Elect a socialist councillor for Shettleston

The election of a new councillor for Shettleston, Glasgow on December 5th is a chance for people locally to give their verdict on years of savage cuts and austerity. From the hated Bedroom Tax to attacks on the benefits of the poorest; from real terms reductions in wages for public and private sector workers to deep cuts in local services, there has never been a more pressing need to elect councillors who know whose side they’re on and who will fight for local communities.

I am standing in the election as a Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate to give people in Shettleston a real socialist alternative to cuts and austerity.

Our public services in the city are already at breaking point, and the additional £42 million of cuts on the way this year can only exacerbate this further.

Instead of imposing Tory cuts on working class communities, councillors have the option of standing with the people who elected them and refusing to carry them out.

I will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all workers, trade unionists and members of our community in Shettleston and will put forward a budget that opposes all cuts and meets the needs of working class people in the city. For too long we’ve had councillors and MSPs who think it’s their job to pass on Tory cuts to the people, rather than stand up and fight. That has to end. We need a new breed of politician.

I have extremely close links to Shettleston, having lived in the east end of Glasgow all my life, worked for seven years in the area and coming from a family who have deep roots in Shettleston.

I’m standing to:

• Oppose all cuts to jobs, pay, benefits and services
• Demand the end of the hated Bedroom Tax. To physically oppose any attempts at evictions due to the Bedroom Tax. To demand that the Scottish government come up with the full £50 million to ensure no one in Scotland has to pay the Tory tax.
• Fight shoulder-to-shoulder with trade unionists in Glasgow who are taking strike action to defend their rights from cuts by the Labour run council
• Campaign for the profiteering big six energy companies to be brought into public ownership to end the scandal of fuel poverty

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition was set-up in 2010. TUSC is supported by the rail workers’ union the RMT, as well as leading trade unionists from the likes of the PCS and the FBU. TUSC is also supported by the Socialist Party in Scotland as well as England and Wales and other socialist organisations.

Jamie’s campaigning record

• Jamie is a campaigning socialist and trade unionist. He’s a member of the Unite trade union and works as a driver on the Glasgow subway.
• Jamie helped set-up the East End against the Bedroom Tax campaign and has been fighting for months against the hated Tory Tax
• Jamie took part in the 2011 Jarrow to London Youth Fight For Jobs march to highlight the scandal of mass youth unemployment
• Jamie is a member of Socialist Party Scotland. For an independent socialist Scotland to end poverty, low pay and unemployment.