s 2015 General Election manifesto

FOR AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST SCOTLAND: STANDING UP FOR SCOTLAND’S WORKING

CLASS MAJORITY

201 5 General Election manifesto

FOR AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST SCOTLAND: STANDING UP F OR SC OTLAN D’S WORKI NG CL ASS M AJORITY CONTEN TS Introduction 5 Independence deferred 7 More powers for Holyrood 7 Standing up for Scotland’s working class majority 8 How is this programme to be paid for? 21 Building Scotland’s Socialist Party 21

ISBN 978-0-9571986-7-8 Design 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 INTRODUCTION ransom will continue to call the shots through the politicians they keep in their pockets. The outcome of this General Election hangs in In stark contrast to the inconclusive outcome the balance. Labour and the Tories are running expected at Westminster however May’s neck and neck in the polls. Neither has General Election in Scotland, the first test of sufficient support to form a government. public opinion since the independence Neither enjoys the confidence of a majority of referendum, looks set to produce a dramatic voters. Each may try to govern as a minority or reversal for Labour. They currently hold most more likely form a coalition with the much- Scottish seats. But the polls suggest Labour reduced and much-despised Lib Dems. could lose two thirds of them as its chronic David Cameron’s plea to be given a second political decline, a process the Scottish term rests on the premise that the Tories have Socialist Party first identified 16 years ago, steered Britain out of a recession and out of the reaches a dramatic climax. record indebtedness Labour left behind. But his The independence referendum was the last appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears straw for many Labour voters who saw the largely because millions of people across Britain party of Keir Hardie, Anuerin Bevan and Tony have seen no real improvement in their Benn ‘get into bed with the Tories’. And to standard of living and are in fact £1,800-a-year compound their sense of betrayal Labour worse off than they were in 2010. [Source: TUC] backtracked on ‘The Vow’ Gordon Brown made The widespread hostility towards the Tory/Lib at the height of the referendum debate to Dem Coalition and their austerity measures deliver substantial new powers to Holyrood. should mean Ed Miliband is well ahead in the This widespread desire for more powers has polls. So why isn’t he? unified former Yes and No voters. The party seen The answer is that people recall Labour’s to be associated most with that outcome is the own insipid economic performance last time. SNP. And their perceived ability to force the issue And their uninspiring programme and leader at Westminster has transformed the political intends to implement 90 per cent of Tory/Lib scene in Scotland in a way not seen in 40 years. Dem cuts should they win on 7 May. There is a palpable lack of enthusiasm for Ed Miliband It is ironic that responsibility for Labour’s because he offers no real alternative to the imminent collapse in Scotland lies with their Tories. And yet Labour’s problem is more most electorally successful Prime Minister. fundamental than that. No one knows what Tony Blair’s legacy will not be the Iraq War and Labour stands for anymore. They do not his lies above all, nor his support for inspire confidence among working class people privatisation of the NHS, education and our looking for change and desperate to see an public services, nor tuition fees, or his vicious improvement in their standard of living. attacks on the poor, or his cosy relationship with George Bush and with Rupert Murdoch at If the Tories lose, Cameron will be forced to News International. It will in the last analysis be resign and will most likely be replaced by his conviction that ‘ideology is dead’ and that another Eton public schoolboy Boris Johnston ‘all that matters is what works’. Hundreds of or George Osborne. If Labour loses, Miliband thousands of Scots were further angered by will be similarly dumped. Johann Lamont’s revisionist claim that The other main ‘loser’ in this election may universal benefits represented ‘the something well be UKIP’s Nigel Farage. For years the for nothing culture’. darling of the right-wing media who offer him It is a matter of public record that the Scottish every platform to espouse his odious view that Socialist Party wanted to see ‘Independence immigrants and Europe are to blame for the Alliance’ candidates contest all 59 Scottish economic and social crisis caused by City seats this time round. We felt that was the best bankers. It is clear UKIP will win barely a way to inflict most damage on Labour and handful of seats. And in such circumstances maintain the strength of the broad the three pro-EU parties at Westminster are independence movement. We wanted the SNP unlikely to grant him the IN/OUT referendum and the Greens to join us in presenting unified on Europe he demands. single candidates in each constituency. But it For working people however one thing is clear was not to be. The SNP rejected our offer. this election will change very little – 8 May will We are therefore standing in a limited follow 7 May as usual. Austerity and cuts in number of seats to present the socialist public services will continue to bite. The jobs alternative to neoliberalism, maintain our own market will continue to be dominated by poverty profile and provide vital experience for those wages and zero hour contracts. Our public hundreds of new Scottish Socialist Party services will continue to deteriorate in quality and members who have joined the party in recent reach. And the corporate elite who hold Britain to months.

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 5 Scotland average 10%

All four mainstream parties stand divergence in earnings between working condemned by Scotland’s appalling levels people and their bosses but they stand full of poverty and inequality square behind the neoliberal economic system A recent Scottish Government report that manufactures such inequalities. The concluded that more than half a million Scots Scottish Socialist Party does not. We offer live in poverty. In 2012/2013 for example 4 per working class people the democratic socialist cent of Scots were living in extreme poverty. alternative to neoliberalism. There is, we insist, Over 510,000 people, including 100,000 nothing new, liberal or democratic about the children and 80,000 pensioners living in systematic and widespread exploitation of households where the income was lower than Scotland’s working class majority. £11,500. A further 230,000 had household Our support for a £10-an-hour living wage incomes lower than £9200. [*Scottish and an end to zero hour contracts forms the Government’s ‘Severe Poverty in Scotland’ centrepiece of our commitment to working report – March 2015] people in Scotland. It stands alongside our Working age adults and children were more commitment to independence and our support likely to live in poverty particularly after housing for extra powers devolved to Holyrood to costs. In 2012/13, around 10 per cent of protect working class Scots from the ravages working age adults and 10 per cent of children of further Westminster attacks. were living in severe poverty, as were 8 per cent of pensioners. After housing costs, 16 per cent of working age adults, 15 per cent of children and 6 per cent of pensioners in Scotland were living in severe poverty. Over the last decade, while the rate of relative poverty has fallen, a greater proportion of households in poverty were in severe or extreme low income in 2012/13.

The statistics also show that employment is no longer a protection against poverty as 44 per cent of working age adults in extreme poverty lived in households where at least one adult was in employment, as did 60 per cent of children. Half of children living in extreme poverty were in households where at least one adult was in full time employment. The Scottish Socialist Party believes this is the most important issue in this election and we have no confidence in any of the other parties’ half-hearted efforts to turn this dismal situation around. The other parties contesting these elections may cry crocodile tears about this widening

6 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 INDEPENDENCE DEFERRED campaign were included and the SSP was excluded shows, as far as we are concerned, ‘Supporting Scotland’s democratic right to self- poor judgement on the Commissions behalf determination doesn’t make you a Scottish and reflects a rejection not only of the spirit of nationalist it makes you a democrat’ – Colin this debate, but also the specific instructions Fox, Yes Scotland Advisory Board member and laid down by the Prime Minister that this SSP joint national spokesman. discussion should involve ‘cross-party talks and The result of the referendum was decisive. facilitate an inclusive engagement process The Scottish people made it clear they across Scotland’. preferred more powers for Holyrood at this stage because that in their view offered The excuse offered to us, that only parties sufficient protection from the political ideology represented at Holyrood were to be invited to prevalent at Westminster. participate fully, ignores the fact that this The SSP wants to see further powers referendum was not a Parliamentary event but devolved to Holyrood as promised. In our a rather unique national plebiscite. submission to the Smith Commission – Notwithstanding these weaknesses in the reproduced below – we made it clear we would Commission’s approach we made the following continue to advocate full powers for our submission in good faith and believe our Parliament. Whilst we continue to support an proposals, as outlined below, are in keeping independent socialist Scotland, a modern with the wishes the Scottish people expressed democratic republic, as democrats we accept democratically on 18 September 2014. the 18 September result and recognise the The Scottish Socialist Party believes the vote was an endorsement of the ‘Devo–Max’ powers bestowed on Holyrood by ‘The option where all powers except Defence and Scotland Act’ 1997 must be significantly Foreign Affairs should be devolved to augmented. We support the devolution of all Holyrood. fiscal and tax raising powers for example to allow Holyrood to eradicate the terrible social problems, stark inequalities and appalling MORE POWERS FOR deprivation that blights this wealthy nation of HOLYROOD ours. We believe the Scottish people have little faith that such outcomes will ever be achieved The Smith Commission turned out to be the via Westminster. proverbial ‘damp squib’ recommending a set of wholly inadequate and very limited additional It cannot surely be acceptable to anyone in powers. We want far greater and more far- this debate that one in three children in some reaching powers than that. For the Scottish areas of our country live in poverty, that Socialist Party the power to change things in 800,000 are now classed as ‘working poor’ favour of Scotland’s working class majority is because their pay levels are so low, that nearly crucial. We want to prize economic and one in three households continue to suffer the political control out of the hands of an un- indignity of fuel poverty and that 157,000 elected, corporate elite in order to eradicate the families languish on the apparently never widespread poverty, inequality and injustice so shortening waiting list in need of a decent prevalent in 21st century Scotland. home to live in. Yet that is the stark reality of The Scottish Socialist Party has supported 21st century Scotland. This is not the type of independence since our inception in 1998. We socially divided, low wage economy our people campaign for an independent socialist Scotland wish to build. And the Scottish people have and have been prominent in this debate for the shown time and again they want to see the past 16 years. As one of the founders of the economic and financial powers to deal with cross-party ‘Scottish Independence these matters devolved to Holyrood. Convention’ in 2005 and the ‘Yes Scotland’ We further contend that the referendum coalition in 2012 together with the SNP and the highlighted the need to build a more Scottish Green Party, we were represented on prosperous, fairer and more democratic the ‘Yes Scotland’ Advisory Board throughout Scotland. Far too many of our countrymen and the referendum campaign. women are denied the chance to live in such a There can be little doubt Scotland is far more land and fulfil their potential. broadly engaged and politically energised today than it was before the independence debate began. We regret the Commissions decision to uniquely exclude the Scottish Socialist Party from its multilateral deliberations. The fact that all 5 other parties involved in the referendum

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 7 STANDING UP FOR have put up with such an affront to their SCOTLAND’S WORKING security of employment. We believe in full CLASS MAJORITY employment with equal rights and in-work benefits for all part-time, fixed-term contract The SSP has consistently fought for the and agency workers. interests of working class Scots against their The Scottish Socialist Party would abolish exploiters, for the millions against the Zero Hours Contracts and legislate to provide millionaires, for labour against capital. secure employment with guaranteed hours for We are a working class party who intend to all, whether part-time or full-time. replace capitalist exploitation with socialist democracy – including democracy in our 2. AUSTERITY workplaces and communities. Before the last election Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP politicians 1. JOBS FOR ALL – DECENT JOBS! went before voters with plans to slash public The Tory/Lib Dem Coalition boast of falling spending and sell off our public services, unemployment but beneath the statistics lurks supposedly to reduce the debt taken on by the an ugly reality – of 1.5 million new jobs created British government when it bailed out the in the UK since 2010 only one in 40 are full- banks. time and permanent. There are 80,000 fewer As many economists have pointed out Britain full-time jobs in Scotland in 2015 than in 2010. has had a National Debt or deficit for over 100 And 32 per cent of the new jobs are self- years. So when Nick Clegg claims on TV [The employed. Most people would prefer a secure Leaders Debate –2/4/15] that the country pays job but can’t find one. 80 per cent of the self- £42billion-a-year in interest as if it was employed now live in poverty. unprecedented he is quite wrong. The working class is cursed by casualisation The economic illiteracy of austerity has been with insecure, temporary, part-time and low- exposed a thousand times over since David paid jobs the main alternative to Cameron took the helm. His government is unemployment. Hundreds of thousands of pushing our social security system to breaking people now struggle to survive on 8-12 hours a point, with the Department of Work and week. There is a vast pool of people desperate Pensions (DWP) pressing staff to sanction for extra hours who are abused by claimants to meet arbitrary quotas. Around unscrupulous employers who use them only in 650,000 people were sanctioned in 2011, when busy spells with no overtime or premium unemployment peaked – but that number rose payments for anti-social periods. to nearly 900,000 in 2013, despite statistics Many workers rely on two or three jobs to purporting to show unemployment nearing pre- pay the bills, losing out on paid breaks, sick 2008 levels. pay, holiday pay and other in-work benefits. Under-employment is the new 21st century In the past year, more people were variant of the mass unemployment previous sanctioned than fined by the courts. Dr David generations endured. Webster of Glasgow University, giving evidence to a Westminster inquiry, said the Zero Hours Contracts - zero rights DWP ran “an amateurish, secret penal system” The pinnacle of job insecurity and lack of with little accountability. The welfare state that workplace rights are the notorious Zero Hours provides a safety net for vulnerable people is Contracts. An estimated 200,000 workers in being dismantled. Scotland are living with this constant insecurity. Millions of pounds from Holyrood’s budget for It means being contracted to work but with devolved policies have been spent mitigating absolutely no guarantee of how many hours the effects of the deeply unpopular bedroom you will get each week. tax and the abolition of council tax benefit, Workers on Zero Hour Contracts are which would have otherwise plunged expected to be on call, unpaid, waiting to find thousands of families into debt. out when they’re wanted. When people decline The SSP will bring down the housing benefit a shift offered to them they are frequently not bill by building 100,000 affordable homes for offered any more thereafter, as bosses rent over four years, rather than letting money exercise their power to punish them. continue to flow into private landlords’ pockets. These obnoxious forms of modern serfdom We would reinstate housing support grants to are not isolated to the outer fringes of the provide councils with funding to build and economy they are at its epicentre in every High repair homes. Street and retail park, fast food outlet, Last year, research funded by the Equality university and social care provider in the land. and Human Rights Commission found that Our grandparent’s generation would never women, ethnic minorities and disabled people

8 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 have been hit the hardest by the UK’s austerity • Inspection of the accounts of any Small and agenda. The Tories have used immigrants as a Medium Enterprise which claims they can’t scapegoat at every opportunity for the afford £10-an-hour, with government subsidies economic crisis caused by their friends in the in cases of genuine proven need. financial sector. • A 35-hour maximum working week without Across Europe, austerity brought a backlash any loss of earnings as the first step towards a in Greece, Spain and Ireland where an four-day week. organised movement has emerged, rejecting • A minimum of 6 weeks paid annual leave for the right-wing economics that dominate all workers, plus public holidays (including Europe. defence of the May Day public holiday). In Scotland, 1.6 million voted to reject the • 12 months’ statutory paid maternity leave British state last year. Many rightly viewed without loss of rights; and one month’s independence as a blow against Thatcherism statutory paid paternity leave – with partners and its legacy, opening an avenue to a being given the option of transferring some of divergent political future. their maternity/paternity leave to each other. The SSP is at the forefront of the movement against austerity because there is a better Protect jobs and services alternative. The financial power to intervene in the Scottish economy to protect jobs and services 3. POVERTY PAY under threat should also be devolved. We Poverty pay is now endemic in Scotland. It is believe the Scottish public made it clear outrageous that in the 14th-richest nation on throughout the referendum that they wish to earth we have one million people living on or see key industries and services vital to our below the breadline. Some 52 per cent of those economy, like The Royal Mail, our railways and in poverty are in work. Traditionally the energy sectors, returned to public employment was seen as the route out of ownership. Such powers would then ensure poverty, but as wages have fallen as a share of that decisions about how our services and national wealth low paid work has become the industries are run in Scotland would rest with biggest source of poverty. the Scottish people and would be driven by Two-thirds of people who found employment social need not corporate profit alone. in 2014 were paid less than £7.65-an-hour. It is clear that the privatisation agenda, so The government boast that 1.2 million prevalent in the policies of successive workers will ‘enjoy’ a 20p increase in the Westminster regimes, has little support north of minimum wage in October 2015, rising to the Border. The Scottish people have made it £6.70-an-hour. repeatedly clear they prefer public ownership The SSP regards that level of wage as to privatisation and the SSP supports the view inadequate. It is far too low to be a ‘living that the power to return industries and services wage’. We support a legally enforced living of to public hands must also therefore be £10-an-hour for all over 16. devolved to Holyrood. We call for that £10 rate now not 2020 or some other distant date – based on the modest Power to eradicate poverty formula of a legally enforced minimum set at The Scottish Socialist Party believes financial two-thirds median male wages in Scotland. We and legal powers to protect Scotland's also insist this should be accompanied by employees in both the private and public sector equal pay for women. from 'poverty pay' and exploitation are also The government admits that you need to be essential. Millions of people in Britain are now earning £10-an-hour in order to pay your own poor and in work. They earn a pittance and rely way today. They accept that anyone earning on state benefits to make ends meet. That, in less than £10-an-hour will still qualify for top-up our view, is not the 'full employment' the benefits because their wages are not high Scottish people support. A competitive, modern enough to live on. Scottish economy cannot be constructed on We share the policy of the Bakers’ union slave wages. (BFAWU), and indeed the entire TUC, which We therefore suggest all powers over the voted unanimously for “a £10-per-hour national minimum wage be devolved to minimum wage for all workers” at its 2014 Holyrood and we support the establishment of Congress. a statutory new 'Living Wage' as the Scottish The SSP demands: Trades Union Congress and others have • A legally enforceable living wage of £10 now, advocated. for all over 16, with equal pay for women. Moreover as current Employment laws offer • Carers’ Allowance to be set at the £10 little meaningful protection to workers from minimum wage level. 'slave wages', indignity and humiliation at work

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 9 or the bullying of unscrupulous employers we • guaranteed rights and facilities for elected recommend all Employment legislation should union reps to represent members during also now be transferred to Holyrood. working hours. And since a large majority of our citizens • full legal employment rights from day one of wish to belong to an appropriate trade union employment. that might afford them some protection at work • abolition of all fees for Employment Tribunal we believe such powers should also be hearings. transferred from Westminster to Holyrood. In • trade union recognition in all workplaces such circumstances the worst anti-union laws where members join. in Europe would be have to be immediately • reinstatement of full, free collective bargaining rescinded. in all sectors and workplaces, including on The Scottish Socialist Party supports powers wages, conditions, training, equalities, health being ceded to Holyrood to allow the and safety. introduction of a statutorily enforceable Living • the constitutional right to strike after a simple Wage as recommended by the Trades Union majority vote, including the right to take Congress and the Living Wage Foundation. But solidarity action with fellow workers, and we would go further and insist that the most removal on the ban on so-called political effective way to tackle the problem would be strikes. introduce £10-an-hour for every employee in • workers' control of health and safety at work Scotland now. This is the level researchers through elected health and safety stewards. have found a person needs to be earning in • boards of management to have a majority Scotland today in order to pay their own way made up of elected, accountable and not have to rely on additional state benefits representatives of workplace unions and the because their wages are so low. Under current wider working class, to establish genuine circumstances the taxpayer is in effect workplace democracy. subsidising bad employers. Jobs, pay and workplace rights are central issues for the SSP. These issues more than Rescind the anti-union laws any show working people whose side political The SSP also believes employment legislation parties are on. We stand for decent, dignified, should be devolved to Holyrood to establish a secure, well-paid jobs and workplace level-playing field between employees and democracy. employers in Scottish industrial relations. In the 30 years since the miners' strike of 4. FUEL POVERTY 1984/5 collective bargaining rights for With fuel poverty now also a major problem in organised trade unions have been virtually one in three households in Scotland, we believe banished from three-quarters of workers, the government needs to act against profiteering leading to lower wages, worse health and energy companies by imposing a ‘windfall tax’ on safety, and a general climate of fear in UK their profits. This could pay for additional fuel- workplaces. poverty programmes to protect the most Unscrupulous employers and governments vulnerable and extend energy efficiency have driven down workers' rights using the schemes. Both measures represent a wise long- most repressive battery of anti-trade union term investment as far as we are concerned. laws in the whole of Europe. Devised by And the power to ensure renewable Thatcher they were retained by New Labour electricity generated in local communities is during their 13 years in government and added publicly owned and made freely available to to by David Cameron since 2010. those local communities most affected – The Tories want to make it impossible to particularly since many are not on the national exercise the right to withdraw your labour in gas grid – is also recommended. defence of wages, jobs or rights at work. No The SSP would return the oil and gas other party has pledged to repeal these anti- industry to public ownership. trade union laws. The SSP will work with the Another industry with vast job expansion STUC in campaigning for the Scottish potential is the renewable energy sector. Parliament to have the powers to implement a Scotland’s offshore renewables industry has Charter of Workers' Rights, including: been described as ‘the Saudi Arabia of green • The guaranteed right to join a union and help energy. organise it without fear of victimisation. George Osborne’s recent Budget handed • rights and facilities for union reps and officials over £1.3billion in tax cuts to North Sea Oil to openly recruit to the unions in all operators. If they’d been taxed at the same workplaces. level as in Norway, that would have raised an • defence and restoration of the 'check-off' extra £118billion over the last decade for system of collecting union subs. investment in clean green energy.

10 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 Private ownership of the renewables sector example would, we estimate bring in £11billion means profiteering by big landowners and to the Holyrood exchequer annually. multinational energy companies. We also recommend the power to introduce The SSP demands: ‘windfall taxes’ on those corporations declaring • Democratic public ownership of all forms of excessive profits – such as the energy firms in energy, including renewables, oil, gas, recent years – should be devolved. electricity, hydroelectric, to democratically plan And we must also move to ensure the burden investment, massive job creation and of taxation moves progressively from the poor to production that would benefit both people and the rich. The legal power to pursue those who planet. seek to evade their obligations by secreting their wealth abroad in so-called ‘tax havens’ is also a 5. FRACKING measure we believe should be devolved. All The Scottish Socialist Party opposes onshore such revenues recovered could then be used to hydraulic fracturing in Scotland. We believe the fund ‘poverty busting’ initiatives. evidence from Australia and the United States, where energy companies have been extracting 7. REPLACE THE COUNCIL TAX gas using this method for decades, has shown WITH AN INCOME-BASED short and long term damage to the ALTERNATIVE environment. One way to shift the burden of tax from the We have been prominent in local campaigns poor to the better off would be to replace the across Scotland opposed to fracking. SSP unfair Council Tax with an income-based Councillor Jim Bollan led the successful alternative. campaign in West Dunbartonshire to ban The Scottish Socialist Party advocates the fracking, making it the first Scottish Council to introduction of a 'Scottish Service tax' to pay do so. for local government services raised via a levy We believe the companies involved in on an individual's income. Their tax obligation fracking show far too little regard for the would rise as their earnings rise. Under our damage they inflict in local communities in their plans someone whose income is less than pursuit of profit. £12,000 pays nothing, those on the Scottish The SSP advocates a responsible energy average of £17,800 would pay less than they policy that ensures long term supplies and yet do at the moment in Council Tax and as protects the environment. That is why we incomes rise so does the person's tax bill. favour greater investment in renewables where Across Scotland, hard pressed families are Scotland has the potential to be a world leader. facing up to additional pressures being placed on their living conditions by local government. 6. TAX-RAISING POWERS The first is the round of cuts and austerity The Scottish Socialist Party believes all taxes programmes that Labour, the SNP and the and duties raised here in Scotland should be Tories are pushing through at local level. The spent here. And that includes Income tax and second is the regressive Council Tax which National Insurance Contributions, VAT, duties ensures the richest pay a far smaller share on alcohol, tobacco and fuel, Corporation tax, than anyone else. For whilst the gap between Capital Gains Tax, Road Tax, oil revenues, Air the richest and poorest grows wider and wider, Passenger Duty etc. Such revenues could then the Council Tax ensures those with the most be directed towards the social democratic will never pay more than three times those with measures the people of Scotland support such the least. Proportionally this means those least as the eradication of poverty, the introduction able to pay face the highest tax bill. of a living wage for all, public ownership of vital industries and services, and the provision of The Scottish Service Tax will not be based on free public transport to combat climate change arbitrary household bandings that favour the and greater social mobility. rich, but on a progressive income tax model, We reject the claim made by some English recognising the ability to pay. The proposition is Tory MP’s in particular that Scotland would lose simple and the scheme works like this: out in such circumstances as we are • the first £0-£12,000 of income would be tax-free apparently ‘subsidised by taxes raised in • Income between £12,000 and £30,000 would England’. The fact is for the last 35 years be taxed at 4.5 per cent Scotland has paid in more into the UK Treasury • Income between £30,000 and £40,000 would in taxes than we ever got back in service be taxed at 15 per cent provision. Last year for example 9.8 per cent of • Income between £40,000 and £50,000 would all UK taxes were collected in Scotland despite be taxed at 18 per cent having only 8.4 per cent of the UK population. • Income between £50,000 and £90,000 would The devolution of Income tax alone for be taxed at 21 per cent

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 11 • Income above £90,000 would be taxed at 23 local communities. Scotland suffers from per cent widespread shortage of good, affordable For example, on an income of £16,000 a housing; a by-product of the disastrous Right to year, the first £12,000 is under Band 1, so you Buy Scheme now thankfully abandoned. An would pay no tax on that. The following £4000 SSP government would commit itself to a would be taxed at 4.5 per cent, under band 2, substantial house-building programme as part giving you a total bill of £180 each year under and parcel of an ambitious programme of this example. social and economic regeneration. At the same Under these proposals not only would time it would take action to support hard- enough revenue be generated to avoid pressed mortgage payers while bringing in implementing cuts to local services, but the tough regulation to control the private sector. system by which such revenue is generated is We promise: far more equitable, leaving up to half of all • to build 100,000 new social sector houses families and households facing a lower tax bill, available for rent over the four years of the whilst only the richest 16 per cent or so would Parliament, to the highest environmental find themselves paying more, at a rate much standards in Europe. closer to their fair share. • an emergency action programme to renovate Protecting communities against brutal cuts is and install free insulation in every social sector entirely possible. Not only will the SSP house in Scotland. continue to oppose cuts at every stage, we will • to take the construction and supply industry further continue to work to provide clear and into democratic public ownership. well costed alternatives to the brutal austerity • to create thousands of jobs and 5,000 that have imposed upon us. apprenticeships per year for a massive building and renovation plan, with guaranteed trade 8. HOUSING union rights and conditions, with a ban on Scotland suffers from an appalling shortage blacklisting and jobs and proper justice offered of affordable housing. With 157,000 families to all past victims of blacklisting. now on the waiting list the problem is getting worse not better. The Scottish Government is 9. FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT facing a losing battle as things stand without To help Scotland meet our international the money or the powers to effect change. climate change obligations to reduce CO2 The Scottish Socialist Party calls for a emissions a raft of powers need to be massive social house building programme to devolved. The Scottish Socialist Party be undertaken and the powers and resources advocates free public transport on all buses, needed for such a plan are now urgently trains, trams and ferries in Scotland. This required. Monies raised from the new property measure has many advantages but it is development tax in Scotland could in our view primarily an initiative designed to encourage be used to part fund this much-needed new people to leave their cars at home and social housing plan. dramatically reduce the level of hazardous The SSP aims to build 100,000 new social pollutants like CO2 and Nitrous Oxide [NO] in housing sector homes over the lifetime of this the atmosphere. This measure would also offer Parliament. Built to the highest environmental significant extra help to those poorer parts of standards these homes would be available for our society who use public transport most and rent to the neediest first. As well as solving the it would therefore assist greater social mobility. chronic housing shortage this programme The cost of such a measure is estimated to would also create thousands of jobs and be around £500million per annum measured by apprenticeships, giving decent wages and the loss of current revenues and the cost of dignity to young and older workers alike. extra rolling stock, buses and infrastructure The Scottish Socialist Party believes that the required to cope with the increased demand. private sector cannot meet Scotland’s housing The Scottish Socialist Party believes the needs. The SSP believes housing is a social revenues from Road Tax and Air Passenger need and should be met with social provision. Duty in Scotland could be used to offset these Whether provided by local authorities or costs. housing associations this represents a better Such a joint approach to pollution and social model for the delivery of good quality housing mobility has been introduced with remarkable at reasonable rents which actually meet the success in many cities in Europe and North housing needs of the whole people. The SSP America. Again this is a power presently also takes the view that people do not simply retained at Westminster that Scotland could live in houses they live in communities and benefit from devolving. social housing provider’s needs to invest in the The SSP is unique in advocating free public economic and social developments of their transport. The measure has been adopted in

12 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 many cities in the world but Scotland would be in order to again reflect our social democratic the first country to implement it as a innovative values not the neoliberal concepts prevalent at contribution to combating CO2 emissions and Westminster. address the poverty and social isolation suffered by hundreds of thousands of Scots. It Citizen’s Income would greatly assist Scotland’s battle against The SSP would introduce a Citizen’s Income pollution and climate change. It would also (CI) to address the widespread poverty and create skilled manufacturing jobs to build fleets inequality in society today. Paid by government of trains, buses and ferries, as well as directly to all adults without means testing the CI would creating jobs on an integrated public transport replace most existing benefits (income support, network. child benefit, tax credits, jobseekers allowance, The SSP demands: state pension, pension credits) and would form • the return of all forms of transport into public part of wages for those in work (and taxed ownership, with democratic, elected boards of proportionately). In addition to eradicating management involving workers, communities, poverty, a CI would rid the social security passengers and representatives of local and system of its current stigma and provide national government. everyone in society the freedom to flourish. • investment in the infrastructure and People would have the financial freedom to workforces to establish a fare-free public volunteer, care for relatives or children, learn, transport network. or be artistically or musically creative. There would be the freedom to take work only when 10. WELFARE employers pay sufficiently to make it financially The need to develop welfare policies in worthwhile. It would assist those starting up keeping with Scotland’s social democratic and small businesses who often struggle during the socialist values is sharply posed by legislation early stages to get a sufficient income to live passed at Westminster, which does not upon. A universal benefit, CI would reduce complement these aspirations. Indeed the stigma and promote solidarity. The CI would entire tenor of the debate on welfare at become a source of pride for Scotland, like the Westminster seems predicated on holding NHS, and would send a strong signal that claimants to account for an economic and everyone in our society is valued no matter financial crisis they did not cause. Such an their personal circumstances. unjust approach is understandably unpopular and unsupported in Scotland. Supporting carers The changes to housing benefit proposed With the passing of the Self-Directed Support with the hated ‘bedroom tax’ show just how Bill there should be more options for carers alien such an approach is to Scotland. That is and those they support. Unfortunately this is a proposal that would never have won a not the case. There is a postcode lottery with majority at Holyrood. The people of Scotland different criteria applying throughout Scotland. wish, in our view, to see housing benefit More and more services usually offered by powers devolved as well as a wide range of local authorities are being farmed out to other measures designed to close the ever- charities. We will campaign to make day widening gap between the rich and the poor in centres and respite provision a choice open to this country. carers. We call for an end to the care tax That is the direction the people of Scotland, where disabled people are asked to contribute on both sides of the independence debate, money from their disability benefits as a would like to see welfare and tax policies contribution to their direct payment. Carers move. often feel patronised by those representing them. We will campaign for a carer’s Clearly closing the inequalities gap involves Parliament with real power to define policies growing the Scottish economy, but it also with representation decided directly by carers requires new power are devolved to Holyrood themselves. Carers need regular respite. We to ensure far greater investment in the high will ensure carers have at least 14 nights of quality public services upon which the poor rely respite a year or the equivalent in hours when disproportionately. it suits them. Carers should have a choice of All welfare spending decisions affecting the service provider of their choice. We oppose Scotland should therefore in our view be the closure of day centres and resources which devolved to Holyrood not just housing benefit people with disabilities regard as a place to as some in the ‘Better Together’ campaign meet their friends. We recognise the social have suggested. Unemployment benefit, model of disability where there should be disability allowances, pension rights, tax access for all in all areas of our community and credits, child benefit, etc all should be devolved will fully support projects that enable this.

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 13 We believe carers should receive a living NHS, including prescriptions, optical care and wage. After all carers contribute ten billion dentistry. The NHS is the most effective and pounds in unpaid care. We know many carers efficient way of providing high quality health work over sixty hours a week. As a start though services in the world. The NHS in England we would fund forty hours a week at the rate of however has been disbanded by the a living wage. We call for every school to have Tory/Liberal-Democrat Coalition (building on a young carer’s worker to offer practical New Labour privatisations and legislation prior support. For older young carers we call for to 2010) and now represents only a ‘badge’ added support when applying for further and a funding stream from government. Private education and employment. providers have been contracted to provide services for profits and the remaining publicly Benefits owned facilities have to compete to continue to If there is one group of workers who have provide hospital and primary care services. Bourne the brunt of Tory and Lib Dem attacks it Over time in England this will lead to a is those living on benefits. The last five years complete privatisation of the system with have seen an unprecedented and vicious massive profits extracted and the public will be assault on the lives of the most vulnerable. forced into a situation where they have to take Private companies such as ATOS and out private health insurance to be able to MAXIMUS have been employed to hound access a full range of health services. people off Disability Living Allowance. The SSP In Scotland we are in a better position with believes people with disabilities should be very little involvement of multinational offered support to find work where it is relevant companies in delivering NHS services. and at the individual's own pace. The atrocious However, we must not be complacent. We attacks on people with disabilities witnessed in oppose the use of private financing deals to recent years is entirely driven by ideology in a build or maintain parts of the NHS – this is a brutal attempt to make sick people pay for a policy which is now draining money to private financial crisis cause by the bankers. companies from our health boards. Benefit sanctions are having a detrimental impact on many individuals lives. We will end The pharmaceutical industry makes a huge the need for people to have to apply for over profit out of the NHS (as a customer) and also 60 jobs a day to receive their Job Seekers the academic expertise and training provided Allowance. We condemn the use of language through the Scottish education and research such as “skivers” to define people in receipt of funding systems. Yet, we remain at the behest benefits. The Scottish Socialist Party backs an of the pharmaceutical industry in relation to the immediate and complete end to the welfare research areas they prioritise, the quality (or sanctions regime. lack of quality) of the research they do and the production and marketing of medicines that 11. HEALTH they undertake. We therefore propose to Scotland is widely known as the ‘sick man of reassert the role of the Scottish Medicines Europe’ because of its higher mortality rates in Consortium in assessing which medicines are comparison the rest of the continent. We have effective and which should be funded by the a higher rate of heart disease, cancer, stroke, NHS. We also propose to build a publicly- alcohol- and drug-related deaths, as well as a owned pharmaceutical company for the NHS in higher prevalence of mental health problems. Scotland to take the profits out of the system Health inequalities, the differences in health as much as possible. outcomes we see across the population from There is also a renewed danger of rich to poor, are also wider. This means where privatisation in Scotland with the creation of you are born determines how long you are Joint Integration Boards as part of the likely to live, and how long you are likely to live integration of health and social services. Private in good health – a damning indictment of 21st companies are circling around looking for a way century Scotland. The most important factors to make profits out of the system – profits that which determine the health of the population would only be extracted by reducing the amount relate to the socioeconomic inequalities in and quality of services provided, and through society; housing conditions, the availability of attacks on the wages and conditions of staff. good quality work, transport and the social This is even more acute with the international security system. The SSP’s policies across all TTIP agreement which the UK government is of these areas would mean that the health of forcing through which may lead to private the Scottish population would be radically companies suing the government if they are improved, and the health inequalities across prevented from bidding to run the NHS. the population would be radically reduced. The The SSP is committed to a fully publicly SSP supports a publicly owned and run, free, owned and run health service. We work to

14 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 ensure the NHS is accessible to all as part of a children from our poorest communities will be universal service, but which also meets the 10-13 months behind in educational attainment greater need in the nations most deprived by the time they are 5. Whatever warm words areas. It makes most sense to spend NHS we hear from mainstream politicians about resources in preventing ill-health occurring education they mean nothing whilst the rather than treating health problems after they obscenity of wealth inequality continues to grow occur. To that end, we support increased as a result of their continued policies of austerity. investment in primary care whilst maintaining The SSP will: the current network of local district general • fight poverty and inequality to close the hospitals and the services they provide. attainment gap in education. We support the increase in direct • return teacher numbers to pre-2007 levels. employment of GPs and dentists (and other • retain qualified teachers in every nursery parts of primary care) within the NHS. We • close private schools – for a fully support a convergence of pay across the NHS comprehensive, publicly owned and grades with no workers or contractors receiving accountable education system. less than a living wage of £10-per-hour. • oppose all cuts in hours for primary education

12. EDUCATION Higher education Austerity politics have taken their toll in The Scottish Socialist Party supports free education, as in every other part of the public education at all levels and believe it should be sector. Over the last few months campaigns accessible to all. We are pleased that in have had to be initiated in Falkirk and West Scotland students do not have to pay tuition Dunbartonshire to prevent Councils reducing fees however things are far from perfect. the amount of hours children are taught in Higher education in Scotland, like the rest of primary education. This shows how the funding the economy, is being subjected to increased pressures from the Westminster government marketisation with profit increasingly taking are now threatening the very fabric of this key precedence over providing an intellectually service. inspiring experience for students. This is Whilst our devolved Parliament has so far exemplified by the fact that lecturers and avoided the Coalition’s dismantling of state tutors, people at the pinnacle of their education in England, it does not mean that professions, are increasingly finding Scottish education is immune from cuts. themselves on exploitative Zero Hour Contacts Schools in Scotland have been through a worrying about whether they'll have a job at the period of significant change with the end of the academic session- this is not introduction of new National Qualifications acceptable. Students, like the wider population, which have brought new challenges to pupils, are struggling to cope with rising costs- rents in teachers and parents. The fact that it has been particular are out of control. introduced against a background of a reduction The SSP will reverse the marketisation of the in teaching posts of 4000 since 2007 gives higher education system, egalitarianism and some insight to pressures faced by those who democracy, not profit, should be the tenets of work in education. This has led to retreats on our higher education system. The SSP promised reductions to class sizes. supports the re-introduction of student grants Colleges have also gone through a as a means of overcoming student poverty. We prolonged period of uncertainty and change also support giving students the right to claim with mergers that have often taken place housing benefit. We call for investment in good against the wishes of staff. College places quality, affordable accommodation for students. have been cut and press reports suggest as We believe education is for all and would many as 10,000 are on waiting lists for increase the provision of adult learning courses. With 1 in 5 young people currently programmes, as well as ensuring that unemployed there is a crying need for more employers support staff that take time off for college places, not less. training or educational purposes. We may have avoided tuition fees in Scotland but university students are still 13. ENHANCING DEMOCRACY graduating with an average of £22,000 of debt The historic independence debate also proved and working class young people are still there was an enormous appetite in Scotland now dramatically under represented at our for extending democracy – economic, social and universities. political democracy – to a population eager to The biggest disgrace of all however, is that by take on greater responsibility. And there will be far the biggest determinant for educational widespread agreement between all parties that attainment remains income and social class. Scotland’s democracy could well do with it. Civic According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation participation in local government by-elections for

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 15 example in recent years has become a national for a national debate on whether Scotland embarrassment at times with successful should have its own elected Head of State candidates emerging with as little as 10 per cent accountable to, and representative of, the of the electorate supporting them. Many will people they purport to serve is in our opinion wonder how long the 97 per cent registration overwhelming and long overdue. The level achieved for the referendum will hold or the conclusion of the Scottish Enlightenment that 91 per cent turnout rates achieved in some ‘the sovereignty of the Scottish people’ is utterly areas without a profound change in culture? negated by laws protecting ‘hereditary The challenge for the Smith Commission privileges’ and ‘the divine right of then is to bring forward recommendations Kings/Queens’. The fact that every MSP in which allow Scotland to harness and channel Scotland, elected their constituents, must swear all that energy and enthusiasm for our ongoing an oath of allegiance, not to those they were political benefit by developing a model for sent to serve but to a monarch is completely greater democracy in 21st century Scotland. ludicrous in this day and age. Bills passed by The Scottish Enlightenment provided the world the Scottish Parliament can just as easily be with much scientific and democratic rationale signed into law, not by the Queen as at present, centred on the principle that national sovereignty but by the Presiding Officer/Speaker. ultimately rests with the people. The SSP believes the tremendous democratic awakening Extending democracy in this way is, in our of 2013/14 represents another period of opinion, the best tribute the Commission could democratic enlightenment and renewal and it pay to the tremendous civic renewal seen this provides Scotland with a golden opportunity to country has seen as a consequence of the adapt our political and civic institutions to make 2014 Constitutional debate. them fit for purpose. This adaptation should The Scottish Socialist Party supports a include the following initiatives: modern, democratic, republic for Scotland. The British monarchy is antiquated, class ridden A written constitution and anachronistic. The world today is guided The referendum debate offered up the by values of democracy, accountability and possibility of a Written Constitution for Scotland equality, which are the antithesis of monarchy. and revealed Britain is one of the few countries The SSP stands alongside those who seek to in Europe not to have one. The SSP believes extend democracy and equality. We support a Holyrood should be afforded the power to come wide range of democratic reforms, including forward with such a Written Constitution for economic and local, which we believe are Scotland that sets out and enshrines the values urgently needed. upon which we wish to build our modern nation. Our case for extending reason and The Scottish Government’s proposal to begin a democracy today belongs in the Scottish wide consultation on the matter enjoyed Enlightenment tradition. Feudal institutions support on both sides of the independence based on hereditary privileges and ‘divine rights’ debate. We believe it is therefore an issue the passed down to monarchs from ‘The Almighty’ Smith Commission should examine further and have no part to play in modern political build on the cross-party progress made on the structures and democratic constitutions let alone matter over the last few months. at their apex. The British monarchy is clearly not modern, it is patently not democratic and it is Votes at 16 certainly not egalitarian. Yet such values are And there can surely be little doubt that one uppermost in working class people’s ambitions of the many successes of the referendum was today for the type of world we wish to see.’ the level of engagement and participation of 16 and 17 year olds voting for the first time in Whilst no one would argue Britain’s political Scottish history. The SSP believes 16 and 17 institutions are run directly from Buckingham year olds should continue to enjoy the Palace it would be equally foolish to suggest democratic franchise in all future elections in the monarchy plays no role in British political this country from now on. life. It is most certainly not an institution content to amuse tourists, entertain foreign dignitaries A modern democratic republic or fill the pages of Hello magazine. The ‘State We also believe it to be an outdated Opening of Parliament’ is after all not yet a anachronism that Scotland’s Parliament must privilege afforded to ‘Posh and Becks’ or the seek the permission of an un-elected, latest winner of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of unaccountable and unrepresentative monarch Here! ‘Her Majesty’ is there to remind us of the before any of its laws can be enacted. We class nature of British society and its ‘pecking believe such a situation is not only un- order’. Both Houses of Parliament [one anti- democratic but also anti-democratic. The case democratic and un-elected, the other corrupted

16 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 by big business and its cash] are frequently of a better life. People who uproot themselves summoned to attend ‘Her Majesty’. and their families and travel thousands of miles Those who argue in favour of keeping the in search of a better life here should be given a monarchy on the grounds that she brings in warm welcome and receives our admiration for millions of tourists might wish to reflect on the their courage and determination. We Scots know fact the Queen’s home at Windsor Castle was all about emigration. It is an experience Scots only the 24th most popular tourist attraction in families have been forced into for generations. the UK last year. As the campaign group To those angry about immigration we adopt a ‘Republic’ points out York Railway museum patient and persistent constructive dialogue drew more crowds than any Royal attraction that reminds them ‘It wasn’t immigrants who last year. Perhaps we should make ‘Thomas cause the collapse in our living standards. the Tank Engine’ our un-elected, It wasn’t the Romanians who caused the unrepresentative Head of State? worst recession in 80 years or the Bulgarians who bankrupted the economy. Human rights protection It wasn’t immigrants who embezzled Human Rights legislation is another area that £100billion by avoiding their tax obligations. tends to highlight the gulf in attitudes between It wasn’t immigrants who introduced the Westminster and Scotland. Westminster is bedroom tax or sold off the Royal Mail. fostering an agenda that seeks to roll back It wasn’t immigrants who forced one million progressive Human Rights legislation emanating households in Scotland into fuel poverty. from Europe and the international courts. Scots on the other hand tend to support the protections 15. EUROPE such laws bring to vulnerable groups and The EU is ultimately run, as far as the minorities. We therefore believe the power to Scottish Socialist Party is concerned, for and implement and oversee all Human Rights by the large European multi-national legislation should be devolved to Holyrood. corporations. It is a neoliberal trap. If it is ever to be run in the interests of the peoples of 14. IMMIGRATION Europe, all 500million of us, then a clear, And if there is one issue above others which democratic, socially just pan-European plan shows the growing chasm between the politics needs to be set out and implemented. This of Westminster and the political centre of bold political proposition may sound utopian in gravity in Scotland it is surely immigration. the current climate but it is one the SSP and The Scottish Socialist Party believes many sister parties across Europe have been immigration brings substantial economic, working towards for decades. It is to say the cultural and social gains to Scotland. We least linked to the success of the working class warmly welcome those new Scots who have movement across the continent. chosen to come here and make this country a Notwithstanding its challenges this approach is richer place as a result. We highly recommend more attractive to us than the idea of leaving that powers should be urgently devolved to the EU and somehow seeing greater Holyrood to enable Scotland to implement the democratic and economic progress being inclusive, beneficiary policies we need rather achieved in the UK and across Europe than suffer at the hands of xenophobic bigotry separately and yet simultaneously. and an anti-immigrant atmosphere that is now For these reasons and upholding principles gripping Westminster by the throat. of international solidarity the SSP is committed The Scottish Socialist Party believes to working in a pan-European socialist alliance immigrants who come here make this country to achieve our goal of a socialist federation of wealthier and more diverse, not poorer. We European nations. recognise that migrant workers pay far more taxes into the UK Treasury than they take out. An in/our referendum The NHS and other key services and industry Whilst big business in Britain is determined to have benefited enormously from the efforts and see the UK remain in the EU the Tories are all skills of immigrants over many decades. over the place. They have been split on Europe Immigrants come here for work not our for 40 years. David Cameron must constantly ‘generous’ benefits – £70-a-week Jobseekers try to placate two opposing factions of his Allowance. Young workers from Poland, Spain party. On the one hand he says he is not and elsewhere have successfully helped halt against a referendum but will try to avoid one Scotland’s chronic population decline. Our by trying to renegotiate EU Treaties to Britain’s quality of life in Scotland is greatly enhanced advantage. Should that approach fail, and the by our treasured multi-culturalism and such a odds are stacked massively against him, he rich and diverse community of peoples. will campaign to stay in the EU. There is no Scots have emigrated for centuries in search certainty however that the British Conservative

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 17 Party as it presently stands will survive the environmental crisis in an effective manner. We battle so deep are the divisions. UKIP is the believe priority should be given to production for embodiment of that Tory fault line. need not profit resulting in sustainable products Labour is against a referendum on Europe meeting needs and, for example prioritising arguing it is not the priority at this time. If there sustainable homes over Trident missiles. We is a referendum they will campaign to stay in accept that environmentalism cannot happen in although some Labour MP’s will rebel. a vacuum. If we are to establish ourselves as a The SNP by and large take the same view as living, breathing example of sustainability, we Labour as do the Liberal Democrats. will need to face down not just climate sceptics Arguing against a referendum in the current but the profit driven destruction of profit hungry atmosphere however looks increasingly anti- multinationals. We seek a world that is democratic and smacks of defeatism. sustainable, forward-looking and in which The SSP are proud internationalists. We have people can thrive. no truck with the outlook of ‘Little Englanders’ [or ‘Little Scotlanders’ for that matter] who want The SSP demands: to pull up the drawbridge as it were and leave • a 90 per cent reduction in emissions of the EU. We favour closer ties between all the carbon dioxide internationally by the year 2030 peoples of Europe on a democratic and socially together with significant reductions of other progressive basis. We are in favour of greenhouse gas emissions. commercial trading and equality as well as • investment in alternative energy technologies, enhancing closer social and cultural links with including community-owned wind farms, tidal our 500million European neighbours. But the power clean coal technology and hydro. Treaty of Rome, the foundation stone of the EU, • public and community ownership of energy, is essentially an exploitative corporate charter a including oil, wind farms, electricity, coal and boss’s edict to do what they like with workers in gas, with a proportion of all profits ring-fenced all 28 countries. The policies pursued by the EU for investment in alternative energy. are based on upholding the rights of capital. • an end to the imposition of pre-payment The treaties signed in Maastricht and Lisbon meters on those who owe debts to gas and set down terms even more beneficial to electricity companies. corporate Europe and even more detrimental to • refunds backdated by five years to households the working class majority across Europe. which have been forced to pay the higher charges associated with pre-payment meters. Is it better to leave the EU then than try to • increased taxation on aviation fuel, with revenue change it from within? used to improve high-speed rail and ferry links The SSP’s view is that working class people between Scotland and mainland Europe. in Britain are being fed an illusion by UKIP [and • resistance to the building of any new nuclear others] that leaving the EU will somehow make power plants in Scotland, and the setting of a things better. It will not. Therefore clear timetable for the decommissioning of notwithstanding the views of a sceptical public existing nuclear power stations. we challenge Europe’s corporate elite by linking • legislation making it illegal to own, as well as up with other like-minded allies across Europe to import, illegally logged timber. to democratise and socialise it. That is far better • all biofuels to have sustainability and done on a continental basis than at UK level greenhouse gas certification. where the neoliberal right entrenched in their • the establishment of elected anti-pollution City of London redoubt are far more dominant. boards at national and local level to monitor Leaving the EU puts the British working class and enforce pollution controls, and for these at the mercy of the UK ruling classes and those boards to have the power to impose penalties. right-wingers behind Farage who will feel • the rural economy to be geared towards emboldened by their success. providing quality local foods for regional The British ruling class and its big markets, rather than exports. corporations are very heavily pro-EU since it is • local management of sea fisheries, based on in effect their toy. But they are no friends of the the Finnish model, where environmental working class either here or abroad. sustainability is a key priority alongside community sustainability. 16. CLIMATE CHANGE The Scottish Socialist Party believes lobbying Renewables corporations to behave more responsibly with Dramatic change in Land Reform Policy regards to the environment is futile. which would return all land, and seabeds from Corporations have one priority – profit. Only the Crown Estates to the people of Scotland. policies putting people and planet before profit This includes all country homes. In the creation can tackle the gathering social and of a Scottish Republic a gesture of goodwill in

18 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 line with historical association would result in continue to protest against their existence until the leasing of Balmoral as a country home, Scotland is nuclear free. We have also (With a vastly decreased land mass.) This expressed our solidarity with the workers at would be offered at an annual fee to the Crown Faslane and Coulport. We will ensure their skills Estate and subject to Scots laws and taxes. are used elsewhere for peaceful purposes. An 80 per cent reduction in subsidies for landowners for placement of onshore wind Defence farms. Further subsidies will take the form of The Scottish economy is too heavily energy cost reduction and a lasting agreement dependent on defence industries and MOD that wind farms will not be built in areas of contracts as far as we are concerned. Outside farming or agriculture. the food industries it would appear Scotland’s An increased role for the Scottish only volume manufacturing nowadays relates to Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to defence and armaments production. This is not ensure the safety of wildlife and conservation. the type of economic balance the Scottish Socialist Party supports. We are wholeheartedly Creation of a Scottish Renewable Energy opposed to the further militarisation of Scottish Commission (SREC) which would regulate and society. Far too many Scots are employed in tender all renewable licenses for wind farms. industries dedicated to killing our fellow human The commission will also be responsible for beings. We favour diversification of all those ensuring any private companies involved in the jobs and industries currently connected to arm manufacturing or servicing of turbines adhere manufacturing and so called ‘defence’ in favour to a minimum £10-an-hour living wage for all of peaceful, peacetime progressive production. workers and the ascension of workers to the That would surely be Scotland’s peace dividend company board of directors. following the end of the Cold War. An agreement that all manufacturing of turbines will take place in Scotland with specific 17. EQUALITY consideration of urban areas designed for The SSP fully supports the Equalities Act 2010. regeneration. However the creation of an equal society means A further agreement that an additional 1 per society must provide the resources to support cent of all profits be placed into the existing this legislation. This includes full benefits for National Renewables Infrastructure Fund disabled people which reflects the average wage. (NRIF) which will be matched by the We advocate Supported Employment government to ensure continued stability in initiatives, not benefit sanctions, for all disabled spite of any future economic downturn. people who want to work. If these criteria are not met tendering will go Above all, we work in consultation with those to the newly formed Scotland Renewable groups who represent the voices of people Company (SRC). Which will launch a bid in discriminated against and minorities to develop each tender creating a nationalised renewable a grass roots democratic infrastructure energy company. throughout government and policy making An appeal to be launched to the European bodies, ensuring that all public decisions must Commission that the creation of off shore wind include an equalities impact assessment. farms must be nationalised in the interest of national security, if such a bid is successful 18. WOMENS RIGHTS then above measures will not be required. The The SSP as a party campaigns for equal SREC would continue as an advisory rights for women. We don’t just campaign for commission in terms of licensing and play a them, we founded our party on equality. We are larger role in the manufacturing and servicing the only political party to introduce 50/50 of renewable energy. gender balance throughout our party. Women have paid the price for austerity and Trident cuts. In fact 85 per cent of austerity cuts and The SSP have been active in the peace tax changes have been borne by women, movement for decades now. We have always making women’s lives much harder. We stand supported the need to rid Scotland of Trident. for the immediate reinstatement of tax credits We believe the £100billion earmarked for and housing benefit cuts. Trident would be much better invested in Women’s incomes are directly affected housing, healthcare, education, social services because they are concentrated in low paid and eradicating inequality which would lead to a jobs, they also take most of the responsibility in stronger society. Scottish CND have said the caring for children and elderly relatives. This time-scale for removing weapons of mass role is undervalued and under resourced. destruction from Faslane and Coalport would We would introduce a £10-an-hour minimum take two years. We support this view. We will wage to tackle low pay and a carer’s allowance

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 19 which reflects the average worker’s wage. We modern technology to support our environmental would introduce a minimum 12 months aims as part of an overall public transport maternity leave on full pay, for all workers, with system run for people and not for profit. the right to return part time if preferred. The national rail network should be run as a The SSP campaigns against the sexual public service to benefit all the people as exploitation and objectification of women. We opposed to the ideology tool for the Tories and support legislation to decriminalise women there friends in big business who are more involved in prostitution, recognise men who interested in profit than providing good efficient buy sex as abusers, and increase police rail and public services ,still the same twisted resources to enforce a clamp down on kerb- ideology of privatisation that was behind the crawlers in red light districts. recent attack on the east coast main line and the We support a zero tolerance approach to selloff of the governments stake in the euro star men’s violence against women. We would both very short term methods aimed at making a introduce full funding for Women’s Aid and quick buck for the Tories and their liberal other agencies which provide refuges, coalition friends, not being used for investment in helplines and drop in centres for women who the railways ,but to help tackle the deficit which have experienced violence and abuse. in reality meant election bribes for the Tories and In addition we support equal representation of their friends in the City Of London. women at all levels of government. This is vital The majority of people connected with the on the road to reaching equality for women. railway industry in particular passengers and railway staff are in favour of re nationalisation 19. ECONOMIC POLICY and surveys that have been carried out show a Central to the economic policy of the Scottish majority percentage of the population are in Socialist Party is the belief that key industries favour of the railways being publicly owned. should be brought into public ownership and The Scottish Socialist Party are committed to placed under democratic control. These would the public ownership of the railway industry include the rail network, the energy companies, and would renationalise it in the united the banks and oil industry. Many of these kingdom as a matter of priority we would also industries had been in public hands in the recent devolve all authority for railways in Scotland past until a disastrous wave of privatisation stole and Wales to the Scottish Parliament and the them from the Scottish people. It is our belief that Welsh assembly through the establishment of Scotland’s national interests would best be public owned railway companies in both these served by returning them to public ownership countries. while expanding this programme into other areas. At the same time we would challenge the 20. INTERNATIONALISM extensive support given by government to large The Scottish Socialist Party believes an private companies in the form of grants, independent Scotland can play a positive and subsidies, tax breaks and infrastructure support. progressive role in world affairs. The starting Our view is that where public money goes public point of this would be the removal of the ownership should follow. A socialist government Trident nuclear weapons from the Clyde and would reject the idea that the private sector is Scotland’s withdrawal from NATO. This is an central to Scotland’s economic development and aggressive military alliance which has well-being. This strategy is consistently failed spearhead conflict throughout the world in despite the best efforts of successive defence of capitalism and imperialism. governments. Future development will be The SSP has a proud history of supporting promoted by expanding the public and state the peace movement throughout the world and sector and this will drive the social and economic speaking out against warmongering. programmes of government. The disastrous free Under an SSP government Scotland would market ideology which has done so much seek to ally itself with other progressive damage to society will be replaced with a governments and lend support to peoples strategy based on social ownership, planning, struggling against imperialism throughout the regulation and the moving towards an social- world. Whether it be support for progressive economic system which puts the needs of the independence movements as in Catalonia or people first; socialism. the Basque Country, links with left governments in Latin America or support for Public ownership the establishment of a Palestinian state The Scottish Socialist Party wants to see the Scotland will prove to be a good friend to those railway industry returned to public hands as a struggling for progress, justice and against publicly owned utility to benefit and improve our global capitalism. public transport network in favour of ordinary Scotland would also look to play a key role in people to create and develop jobs and using shaping some of the great international issues

20 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 of our time such as Climate Change and World changes we all want to see. The power to Poverty and would actively side with those who borrow on the international money markets for want radical action as opposed to those whose example just like any other administration is in starting point is to defend the interests of our view essential. Long-term infrastructure capitalism. For the Scottish Socialist Party improvements could then be brought forward ‘another world is possible’ and Scotland can be by the Scottish Government to begin work on part of that new world. those much-needed new projects to modernise national systems, transport links and other key 21. ANIMAL RIGHTS networks. The Scottish Socialist Party supports: • a ban on animal testing for cosmetics, household products and military research. BUILDING SCOTLAND’S • a ban on unnecessary use of animal testing in SOCIALIST PARTY medical research. • the replacement of the ineffective Dangerous If the polls are accurate Scotland is about to Dogs Act with new non-breed based legislation topple the one party state that has existed here which recognises the responsibility of owners for the past 50 years. The socially conservative for aggressive behaviour by their dogs. and politically corrupt Labour Party in Scotland is about to suffer a seismic defeat. And good riddance, for only the most hackneyed Blairite HOW IS THIS PROGRAMME will mourn its passing. TO BE PAID FOR? At UK level this election is a stalemate between a government that does not deserve The Scottish Socialist Party do not accept the to be re-elected as it has governed for a rich oft heard excuse from the four bosses parties corporate elite that believes it is untouchable and that 'there is no money for this and no money for omnipotent, and an Opposition so bereft of ideas that'. It isn't true, not when £100billion is to be that all it can do is ape the reactionary policies of spent unnecessarily on a second generation of government on all the main issues of our time. TRIDENT nuclear weapons. Not when we spent Meantime the vast majority of Britain’s £200billion bailing out incompetent greedy population – its working class majority – has bankers. Not when billions of pounds are suffered a fall in its living standard as its secreted away abroad annually by wealthy working conditions have atrophied and it faces individuals and companies who refuse to pay affronts its grandparent’s generation would their tax obligations. Not when the rich have never have tolerated for a second and is never been so wealthy. blamed for an economic, financial and political We believe the profits made by multinational crisis it played no part in creating. The real corporations need to be taxed at higher rates. culprits, the City spivs and greedy ‘venture We also favour the 'Tobin tax' on financial capitalists’ walk away Scot free protected by all transactions which would also see £billions in the Westminster parties. revenues to the Exchequer. The Scottish Socialist Party is not part of this The rich in Britain have never been so wealthy criminal conspiracy. in all history. Yet income inequalities are wider We alone do not stand indicted, responsible than ever. That is no accident. It is what the for policies that make the rich richer and the corporations and their politicians intended. poor poorer. We are not the upholders of a free market system based on economic exploitation Scotland's socialist party believes action must masquerading as ‘liberal democracy’ – for be taken now to reverse inequality and there is nothing liberal or democratic about it. eradicate poverty. There is no shortage of funds, there is a The Scottish Socialist Party stands for an shortage of willingness to halt the flow of funds independent socialist Scotland, a modern into the pockets of the wealthy and out of the democratic republic. We want a £10-an-hour hands of the majority. living wage and end to Zero Hours Contracts. The SSP would raise taxes on the wealthy. We want to protect the most vulnerable from We would raise Corporation tax to 50p the level the ravages of 21st century capitalism. it was when Margaret Thatcher came to power We see no reason why Scotland cannot be in 1979. one of the richest countries in the world and set The financial block grant provided by world class example by reaching levels of Westminster is insufficient to achieve the goals equality and social justice no one else has yet the Scottish people expressed over the past achieved. two years. Further financial powers must We will not support privatisation of hospitals therefore be made available to make the unlike the other parties. Nor will we allow

SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 • 21 employers to roll back working conditions and VOTE SSP ON 7 MAY. FOR WORKERS’ wages to levels last seen in the 19th century. MPs ON WORKERS’ WAGES We will not allow immigrants and the poor to be scapegoated for an economic, social and SCOTLAND’S SOCIALIST PARTY political deterioration caused by a wealthy DESERVES YOUR VOTE minority and their corrupt representatives who Our 4 candidates Colin Fox [Edinburgh South], are motivate by their own financial greed rather Bill Bonnar [Glasgow South West], Sandra than public service or noble ideals and Webster [Paisley South and Renfrewshire South] honourable conduct. and Liam McLaughlan [Glasgow East] stand up The Scottish Socialist Party was formed in for working people. They would be workers’ MPs 1998 bringing together many different voices on workers wages and would, if elected, take on the left in Scotland. We are anti-capitalist. only the average wage of those they represent. We aim to replace capitalism with a much better economic, social and political system. Join the Scottish Socialist Party today and help We have contested every UK General Election us build an independent socialist Scotland. since 1997. We know how expensive they are affairs and how the first past the post voting CONTACT US system provides an unfair advantage to the By post: Scottish Socialist Party, Suite 370, establishment parties. The media coverage is Central Chambers, 93 Hope St, Glasgow, G2 6LD dominated by a London Metropolitan elite who Website: www.ScottishSocialistParty.org barely recognise Scotland on a map. But no one Email: [email protected] else presents the political case we do. No one Telephone: 07810205747 else can match our commitment to socialist Twitter: @The_SSP_ ideas or the needs of working class people. Facebook: /ScottishSocialistParty

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22 • SSP General Election Manifesto 2015 2

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