No doubt readers of this blog have been amused by the kerfuffle over the leadership election. Which anointed one won effecting so much after all.

It’s been 2 days and already the spinning is on overdrive. According to the Daily Sexpress

With brother David, he was surrounded frequently by socialist theoreticians and Labour activists while growing up in Primrose Hill, north London.

Stirring stuff. Man the barricades.

The Daily Hate Mail probably has some rant about how Labour will now be chucking Lords out of manors to fill it with gypsies or something but whilst checking I became too amused by this subheading Darling in swipe at Balls over Labour’s need for a ‘credible’ deficit plan to bother looking at their delusional rambling any further.

Iain Gray (that’s the Labour leader in Scotland by the way, you probably have as much chance of recognising him as Nick Clegg on May 1st.) has suddenly decided that the minimum wage should be raised. His colleagues probably forgot to bring it up during their 8 years in charge of Holyrood along with all the other reforms they will no doubt decide are really worthy now that they are out of power. He doesn’t really mention anything about the institutionalised age discrimination inbuilt into it by Labour though. That’s where your wage can jump up a pound overnight in your birthday for some yet to be explained or defended reason.

Jim McGovern meanwhile thinks that Ed will return Labour to traditional Labour values and move to the left. Given Labours history over the last few decades further moves to the right would be pretty difficult. It really would take a real lurch to the left to move them into the area of Social Democracy never mind anything further to the left.

Of course Jim McGovern will be aware of this given his voting record

• Voted very strongly against equal gay rights.
• Voted very strongly for Labour’s anti-terrorism laws.
• Voted very strongly for introducing ID cards.
• Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war.
• Voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.
• Voted to reduce abortion term limits.

Which really stands on its own. Or maybe his form of left-wing politics will be £700 desks and £200 DVD players for all.

During the election we did a partial mailout in the Dundee East constituency. Unfortunately a number of people who live within the postcode areas we had leaflets delivered to have reported that they received none of ours.

If you live in Dundee East can you let us know if you did or did not receive an SSP leaflet delivered by Royal Mail. This would greatly help us in tracking where they were/were not delivered.

Another is formed. The misnamed Liberal Democrats appear to be propping up the Tories. Given that Nick Clegg recently praised Thatcher it should come as no surprise. No doubt the 4 key policies of the Lib Dems will be abandoned for a few ministerial seats.

The initial David Cameron speech made it plain that any Lib Dem/Tory pact would be like the old Spitting Image sketch.

We share these policies so come and support us in implementing them (paraphrasing)

Who we should feel sorry for are those tens of thousands of people who believed the media hyped Cleggmania and thought they were voting for a radical liberal alternative to the two main Tory parties.

There is a radical liberal alternative to these three parties, it’s called the SSP. Join us and help make a difference.

Today Angela Gorrie, SSP Candidate for Dundee East, joined former MP and MSP for the area John McAllion and a number of other SSP members to call for an axe to bankers’ bonuses, not public services. They started the day outside RBS in the city centre and will travel to other areas in the constituency, including Carnoustie and Broughty Ferry, later this afternoon.

Angela said: Despite being told by all the major parties that after the election we must prepare for savage cuts in public services, one group not affected is the greedy bankers, who continue to award themselves large bonuses. A fact made all the more galling because the banks had to be bailed out by the ordinary tax payer.

The Scottish Socialist Party calls for an end to the bonus culture and for all banks to be nationalised under workers’ control.

We also oppose the cuts which are being promised and believe that there is no need for any cuts to public services if the rich were forced to pay their fair share of taxes.

It was the rich who paid for this crisis, make them pay for it!

To track Rod the Robber’s progress throughout the day please see www.twitter.com/dundeessp. Photos will be posted as it happens at http://tinyurl.com/ssp0405

Taken from the SSP Site

For an independent socialist Scotland

No cuts, no wars, for an end to corruption

On May 6th voters will be offered a dismal choice of cuts, sackings and wars by politicians tainted by corruption, duck houses and other expenses fiddling.

All three Westminster parties are in a race to see who can make the deepest cuts while the SNP wring their hands and blame London.

They all recommend cuts to vital public services which will hit the most vulnerable hardest and directly threaten the jobs of 100,000 Scottish workers.

In contrast the unequivocal message from the Scottish Socialist Party is that there is an alternative which avoids cuts and insists instead that the greedy pay for the disaster they created, that also ends our involvement in the Afghan war and offers jobs and justice not misery and war.

This belief is reflected in our programme for a Scotland which aims to meet peoples’ needs, not pander to the rich, for people not profit.

100,000 jobs are directly threatened by the cuts promised by the Westminster parties and vital services for our most vulnerable citizens will go.

We say that faced with such a threat words are not enough – action is needed. Scotland needs nothing less than a resistance movement of mass peaceful protest on the scale of that which defeated the poll tax. We will bring all the experience of the SSP to build such a movement.

Jobs for youth

The spectre of mass unemployment has returned twenty years after Margaret Thatcher was ejected from office. Many communities in Scotland are still suffering from the legacy of the 1980s with the poverty, heroin addiction, alcohol abuse and crime that goes with this chronic joblessness.

Today the SSP says: ‘Mass unemployment No More’. Instead of slashing Scotland’s budget, the SSP will fight for emergency funding to protect our young people from becoming another wasted generation.

Let’s Get Out of Afghanistan

This is a senseless military occupation which damages Britain’s international reputation and does nothing to make the world a safer place. We are occupying a country that doesn’t want us to be there. More than 50,000 innocent Afghan civilians have been killed. Some 280 British soldiers have also died. All the polling evidence suggests that 70% of the population here want our armed services withdrawn. The Scottish Socialist Party gives voice to that majority.

Clean up the Westminster ‘midden’

In just 12 months Westminster has gone from ‘the mother of parliaments’ to ‘the mother of all corruption’.

The public has watched open mouthed as MPs attempt to justify obscene expenses claims which would get an ordinary worker sacked. MPs have repeatedly shown how they are all out of touch with the people they pretend to represent.

For the SSP the answer is simple and it is to end the circumstances where becoming an MP brings a huge salary and expenses. We have long argued that MP’s should live on the wage of those they represent. Our MSPs did just that at Holyrood thus keeping them in touch with the real lives of voters.

For a Green, Socialist Republic

The Scottish Socialist Party is a pro-independence party – no ifs, buts or maybes. We say Yes to an independence referendum and Yes to independence.

We will work with other pro-independence parties to deliver a resounding referendum yes vote.

Beyond that, we stand for an independent socialist republic where the wealth is fairly distributed; where protection of the environment is paramount.

Such a republic would prioritise the needs of people over profit and our environment over the greed of profiteers.

The development of our colossal natural resources would be publicly owned to ensure the skilled jobs required are based in Scotland and the profits generated used to provide services not multinational profit.

All citizens would be equal irrespective of gender, race, religion or sexuality in a country where the economy is no longer driven by greed and profit.

The excellent new branch in Aberdeen have made a video for the election. Ewan Robertson, their candidate in Aberdeen North has written a song especially for the election.

With the election campaign up and running you can follow what the SSP and the Dundee SSP branches have been up to in a few places.

On Twitter

Dundee SSP on Twitter
SSP on Twitter

On Facebook

Dundee SSP on Facebook
Friends of the SSP on Facebook
SSP Election campaign on Facebook

The 2010 General Election will see the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) contest the seats of Chancellor Alistair Darling in Edinburgh South West, Overseas Development Secretary Douglas Alexander in Paisley and Renfrewshire South, one SNP front bencher, Stewart Hosie, in Dundee East alongside the Livingston seat previously held by suspended Labour MP Jim Devine, in a campaign covering 10 constituencies across Scotland.

In contrast to the discredited expenses system which has so revolted the public all our SSP candidates will be standing on a platform of only accepting a skilled worker’s wage not the lottery winners lifestyle of current MPs.

These contests mean that the SSP will challenge two key figures involved in Labour’s cuts and war policies–Chancellor Darling in Edinburgh and Overseas Development Secretary Douglas Alexander in Paisley.

Our challenge to SNP Westminster finance spokesman Stewart Hosie will increase the pressure on the SNP to tell voters how they will translate words against the cuts into action to defend jobs, services and communities.

On May 6th voters will be offered a dismal choice of cuts, sackings and war by politicians polluted by the duck houses and mortgage expenses scandal.

All three Westminster parties are in race to see who can cut deepest while the SNP wring their hands but will cut services while blaming London.

These cuts will decimate vital services and directly threaten the jobs of 100,000 Scottish workers.

In contrast the clear message from the Scottish Socialist Party is that there is an alternative which insists that the greedy rich pay for the disaster they created, ends our involvement in the Afghan war and offers jobs and justice not misery and war.

Colin Fox, SSP challenger on Edinburgh South West said:

The key message from the SSP in this election is that there is an alternative to the cuts sackings and war on offer from the other parties. We will demand that tax dodging by the rich which costs a massive £135 billion a year is ended and troops are pulled out of Afghanistan.

In the choice between the greed of the rich and the needs of the people we stand for jobs and services and making the rich pay for the economic mess they have created.

I look forward to debating these ideas with Chancellor Darling who has shovelled billions to bankers while supporting cuts in services.

Frances Curran, who is to contest Glasgow East said :

This election is the opening shot it what will be a battle to protect and expand jobs and services opposing cuts and sackings to bailout the super rich.

The message the SSP will take in our campaign from Aberdeen to Paisley is that lack of money is not the problem, it is that it is held by a tiny greedy minority. Working people did not cause the banking crisis and should not pay for it with their jobs and services

10 seat SSP challenge

Aberdeen North – Ewan Robertson
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintiloch East – Willie O’Neil
Dundee East – Angela Gorrie
Edinburgh South West – Colin Fox
Glasgow Central – James Nesbitt
Glasgow East – Frances Curran
Glasgow North East – Kevin McVey
Livingston – Ally Hendry
Paisley and Renfrewshire North – Chris Rollo
Paisley and Renfrewshire South – Jimmy Kerr

The SSP has selected Kevin McKvey as our candidate in the Glasgow North East by-election (date to be decided).

To read about the campaign go to the blog. To get involved by either donating money or donating time please contact the SSP using the contact details on the campaign blog.

Kevin McVey stands for socialism in Glasgow North East – 2nd July 2009

The Scottish Socialist Party has selected Kevin McVey as candidate for the Glasgow North East by-election.
A civil service trade union representative for 20 years, Kevin was brought up in the constituency, in Ruchazie.
Kevin joined the Labour Party Young Socialists in 1984 and was expelled from the Labour party 5 years later for being a socialist.

Kevin has a long track record of fighting the poll tax, against school closures, and for taxation of the rich to improve public services.

Kevin McVey said this evening:

At a time of daily news bulletins on the stench of corruption arising from Westminster, I am proud to publicly pledge that I will reject the £64,000 MP’s salary and live instead on the average skilled worker’s wage – not a penny more.

After the mainstream parties have been caught fiddling expenses for food, furniture, second homes, and Michael Martin was booted out for trying to cover up these crimes against people struggling to pay the bills, Labour now wants him promoted to the unelected, undemocratic House of Lords.

That’s an insult to ordinary hardworking people. Where I have worked you would be sacked for doctoring expenses or for failing to act against fiddles if you were in a manager’s post!

The people of Glasgow North East deserve a socialist MP who will fight for them, not another chancer who pockets the obscene salary and then grabs even more in expenses.

SSP Glasgow Regional Secretary Richie Venton said today:

We are proud to put up a candidate with such a long and principled history of fighting for the working class.

The SSP has been at the heart of fighting to save several local schools and nurseries from Labour’s butchery. We have helped stop the ambitious councillor Gordon Matheson becoming the Labour candidate, because even the out-of-touch Labour hierarchy knew he would be a complete liability in an area blitzed by school closures, which he was at the heart of. The SSP will make Save Our Schools a major issue in the by-election, demanding class sizes of 20 or less for all kids, to give them a decent start in life and to hire more teachers and nursery staff.