When the press are telling us daily about the damage posties are doing to the service they are attempting to defend it’s worth remembering who the privatising parasites really are who are gutting the service by both tiny attacks and huge.
seriously consider[ing] the possibility of fixed-term parliaments.
Not only is it a pitiful reform but it is surrounded by two weasily non-commital caveats. Why not fixed numbers of terms for MPs if you want to fix terms? (The SSP voted for 2 terms at our conference a number of years back)
reducing the number of MPs by 10%
In a parliament which is a representative type this makes the body less accountable, not more.
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Long overdue, but whilst MPs make the rules they then defend themselves by not breaking it is toothless and purely populist.
possible curbs on the whipping of votes
How exactly would this be enforceable? Notice again the weasely caveat.
backbenchers would get powers to choose the chairmen and members of select committees
Well hold me back, that is exactly the demand being made by everyone on a daily basis, the problem with parliament being the backbenchers don’t get to choose chairmen of talking shops. Sounds more like throwing a bone to get the support from backbenchers though.
Reforms which were noticeable by their absence included
Reducing pay of MPs or linking to some measure of wages/income. Might we suggest a maximum of 5 times the state pension? Then there might be some action on pensioner poverty.
Abolition of the unelected and undemocratic House of Lords
Abolition of the unelected and undemocratic Privy Council
Recallability of MPs – by petition of a percentage of constituents or triggered by voting against election promises or by changing their political affiliation
Proportional Representation – deliberately excluded by Cameron
Extending the franchise
Overhauling voter registration to remove the current ease to commit fraud with postal vote registration.
None of these are revolutionary demands. They are basic reforms which are far more radical than anything Cameron has just dreamed up. Of course further reforms would be a real democracy, with the parliament chosen by lot, rather than the oligarchy we have now.
Scottish Socialist co-spokesperson Colin Fox has repeated the party’s policy that anybody elected under their banner would refuse the “lottery winners” lifestyle enjoyed by other politicians.
Instead he repeated the SSP policy that anybody elected for the party will live on a skilled worker’s wage.
Former MSP Fox is top of the SSP candidate’s list for the European elections on June 4th.
He said:
The Scottish Socialist Party is entitled to have voters reminded that each and every one of their candidates is pledged to refuse the highly inflated salary of an MP/MSP/MEP and live instead on the average wage of the people whose interests they seek to represent.
And since promises in politics today are seen to be usually worthless it is important to remind voters that the SSP MSPs honoured that promise for the entire time they were at Holyrood between 1999 and 2007.
Each one of us lived on the average wage in line with party policy.
In the forthcoming European elections in June we will once again pledge to live in a skilled worker’s wage and shun the millionaire lifestyle beloved of MPs which has rightly outraged the public.
The entire sleazy episode nullifies any credibility ‘career politicians’ have about their motives for going into politics. It’s a funny way to ’serve the public’ stealing from the public purse and the SSP will have none of it.
The media for a week has been full of stories of the outrageous expenses claims by MPs.
From tampons (for a man) to moat cleaning there is seemingly no receipt these parasites will not claim for at taxpayers expense.
This is not democracy.
David Cameron: Quick, someone grab a receipt, the peasents can pay for this meal
Democracy is not just crossing a box once every four years, it is also about transparency and accountability.
If the police won't get involved we'll have to catch the leaker ourselves.
The Scottish Socialist Party has a policy we call the Workers Wage. Our elected representatives take home no more than an amount linked to the average wage of working people. This helps keep your elected representatives linked to the life you lead – they know how much a council tax rise affects you because it affects them too.
There is no chance of any of our elected representatives having you pay for their chandeliers or moat cleaning and most don’t own their first home never mind second, third or gated estate.
Come June the 4th vote for a representative who will be representative of the lives of most people in Scotland – vote Scottish Socialist Party.
The constant stream of revelations about the political and repressive role of the police has meant we have fallen behind on reporting some analysis of some of it.
Perhaps it explains their inaction over the imprisonment of Mordechai Vanunu.
Lets use Occam’s Razor for a second.
Mordechai Vanunu has been imprisoned for being a traitor and a spy. His crime was to tell the world about Israel’s nukes. If he was lying, why would he be imprisoned for being a traitor and a spy?
If someone were to claim that the UK had a unit of sharks with frikkin lasers, would that make them a whistle-blower given that there is no such unit? Only if the UK did have one would they be a whistle-blower, the same with Mordechai Vanunu.
The demonstration in question was in 2006 outside the Mexican embassy where the protesters were concerned at the killing of Indymedia journalist Bradley Will in Oaxaca City. They were assaulted and then falsely imprisoned by police officers.
SSP members are reminded that the elections for the European candidate list will be taking place over the next week or so. The regional hustings in Dundee and Edinburgh are taking place this Sunday – contact your branch or branch secretary if you have not received details.
Footage obtained by the Guardian show Ian Tomlinson being attacked by a police officer shortly before he died of natural causes
No doubt it was just a bad apple in the barrel and one of the other decent human beings who make up the majority of the police force will be able to identify the person who has probably committed manslaughter. If not, the CCTV footage from the area may help. Or the footage the police took. Or the other footage the protesters took (which the police were forcing people to delete).
