The elections for the Scottish parliament on May 5th are taking place at a time of unprecedented cuts. Scottish government spending has been slashed by £1.3 billion for the year 2011-2012 by the current SNP government – who have meekly passed on the Con-Dem cuts. Local councils across Scotland of all political colours are carrying out savage cuts to jobs and public services.
The various party manifesto’s, especially Labour and the SNP, indicate they are living in a parallel universe and are silent on cuts they are actually carrying out. Pat Watters, Labour leader of South Lanarkshire, described the manifesto’s as “political junk food that poses a threat to local government services which we cannot allow.”
The major parties are both promising to maintain “free” education, freeze the council tax and introduce a living wage. While the full impact of the cuts has been deliberately postponed until after the elections, many are already being implemented.
So, the SNP’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, has declared, “If people are willing to accept pay restraint, then we will do our bit to protect family budgets and job security”. Public sector workers will rightly reply, how can you protect family budgets when faced with year-on-year wage cuts? How can job security be protected when tens of thousands of jobs are being slashed from the public sector pay-roll?
What is clear is that whichever party or combination of party’s form the next Scottish government, it will be a government that will attempt to carry through the deepest cuts in decades.
The current polls indicate that the SNP have now pulled ahead of Labour and could emerge again as the largest party after May 5th. With no significant differences between the parties, except on independence, many commentators are speculating on the possibility of an SNP-Labour coalition. This is an unlikely outcome. However, the lack of fundamental differences has meant that increasingly the campaign is being fought as a presidential contest between Alex Salmond and the ineffectual, Iain Gray. A fight that Salmond, who as a skilled populist, is likely to win.
The Lib-Dems are “going to take one hell of a beating” with their vote set to plummet as voters deliver their verdict on the Con-Dem coalition. So mush so that the Scottish Greens, who are likely to make significant gains, may well overtake them in number of MSPs.
The Greens have been running an “anti-cuts” campaign. However, their main slogan “Cut the Cuts” is an indication of their acceptance of cuts, albeit at a slower pace.
In contrast the Socialist Party Scotland is taking part in these elections on a real, consistent and fighting anti-cuts programme that puts at the forefront the need to fight all the cuts.
Coalition Against Cuts
In Glasgow SPS members including Brian Smith the branch secretary of Glasgow Unison and Defend Glasgow Services and Ryan Stuart a member of Youth Fight For Jobs are taking part in a joint list with George Galloway and others as part of the Coalition Against Cuts list. The agreement with George Galloway includes opposition to all cuts and support for needs budgets. The Coalition in Glasgow is likely to get the biggest left vote in Scotland and will be an important example for anti-cuts campaigners looking ahead to the 2012 local council elections.
In the other 7 regions in Scotland we will be supporting Solidarity – Scotland Socialist Movement election lists.
In North East Scotland – which includes the cities of Dundee and Aberdeen – Socialist Party Scotland member Jim McFarlane, Chair of Dundee City Unison and a local government worker will be the lead candidate for Solidarity.
Likewise in West Scotland which covers areas including Clydebank, Paisley, Greenock and Inverclyde, Socialist Party Scotland member Jim Halfpenny, who is a teacher and an EIS rep, is heading the Solidarity list.
On May 5th vote for MSPs who’ll refuse to make cuts and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with trade unionists and communities who are fighting the cuts.
Vote Solidarity, and in Glasgow for the George Galloway – Coalition Against Cuts. But go a step further and join the Socialist Party and the fight for socialism.
