Coalition in crisis: kick them out!

By Richie Venton, SSP national workplace organiser

photo:  John Lanigan

 
As the council election caravan moves on, working class people continue to face appalling cuts to their living standards; they are left with no option but to 'struggle or starve'.

The chief architects of the cuts to pensions, wages, benefits and community facilities were hammered in the council elections. The Tories lost over 400 councillors, in a tidal wave of revulsion at their cuts and their sleaze.
Their junior partners in crime fared even worse at the hands of a furious population, many of whom feel cheated and betrayed by the LibDems. The carnage included the loss of 80 out of 151 LibDem councillors in Scotland.

Despite the SSP vote suffering from the crushing squeeze between the two tribes of Labour and SNP going to war, enhanced by the brutal, self-fulfilling media lie that this was a two-horse race, we beat the LibDem party of government in many of the seats we contested! Mind you, so did an Edinburgh 'penguin'!

No mandate to rule and ruin
The millionaires' Coalition has even less of a mandate for their eye-watering butchery to jobs, services and incomes than they had before May 3rd. That applies with special force in Scotland, where they have plummeted to the status of fringe parties, mostly isolated to a few rural pockets in the Borders and South Ayrshire in the case of the Tories. 

The Westminster butchers are in deep disarray, drowning in a sea of sleaze around the Murdoch scandal and the descent of the economy into a 'double-dip' recession for the first time since 1975 - and the longest economic depression in decades.

With that background, Cameron, Clegg & Co are all the more ruthless in their desire to make working class people pay for the crisis, whilst those who perpetrated some of the worst cuts are wallowing in wealth. 
But they are weak, vulnerable and divided, with right-wing Tories decrying the presence of the LibDems, and even a Tory MP publicly sneering at Cameron and Clegg as "two posh boys who don't know the price of milk" - an assessment that finds massive resonance amongst those at the receiving end of their upper-class callousness.

Slasher Hutton on £100,000 a day!
Millions of public sector workers have had their first taste of increased chunks of their wages being deducted as pension contributions last month - with a lot worse to come next year and the year after unless the government is defeated by united action.

Meantime, Labour Lord John Hutton - 'Slasher' Hutton to those suffering the assault on six million public sector workers' pensions that he was chief author of under the previous Labour government - has landed a £100,000 a day job as chair of the part-privatised civil service outfit, MyCSP.

68 is too late!
Opinion polls confirm massive opposition to the later retirement age being pushed through, which means every female worker under 36 faces an extra 8 years in work before she can get a state pension, and every male worker in that age-group an extra 3 years. 

Whilst over one third (36 per cent) of families currently rely on grandparents for child-minding, and councils jack up the cost of council nursery places as part of the cuts agenda, the government wants to force millions to work longer, denying them a healthy retirement and robbing them of time with their grandchildren. 

A child born today will have to work well into their late 70s if Coalition plans are not derailed by strikes, protests and civil disobedience.

Even Tory voters are rebelling against this abomination of a plan! A recent YouGov poll found 53 per cent of Tory voters against raising the retirement age, with 35 per cent of them criticising the fact it will lead to even fewer job opportunities for young people. 

Across the board, 62 per cent of people oppose making workers work longer for less on retirement - despite an incredible 38 per cent of those polled not even being aware of the planned delay in retirement!

This country is poised to have the latest state retirement age in Europe, as well as some of the lowest wages, longest working week and poorest holiday entitlements.

The moneyed class and their governments try to drag us out of recession by preaching the gospel "shop 'til you drop" - whilst slashing workers' spending power! 

Now they want us to literally "work 'til you drop" - to ensure the CEOs of big private businesses can continue to wallow in their current average pensions of £175,000 a year.

M10 strike rekindles the fires of resistance
The strike of up to half a million public sector workers on 10 May - including PCS, UNITE, UCU and RMT members in the civil service, health, MoD and education - should be the flame to re-ignite the fires of resistance that too many trade union leaders have tried to dampen since the magnificent strike of two million on 30 November. 

These unions plan further coordinated action in late June. PCS is also taking industrial action in specific departments and sectors, alongside a generalised overtime ban from now until late June. And they have raised the call for a united demo against the cuts this side of the summer.

Demand an immediate mass demo
One of the trade union 'leaders' who did most to stall the momentum after N30 is UNISON's Dave Prentis. Now, in an attempt to save face amongst members increasingly angry at being 'sold a pup' by Prentis, he has called for a mass trade union-led demo in the autumn. 

Why wait that long? Active members of every union should argue for a huge Saturday demo over the next couple of months, demanding that either the STUC call it in Scotland or a 'coalition of the willing trade unions' do so. 

Not instead of a broader, bigger strike in June, but in addition to it, as a means of reaching out to workers in local government, education and the private sector who are not part of the M10 strike. Not just on pensions, but on other cuts and attacks on rights, jobs and benefits.

Coalition can be beaten
The recent council elections saw hundreds of thousands voting either SNP or Labour as a means of punishing the Westminster cuts Coalition. They won votes primarily because they are not the Coalition! 

The electoral decimation of the chief architects of cuts should be the green light for the trade unions to unite with community groups and socialists in decisive, early action to drive the crisis-ridden Coalition back further. They can be beaten. They can be driven out of office.

The response on the streets to the SSP's central message 'no cuts, tax the rich' was infinitely larger than the votes cast for our uncompromising socialist case, partly because people were browbeaten with the media message of a 'two-horse race', partly because Labour and the SNP lied through their teeth with talk of creating jobs, and people often gave one of the 'big two' their first two votes, giving the SSP third or fourth preference. 

Pound new councils with demands to reverse the cuts
In several councils, the biggest party has changed from one to the other, so the trade union movement and community organisations should join with socialists in pounding these councillors with demands to reverse the cuts of their predecessors - or stand exposed as fakers gaining votes under false pretences, engaged in a cynical exercise of shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic. Now is the time to besiege them with such demands, fresh on the heels of them taking office.

Capitalism doesn't work
The battle against cuts, both at local council level and nationally on the pensions issue, is critical in the broader resistance to the systematic dismantling of workers' rights, benefits and frontline services gained by past generations through struggle. 

Plans to usher in regional pay; slash the right to challenge unfair dismissal from work; curtail the right to have functioning union shop stewards to stand up for members; and the core aim of rampant privatisation of what remains of public property - all these and more are the inevitable product of a capitalist system that is based on exploitation for profit, that simply doesn't work, that condemns a whole generation to permanent mass unemployment, and that seeks to slaughter working class conditions in defence of profit margins and privileges for the obscenely rich minority.

Capitalism means cuts, mass unemployment and mounting poverty from the cradle to the grave. 
Socialism - based on taxation of the rich, wealth redistribution and democratic public ownership - is the only means of escaping 'eternal austerity'. 

Those who strike back in May have an important part to play in building a future worthy of the name - a socialist future based on people, not profit.

From Coalition of Resistance:

Vote tomorrow

Reject coalition austerity policies (for East Dunbartonshire Socialist Candidates, see post below)

Bullingdon Boys: They are all in it together 

People will go to the polls across Britain today. It is vital that these elections show the strongest possible rejection of the coalition government's brutal and unfair austerity policies.

The savage cuts that are being inflicted on us are neither necessary nor effective to meet the economic crisis facing Britain, Europe and much of the world.

They are cuts inflicted in the interests of the ruling class - the tiny minority whose interests are represented by the government. Their policies mean the rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer: jobs are lost, people lose their homes and livelihoods.

Use your vote today to show your rejection of these criminal policies - and the racist and far-right attitudes that they breed - whether in local or mayoral elections. Let's have the biggest swing possible against candidates representing government policies.

Local teacher, Neil Scott to stand in Bearsden North in May's council election

Statement:

“East Dunbartonshire has, in recent years, had the misfortune of having had a Liberal Democrat Council followed by a coalition of Labour and Tories. The mishandling of the council by these three versions of the same thing has seen an attempt to close schools in the past two years; terrible deals with corporations that have meant millions of pounds of our Council Tax money being given over to massive PPP/PFI “Guaranteed returns on investment” for minimum outlay; a decimation of our local services from Libraries through to schools, and more. If any of these parties gain the council in May, there will be more of the same, and in fact the deferred closure of East Dunbartonshire Schools will go ahead.

 As a father and a teacher I have a different vision for East Dunbartonshire services. Our area is a well off council area, one in which money could be invested in our services rather than further job-losses and cuts. I see a clear need to renegotiate PPP/PFI deals. Some of these venture capitalists are making millions of pounds of our tax money with investments of a few hundred pounds. I see East Dunbartonshire being a place of opportunity for all; a place where our money is invested in real jobs and services which will help stimulate the Scottish economy. The real drivers of any economy are people. The profits creamed off by corporations from our Council tax should be reclaimed and invested in real jobs and in our people.”

Glasgow Save Our Schools Campaign

PRESS RELEASE … for immediate use (21st April)



RESISTANCE TO SCHOOL CLOSURES SPREADS – SUPPORT FROM TRADE UNIONS



As decision-day at the Glasgow city council looms, parents and carers have won fresh allies in the battle to save the schools and nurseries on Labour’s amended hit-list for closure. Parents staged sit-ins at two schools just two days after the 15-day sit-ins ended, and a delegation from the city-wide Glasgow Save Our Schools Campaign won support from several trade unions at the STUC Congress in Perth.



Glasgow Save Our Schools Campaign organiser, Richie Venton, today said:



“Protests are breaking out like bush fires beneath the backsides of the Labour councillors on the eve of the Council meeting on Thursday.

“Those who staged the sit-in at Victoria school were applauded for their courage by a huge crowd of local people as the came out of the building.

“Parents on the roof-top protest at Our Lady of Assumption in Ruchill have shown immense determination in resisting the closure, and there is no excuse for the Council’s over-reaction, dumping kids in another school, because the protest in no way would interfere with the kids’ education – it’s the council’s planned closure that does that!

“A delegation of us travelled to meet delegates at the annual Congress of the Scottish Trade Union Congress. We won massive support from several trade unions who recognise that the cuts in staffing levels, rise in class sizes, threats to parents’ ability to hold down jobs, and assault on community facilities are all issues that trade unionists should take up.

“Given the historic link between Labour and the unions, they would do well to ponder the widespread support for the campaign to stop the closures that union leaders and delegates expressed

This campaign will not go away – we are finding fresh allies in the fight for local community schools with smaller class sizes.”



For more info contact Richie Venton on 07828 278 093 or at richieventon@hotmail.com



END

This weekend...

This weeks meeting in Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre on Saturday 9th, will be preceded by the Pilger documentary about the Chagos islanders "Stealing a Nation."

This will be followed by a short discussion led by John Jameson of the SSP, and then a short branch meeting in the coffee shop in the Centre.

All kicks off at 10.30 in the conference room.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealing_a_Nation

By-Election help needed...

Sunday - meet at Cambuslang train station at 12 noon - or if a lift from the city centre suits better - meet at 11.30am sharp in the archway entrance to Central station, Hope St (next to McGinns bar) - ring Bill Bonnar in advance re lifts on 07816 141 064.

Monday - the same places and arrangements - at 7pm or at 6.30pm for a lift.

We intend to repeat that pattern for each Sunday and Monday - but we need a good launch this Sunday.

We will be using a questionairre round the doors - and at the same time putting out the first leaflet. So comrades of all lengths of experience and age-groups should feel confident to play their part.

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy": - James Madison

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"There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action": Bertrand Russell

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"The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself": Robert Ingersoll

Alan McCombes on election result

Click here for election analysis from Alan McCombes:

We fought in hope, and we got beat. Big time.
But last Thursday’s electoral rout does not mean that the Scottish Socialist Party is a spent force, or that we’re about to implode for months on end to indulge in self recrimination and doubt before tentatively hitting the streets again.
While the media lens was turned on the race for Holyrood, time didn’t stop and life went on inexorably, the rich getting that little bit richer while the poor got poorer, the private sector expanding while public sector waiting lists sprawled off the end of the page, luxury flats going up while council housing came down, war raging while peace foundered, people dying of excess while others were wasted through want.
And just as surely as this goes on, so too does our fight for the radical alternative.

More on the SSP main website - click here:

East Dunbartonshire Council election results

Click here for East Dunbartonshire Council results:

VOTE FOR THE SSP TEAM IN WEST OF SCOTLAND AND EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE...

Place an X beside Scottish Socialist Party, Pamela Page for your regional MSP.

Read more about Pamela here:

http://eastdunbartonshiressp.blogspot.com/2007/04/introducing-west-of-scotlands-ssp.html

Council Candidates
More information about your candidates here:

http://eastdunbartonshiressp.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html

Willie Telfer, East Kirkintilloch and Twechar

Neil Scott, Bearsden North

Bill Newman, Milngavie

Moira Brown, Lenzie and Kirkintilloch South

We are here between elections...

Subscribe to the Voice now -
click here -

HOW TO MAKE SURE THE SSP REPRESENT YOU AFTER MAY 3rd

HOW TO VOTE ON THURSDAY

Paper ONE - SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

1.Voters use the first ballot paper to elect members of the Scottish Parliament. Your MSP's. This is where we vote to get Pamela Page into the Parliament as a representative of the Working Class - the other parties all represent the world of business and the millionaires.

2. The left side of the ballot paper is peach, the right side is lilac

3. You get two votes on this ballot paper

4. The peach side is where you choose your regional MSPs. This is where you will find Pamela Page - put your X beside Scottish Socialist Party - Pamela Page.

5. The lilac side is where you choose your constituency MSP.

6. If you do not want to vote for any of the constituency choices (the SSP are not standing in the constituency vote) - leave it blank. IF YOU SPOIL ANY PART OF YOUR PAPER IT INVALIDATES BOTH BITS!!

7. Do not fold the ballot paper when you put it into the appropriate box

Paper TWO - COUNCIL

1. Voters use the second ballot to elect their local councillor. In EAST Dunbartonshire, your SSP Choices are in Bearsden North, Neil Scott; In Milngavie, Bill Newman; in East Kirkintilloch and Twechar, Willie Telfer and in Lenzie and South Kirkintilloch, Moira Brown.

2. This is the white ballot paper

3. You do not use a cross for this vote

4. You number the candidates in order of preference 1 for SSP candidate and 2,3 etc for any other candidates you feel will promote social justice. You can only place the number 1 on the ballot paper if you like.

5. You can mark as many or as few as you like, but you must use numbers not an x

7. Do not fold the ballot paper when you put it into the appropriate box

NEW SSP FILM!

PAMELA'S DIARY - With a week to go, the hardest working candidate in the West of Scotland is still going strong! Is their no end to her energy?

Wednesday 18th
Kirkintilloch Rotary hustings.
I invited myself along to this event and was the only list candidate on the
platform. It was well attended with about 50-60 people there. The majority
of questions were from small business people in the audience who were
complaining about the threat to local shops in the area due to transport
issues and the fact that the two big supermarkets in the area have sucked
the lifeblood out of the town.

As the only person on the platform to live in the main street I was only too
well aware of how many boarded up shops we have in Kirky and our policies
against big out of town developments went down surprisingly well as did our
free public transport policy. The Tory candidate did say at one point that
everyone on the panel would agree that we had to cut corporation tax though
- to which I had to put her right!

People Not profit! Community shops and farmers markets with good transport
links was the order of the day. They did lay on good cakes right enough!

Thursday 19th
Chamber of Commerce hustings in Dumbarton.
Pam kindly drove me to this event as it would have been impossible to get
there for 6 after work otherwise. Roll on a fully integrated Free Public
Transport system!

It wasn't as well attended as the previous night (about 25
folk) with a couple of other list candidates also invited onto the platform.
Again I put forward our People Not Profit agenda. Questions of note were again transport links, Dumbarton high street losing shops. There was a question about the Vale of Leven hospital and I was able to counter Jackie Ballie's argument that new labour have pumped millions into the NHS with the fact this money has been siphoned off by PFI extortionists, which went down well. I was also well received when I was able to be critical of West Dumbarton council and the whole issue of quangos and lack of transparency/ unaccountability in local decision making.

Pamela and I had an apparation the other night - a strange statue, almost religious in look, appeared to us just outside Faifley, on the back road to Bearsden! We went past last night and she is still there, guiding weary motorists. She isn't as good as sat nav though, she took us to Milngavie which was the wrong way altogether. Though she did seem to be saying something...



We also saw a statue which appears to be Gengis Khan's head on a plinth, at the other end of Clydebank near McGonagle's prize winning floating chippy (floating chippy of the year 1994).

It's just typical that all of these photo opportunities occur when you leave the camera at home. We will be back, although I'm not sure Genghis sends out the right message.

We then went to Neil's to drop off placards in Bearsden.

Saturday 21st
Campsie Branch party
The comrades had been out placarding which really put a spring in my step
before the party. It was great to see so many friends and comrades and we
had a great night. Thanks to everyone who made the effort to give us a wee
boost before the election and a chance to relax from all the hard work we've
been putting in.

SEE THE PHOTOS OF THE DO BELOW!

Click on "March" on the right hand side of your screen to read about the council candidates in East Dunbartonshire - scroll down to read about Pamela Page, your SSP list candidate for the West of Scotland!

Hampden, Proclaimers, Clydebank, Chilli and Chips!

Monday 9th
Spent writing for the Clydebank Post/ reading manifesto and getting photies
taken to highlight local campaigns.

Tuesday 10th
SSP People Not Profit Manifesto Launch at the national stadium Hampden. What
a venue!
We walked into the press conference to the tune of one of our latest supporters, the Proclaimers'500 miles', then Colin and Alan introduced our
flagship policies, before we went down trackside for photo opportunities
with the Saltire behind us in glorious technicolour.

I was so proud of everyone and every word in the manifesto because we are
the only party not pandering to big business/ careerism in this election.
Our MSPs take the average skilled workers wage and donate the rest to the fight for socialism and a fairer society because we are committed to
representing real people and not the 5% in Scotland who earn an MSP's salary
of £53,000. 'People Not Profit' - We do what we say and we say what we mean.

Wednesday 11th

Was texted at 7.30am by a pal to say he'd seen the broadcast and thought it was
superb and that he'd seen our photie in the metro.

We spent the day campaigning in Clydebank with Frances, Pam, Ann Lynch and
Alex Cunningham who is one of our council candidates. We decided to split
campaigning for a stall on free school meals in the morning then on the
council tax in the afternoon. Both issues really strike a chord with the
Bankies angry at the West Dumbartonshire labour party council scandal which
has been preceded by years of them ignoring locals on many issues.

We then decided to discuss free public transport with the huge bus queues
and train commuters nearby. We got a terriffic response on this issue. With
many people saying that they had enjoyed our broadcast (see below) the previous night.
Only a few folk were sceptical (I was maybe pushing it giving a leaflet to
the ticket inspector) which is a huge leap from when we first campaigned on
this issue and testament to how the party have shifted the agenda in
political terms on issues with our campaigning within the parliament and on
the streets. Though I almost got lost from the rest at one point because I
was helping a woman on to the train when her message bag burst and was so
caught up in conversation I nearly ended up on my way to Dalmuir without my
money which i'd left at the stall. Roll on Free public transport ! I also
ran faster than I have since I was in primary school we were trying to catch
Ann's bus and get a copy of the metro to see our picture at Hampden!


We had our lunch, at the co-op cafe naturally, Chilli and chips proved an
excellent choice and we planned the next weeks activity.

To round things off we leafleted the carpark.

In the evening I went to our own meeting at Campsie branch where we were
finalising our "wee do" - ALL WELCOME!! a week on Saturday the 21st in Kirkintilloch miners welfare. As well as local campaigning for council candidates. Not to mention
organising our public meeting/ beach party in Twechar! Cannae wait for that
one!!


Thursday 12th
I joined the Clydebank branch for a public meeting to launch our People Not
Profit manifesto. We had an excellent discussion of our policies and local
issues with the council candidates; Dawn and Cammy Fyfe and Alex
Cuunningham. The Clydebank Post came to cover the event.

Introducing West Of Scotland's SSP Candidate, Pamela Page

Read below to find out what Pamela Page and the SSP propose for the West of Scotland and the rest of Scotland!
Scroll down for the East Dunbartonshire Council candidates.

PAMELA PAGE- FOR THE PEOPLE OF WEST OF SCOTLAND - NOT THE
PROFITEERS!

Pamela Page is the SSP’s Top of List candidate for the West of Scotland. She lives in Kirkintilloch where she works as a Modern Studies teacher. She is a union rep in the EIS. As a community activist, Pamela has battled to save local bus services and is a determined opponent of the privatization of facilities through PFI.

"If elected I will strive to emulate current SSP west of Scotland MSP Frances Curran’s tireless fight alongside local communities in West Scotland against hospital closures and the privatization of our services.

I joined the SSP because it is Scotland’s anti-poverty party. This is the 21^st century yet parts of Scotland remain scarred with near Victorian levels of poverty. Scotland is not an impoverished 3^rd world country. There is no excuse or justification for poverty.

We in the SSP believe in taxing the rich, redistributing wealth and curbing the power of big business in a move towards a society where our wealth and resources are harmonized for the benefit of the people rather than plundered by an elite.

There are no career politicians in the SSP. We are the only party that insists that its MSPs live on no more than the average wage of a skilled worker. All four SSP MSPs donate half their salaries to aid the fight for a socially-just independent Scotland. If elected Pamela will do the same. “ Politicians are among Scotland’s privileged elite. Their 50,000 salaries – plus perks – puts them in the top 5% salary bracket. Which possibly explains why they are so out of touch with the real world!”

To this end I will wholeheartedly campaign for the SSP’s five flagship policies.

1) An Independence referendum within one year.

The 2007 election marks the 300^th anniversary of the union. Let’s make it the last anniversary!

Our call is for a Scottish Socialist republic, in which the people are sovereign, not monarchs or multinational leeches. We will fight for a nuclear free Scotland that is outside of NATO.

2) A Scotland Wide Free Public Transport Network

Dramatic and radical action is needed to move hundreds of thousands from private cars to public transport in the fight against climate change.

Does it sound too ambitious? Possibly, but in the 1930s/40s, the idea of a free National Health Service sounded like ‘pie on the sky’.

Many of us in the West of Scotland are all too aware of the cost of bus/ rail travel in our daily commute.

It is a matter of priorities. A free public transport system would cost 500 million pounds. This is less than a sixth of Scotland’s share of military spending.

Free public transport has been a resounding success in the Belgian city of Hasselt where since its introduction in the 1990s car use has plummeted and bus passenger numbers have risen by 1000%.

Instead of tax handouts, which mainly benefit the wealthy, the SSP will fight for the Scottish parliament to phase in the biggest pro-environment and pro- social inclusion measure enacted in Scotland for generations.

3) 100,000 new houses for rent

A million and a half Scots do not own their own home. For them the housing boom is a cruel mirage.

Decades of government cuts in housing support to local authorities, combined with the disastrous right to buy policy, has condemned hundreds of thousands of families to a life sentence served out in dilapidated crime ridden housing schemes.

Last year 11,200 council houses were sold off – but there was not one single new council house built in Scotland.

The SSP wants to redress this imbalance between private and public by building 25,000 new homes for social rent every year.

It is a myth that we can’t afford high-quality social housing.

In contrast to the mainstream parties, the SSP believes that high quality; low rent social housing holds the key to averting a future housing calamity in Scotland.

4) Nutritious Free School Meals for Scotland’s school children

According to a new report by Save the Children, nearly half of all families are living in poverty.For 6 years the SSP has spearheaded the fight for nutritious free school meals as part of a serious onslaught against obesity, junk food culture and child poverty.

The cost of free school meals is negligible when set against the overall budget of the Scottish parliament. Frances Curran’s bill would cost just 74 million pounds – one third of the Scottish parliament under spend last year.

Our politicians get subsidized meals at the parliament; surely our kids deserve the same!5) The replacement of the council tax with a progressive income tax.

The SSP wants to replace the council tax with a new system of taxation that truly reflects income differentials within Scotland.

Our alternative is the Scottish service tax. It is unashamedly redistributive. It would be based on annual personal income, thus shifting the burden of local taxation from the low income to the high-income households.

All earnings under 11,000 would be exempt. Earnings over 11,000 would be taxed progressively. Over two thirds of households would be better off, and the top 15% would pay more.

It is about time that the poor stopped subsidizing the rich!

In short we are for people not profit!"

EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE SSP ANNOUNCE THEIR COUNCIL CANDIDATES!

Scottish Socialist Party East Dunbartonshire Council Candidates

WILLIE TELFUR - TWECHAR CANDIDATE WITH PROVEN RECORD OF GETTING THINGS DONE!

FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT FOR ALL

The people of Twechar have suffered for years from a privatised transport system that puts profits before people. We have had to campaign time after time just to keep the irregular evening bus service. We are a prime example of the shortcoming of Scotland’s expensive and inadequate public transport system.

With congestion and pollution choking our towns and cities and scientists ringing the alarm bells over global warming, we need radical action.

By scrapping the £4 billion of prestige transport projects such as M74 and the Edinburgh airport rail-link, we could fund the infrastructure for an expanded, publicly-owned transport network. And by imposing a modest payroll tax on big business, we could run our buses, trains, ferries and underground free of charge.

A vote for the SSP is vote for fare-free transport.

HOUSING

East Dunbartonshire council says they want to modernise housing in Twechar. Sounds good except they plan to demolish 185 council houses and only rebuild 80 for renting. Another 40 will be partly sold off to the private sector. This will result in more expensive rents, - an immediate rise of 10% and the scrapping of the two weeks free rent in March and at Christmas. There will be no guaranteed future rent caps, even though every other scheme like this over the past few years in other areas across Scotland have had this promise. A quick look at the sums shows that some local people will be forced to move out of the area.

This is not a housing solution to suit the people of Twechar. It is being forced on us without a ballot. Why is the council scared to let people have their say? They are scared we would insist on a better solution to our local housing needs.

Nationally, the SSP promise to fight to for 100,000 new homes for rent - bringing house-building in the social rented sector into line with the private sector. Sky-high property values mean misery, overcrowding and even homelessness for hundreds of thousands of young people and low paid workers.

We want to build flats for young people and houses with gardens for young families. To fund that ambitious programme, we will campaign for the cancellation of all local authority housing debt, and for councils to be allowed to levy a ‘millionaire’s tax’ on all land and property worth over a million pounds.

A vote for the SSP is a vote to build high quality housing for low-cost rent.

SAVE STOBHILL HOSPITAL

We only have to look at the two closest General Hospitals to Twechar, Stobhill and Monklands to see that the NHS is no longer safe in new Labours hands. As regards Stobhill, the arrogant Labour Party turned it’s back on huge campaigns to keep it a General Hospital whilst shovelling piles of your money into the long discredited and very poor PFI alternative. The SSP over a number of years have been to the forefront of campaigns to keep emergency services not only at Stobhill but also at Monklands.

With nearly 500 beds at Stobhill due to disappear, where will people go when they need treatment? The Royal in Glasgow is already overcrowded and just think of the problems getting there in an emergency.

Sure, Stobhill has been starved of funds in recent years. But the answer is to invest in the NHS for the future. New Labour only offers closures and privatisation. Stobhill has a pleasant environment and plenty room for expansion.

It was Socialists who set up the NHS – only Socialists can save it.

It is time to put people before profit. It is time to vote Scottish Socialist Party.

MOIRA BROWN - FIGHTING FOR LENZIE AND SOUTH KIRKINTILLOCH

TIME FOR CHANGE

Moira Brown is a self-employed photographer who spends her spare time campaigning for social justice. Married to Eric, she has been living in Lenzie for two years. She believes that the Scottish Socialist Party provides an important voice for the people of Scotland and hopes you will become convinced of this too.

Moira believes that “we are already experiencing extreme capitalism in this country. Do we really want to be like the United States where a baby is more likely to die in New York than in the city of Beijing?”.

She also says: “If elected I will work hard to promote the rights of the community and individual constituents. I will also work to:

• Promote the SSP’s programme for an integrated FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM. And to campaign for the reopening of the rail line from Glasgow Queen St to Aberfoyle via Kirkintilloch, Milton of Campsie, Lennoxtown etc. (closed in 1966)

• Promote the provision of free school meals for every child in East Dunbartonshire.

• Oppose the current council tax system and promote a fairer income-based tax.

• Oppose the sale of land to developers unless there is an adequate provision made for social housing.

• Oppose the renewal of Trident as this could pay for sorting out all of the above! “

ACTION TOWARDS GAINING HEALTHY SCHOOL MEALS FOR ALL CHILDREN

We, the Scottish Socialist Party have supported the Free School Meals campaign (www.freeschoolmeals.org) from the outset. The Executive has already made a concession which is the extension of free meals to children of families on maximum Working Families Tax Credit. This could mean that 70,000 – 93,000 more children from low-income families will become entitled to free school meals. This initiative was introduced in Hull in 2004 and has been a resounding success (according to teachers and health professionals alike). The cost of this? Pennies compared to the cost of hosting the Olympic games in London which is of no benefit to the people of Scotland whose taxes are helping to pay for it.

In the long term this policy will actually save money on:

(1) teaching time spent dealing with the consequences of hyperactive and/or undernourished children.

(2) improving every child’s chances in life so fewer fall by the wayside.

(3) NHS resources by forming good eating habits when children are young.

(4) social work time spent dealing with challenging children.

(5) administration (systems to collect money cost money).

THINKING THAT WOULD SOLVE THE CAR PARKING PROBLEM AT LENZIE STATION –- without building a multi-storey car park or introducing parking charges!

How could people in the 19^th and much of the 20^th century live without cars in Kirkintilloch and it’s environs, yet today the norm is that we need one each?

The answer to this question is threefold. Firstly, prior to the 1960’s if you lived in Kirkintilloch, Milton of Campsie or Lennoxtown, you could hop on a train into Glasgow. Secondly, train fares were a good deal cheaper then in comparison to the average wage. Thirdly, our ancestors did not have to worry about making a reservation for their bicycle! And these were the days when congestion and global warming were not even issues.

This railway branching off to Kirkintilloch from Lenzie is just one of the valuable railway routes that has been denied to the people of Scotland since that short sighted idiot Beeching had it closed. He is long gone but we are still suffering (those who have to finance a car just to have it sit all day at Lenzie train station and those living near the station who feel the parking is disrupting their lives). And the problem is getting worse.

Huge areas of Scotland could be regenerated if all the old railway routes/stations were reinstated and fares reduced to NIL. People could travel to work more easily, consider jobs that would otherwise be unfeasible and Scottish families could explore Scotland at the weekends. We live in a beautiful country but at present it cannot be explored properly without a car.

So how much would it cost to have a great, free integrated public transport system in Scotland? Well, it would cost a lot less, for example, than renewing Trident!

This is not a pipe dream we are talking about – this is something our great-great grand parents once took for granted and so should we.

BILL NEWMAN - THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE TORY PARTIES IN MILNGAVIE!

Bill Newman has lived locally for some 12 years and has been active in politics and trade union activities throughout his adult life. He firmly believes that only socialism can bring about a fairer society locally and nationally. The Scottish Socialist Party is determined to challenge the self-seeking, business-friendly agendas of the LibDems, New Labour, Conservative and SNP at all levels.

He says, “In Milngavie, as elsewhere in East Dunbartonshire, I will:

__ Oppose the Council Tax and promote a fairer income-based tax.

__ Oppose the building of schools and hospitals by PFI (private finance) methods which raises costs to the local community, limits the facilties available and prioritises profits to private companies above the interests of pupils and patients.

__ Oppose the sale of land to private developers unless adequate provision is made for affordable property for rent.

__ Promote the provision of free school meals for all school children.

__ Promote the Scottish Socialist Party's programme for an integrated FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM locally and nationally.

__ Protect and extend local facilities and the surroundings for all citizens, not least to improve the deteriorating condition of Milngavie town centre.

Public Transport in Milngavie could be greatly improved. The SSP propose a Free Public Transport System.

In the Belgian city of Hasselt, which covers an area double the size of Dundee, congestion was eliminated in the late 1980s after the introduction of a totally free public transport system. Within a year, bus passenger journeys rose by 870 per cent and have now increased by over 1000 per cent. In dismal contrast, the Scottish Executive has set a target for an annual increase of one per cent in bus journeys and two per cent in rail journeys.

In recent months, the Danish government has commissioned a research group to examine the feasibility of a free public transport system (Copenhagen Post November 22, 2006 ).

The Melbourne Age newspaper, edited by Andrew Jaspan (a former editor of the Sunday Herald, The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday) has called for state-wide free bus travel in Victoria (A radical idea, The Age, May 5 2006)

Matthew Parrish, a Tory MP under Margaret Thatcher, who played a key role in destroying South Yorkshire’s cheap fares policy, now admits he was wrong and has called for London-wide free bus travel: “I was wrong. I have changed my mind…Never mind the ideology, it just makes sense.” (It’s big, it’s red, and it’s free – and it will save London; The Times. May 8 2003)

Visit Scotland (formerly the Scottish Tourist Board) recently published a report which set out the policy implications of global warming by 2015: “In order to reduce dependency upon the car, we will see a number of measures to move people onto public transport. These will include free public transport for all in Scotland, whether this is buses or trains”. (Visit Scotland report: Tomorrow’s World, May 2006)

Neil Scott, Bearsden North -

GET KIDS OFF THE STREETS—GIVE THEM SPACE!

Neil Scott is a husband, a father and a Primary School Teacher who lives in Castlehill, Bearsden. He has lived in Bearsden for seven years.

One of the few places children have to play football or other active games in the Courthill and Castlehill Areas is in front of the Courthill shops. There are plans to take this away from them.

I recognise the need for affordable housing, but affordable housing should not mean cramped housing. Cramming more houses into Courthill is going to ensure more teenagers on the streets with nothing to do. It wont be long until the only green to be seen in the area will be the empty bottles of buckfast.

The Council have a fantastic opportunity to build affordable housing and good facilities for children and teenagers on the huge space left vacant by St Andrews College - but seem to have gone down the path of minimal facilities for Bearsden Academy and more land for developers.

If elected, I will fight for facilities for children and teenagers in the Castlehill and Courthill area - and for affordable housing for our children when they leave home- built on freed up land instead of giving community owned land away for a song for more expensive flats and cheaply built, but expensive to buy housing for the gain of no-one only the developers.

BETTER PUBLIC TRANSPORT FOR BEARSDEN NORTH

Public Transport in Bearsden is horrendous. For example, if you want to go to Clydebank (10 min away by car) you have to change bus -either getting a bus from a different company (negating the cheap tickets the journey can cost £4.50) -or waiting for the bus from the same company which can make the journey last over an hour if you don't time it right (one bus an hour). If you want to go to Milngavie then you have to walk to Baljaffray - not ideal if you are from Castlehill or Courthill and you've got a disability or have children.

Those of us commuting into Glasgow find tickets by train are £12.50 a week—there is no incentive to leave the car at home.

I recently had this letter published in the Evening Times:

I notice the Times photographer was outside the school I work in as a teacher today to take photographs of parents parking on the zig-zag lines.

Could I suggest that the newly announced SSP policy of FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT would help combat the congestion and dangerous parking in the mornings outside most schools?

In my opinion this will take people out of their cars and give our cities - and in turn our children- the pollution free breathing space they need.
I noticed this article in the Herald about this policy -
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1149157.0.0.php

I promise to fight for a national free public transport system to turn Scotland into the clean, green capital of the world. With congestion and pollution choking our towns and cities and scientists ringing the alarm bells over global warming, we need radical action. By scrapping the £4 billion of prestige transport projects such as M74 and the Edinburgh airport rail-link, we could fund the infrastructure for an expanded, publicly-owned transport network. And by imposing a modest payroll tax on big business, we could run our buses, trains, ferries and underground free of charge. A vote for the SSP is vote for fare-free transport.

For more details on joining the S.S.P. and your local branch please contact our national offices below. Make sure to leave your name, address and phone number. Or you can email ssp.membership@btconnect.com

eastdunbartonshiressp@hotmail.co.uk

East Dunbartonshire SSP,

70 Stanley Street
Glasgow G41 1JB

tel: 0141-429-8200

fax: 0141-429-8040

http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/

www.scottishsocialistvoice.net