Westminster parties.The Scottish Socialist Party is not part of this

criminal conspiracy.We alone do not stand indicted, responsible

for policies that make the rich richer and thepoor poorer. We are not the upholders of a freemarket system based on economic exploitationmasquerading as liberal democracy forthere is nothing liberal or democratic about it.

The Scottish Socialist Party stands for anindependent socialist Scotland, a moderndemocratic republic. We want a 10-an-hourliving wage and end to Zero Hours Contracts.We want to protect the most vulnerable fromthe ravages of 21st century capitalism. We see no reason why Scotland cannot be

one of the richest countries in the world and setworld class example by reaching levels ofequality and social justice no one else has yetachieved.We will not support privatisation of hospitals

unlike the other parties. Nor will we allow

employers to roll back working conditions andwages to levels last seen in the 19th century.We will not allow immigrants and the poor to

be scapegoated for an economic, social andpolitical deterioration caused by a wealthyminority and their corrupt representatives whoare motivate by their own financial greed ratherthan public service or noble ideals andhonourable conduct.The Scottish Socialist Party was formed in

1998 bringing together many different voiceson the left in Scotland. We are anti-capitalist.We aim to replace capitalism with a muchbetter economic, social and political system.We have contested every UK General Election

since 1997. We know how expensive they areaffairs and how the first past the post votingsystem provides an unfair advantage to theestablishment parties. The media coverage isdominated by a London Metropolitan elite whobarely recognise Scotland on a map. But no oneelse presents the political case we do. No oneelse can match our commitment to socialistideas or the needs of working class people.

VOTE SSP ON 7 MAY. FOR WORKERSMPs ON WORKERS WAGES

SCOTLANDS SOCIALIST PARTYDESERVES YOUR VOTEOur 4 candidates Colin Fox [Edinburgh South],Bill Bonnar [Glasgow South West], SandraWebster [Paisley South and Renfrewshire South]and Liam McLaughlan [Glasgow East] stand upfor working people. They would be workers MPson workers wages and would, if elected, takeonly the average wage of those they represent.

Join the Scottish Socialist Party today and helpus build an independent socialist Scotland.

CONTACT USBy post: Scottish Socialist Party, Suite 370,Central Chambers, 93 Hope St, Glasgow, G2 6LD Website: www.ScottishSocialistParty.orgEmail: [email protected]: 07810205747 Twitter: @The_SSP_Facebook: /ScottishSocialistParty

Order yours: send 5 perpamphlet (includes p&p) to:Scottish Socialist Party, Suite370, 4th Floor, CentralChambers, 93 Hope Street,Glasgow G2 6LD. Pleasemake cheques/POs payable toScottish Socialist Party. Or order online at:scottishsocialistparty.tictail.com

Available now...UKIP, Europe andImmigration andother pamphlets bySSP co-spokespersonColin Fox.


Subscribe to the SSPs newspaper Scottish Socialist Voice

Scotlands only socialist newspaperfeatures the latest campaigns, news andcomment from the Scottish left, withregular columns from Jonathon Shafi,Sandra Webster, John McAllion and

Colin Fox. Subscribe online at: ScottishSocialistVoice.wordpress.com 2.50 per issue (inc. p+p), cheques toScottish Socialist Voice, Suite 370, 4th Floor, Central Chambers,

93 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 6LD. Tel: 07810 205747

/ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice

scottishsocialistparty.org

Promoted by Colin Fox, 81/5 Clerk Street, Edinburgh EH8 9JG Printed by Events Armoury, 9 West Richmond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9EF Photos: Craig Maclean

ISBN: 978-0-9571986-7-8

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