The following press releases HAVE BEEN issued by the ssp press officers
The Private Members' Bill to deliver free and nutritious school meals and drinks for every school student attending a local authority managed school will be launched in Edinburgh next Tuesday, 18th September.
The Bill is submitted by Tommy Sheridan and his co-sponsors are MSPs John McAllion and Alex Neil. The architect of the Bill is Mike Dailly, Govan Law Centre principal solicitor. This is the same team which steered the Abolition of Warrant Sales Bill successfully through Parliament.
MSPs from five of the six parties represented in the Parliament have signed up to support the Bill.
It is being promoted by Child Poverty Action Group and supported by the STUC and scores of anti-poverty and healthy eating groups across Scotland. Attached to this release is the Bill itself and a financial explanatory note. A Press Conference will be held in Edinburgh next week and MSPs and other supporters will be available for comment.
Tommy Sheridan MSP said, "The Free School Meals Bill will attack child poverty and the stigma currently attached to the means-tested system. It will also raise the nutritional standard of school meals and improve the dietary health of all Scottish children. It is therefore an anti-poverty and pro-health measure which is well worth the £1.68 cost per child. It is an investment in the future health and well-being of Scotland's children."
PRESS CONFERENCE TUESDAY, 18 September 2001 12.30 P.M. in Room F1, CANNONBALL HOUSE Scottish Parliament, EDINBURGH For more information, contact 0131 348 5632 or 07887 795075.
Scottish Socialist Party Press Release
22nd August 2001 For Publication
A busy week at Helensburgh District Court for Fife members of the Scottish Socialist Party continued today with two trials scheduled to take place.
In the first, Louise McLeary (23) from Kirkcaldy refused to attend to answer a charge of breach of the peace relating to the Big Blockade at Faslane on February 12th this year. Louise is blind and has not received details of the charge against her in a format which is accessible to her. Under the circumstances, the Justice of the Peace in charge, Viv Dance could have issued a warrant for Miss McLeary's arrest. Instead she asked that inquiries be made into making the relevant information available to Miss McLeary before the next scheduled hearing.
Louise McLeary, a fourth year Dundee University student said, "I have the right to have the same information made available to me as any other accused person in this country. The Procurator Fiscal in Dumbarton would seem to prefer that I am reliant on someone else reading court letters to me. I consider this to be a breach of my human rights."
Miss McLeary intends to defend herself in due course.
In a later trial today, SSP Glenrothes Chair Morag Balfour (28) was acquitted of breach of the peace relating to an incident outside Coulport Armaments Depot on 4th October 2000. Ms Balfour's solicitor Terry Gallanagh exposed discrepancies in the statements of the two police witnesses and argued that the charge of breach of the peace did not apply because Ms Balfour was acting peacefully and was not placing anyone in a state of fear, alarm or distress. His motion that there was therefore no case for Ms Balfour to answer was upheld by Justice Viv Dance.
The verdict was greeted with applause from Trident Ploughshares supporters in court.
Morag Balfour said afterwards: "I am delighted with this verdict. Though it takes little away form our disappointment over what happened to Dougie Kinnear on Monday, we shall still celebrate. It's hard to believe that non-violent resistance against an installation housing weapon of mass destruction could instil fear and alarm in anyone, least of all those who are trained to defend that installation against terrorist attacks."
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Trident Ploughshares Press Officer David McKenzie
can be contacted at: Davidmc@enterprise.net
0870 458 3117
Tel: 0131 348 5632 Fax: 0131 348 5948
E-mail: Tommy.Sheridan.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
To: PRESS From: Tommy Sheridan MSP Date: 23 August 2001
No. of pages: 1 [EMBARGOED UNTIL 8 A.M. - 24 AUGUST 2001]
Some of Glasgow's best-known actors will today attend a press conference in Sighthill to support Saturday's Unity March against Poverty and Racism.
David Hayman, Peter Mullan, Elaine C Smith, Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot, Orphans), Davie McKay (My name is Joe, Rab C Nesbitt) and others will join up with tenants, residents and asylum seekers in Sighthill to call for maximum support for Saturday's demo.
Saturday's demo has been called by both the Tenants' Groups and Asylum Seekers' representatives in Sighthill.
The support of some of Glasgow's best-known actors is designed to encourage others throughout the city to come along.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress is also urging trade unionists to march in solidarity with the Sighthill community.
STUC General Secretary Bill Speirs said, "We call on working people across Glasgow and beyond to support the Sighthill residents in this initiative."
PRESS CONFERENCE FRIDAY 24 AUGUST AT 10 A.M.
4 FOUNTAINWELL TERRACE, SIGHTHILL (EAGLE'S NEST)
~ ~ ~ For further information, contact: Norrie Gower - Sighthill T.A.:
To: PRESS From: Tommy Sheridan MSP Date: 27 June 2001
This week 3,000 workers at Motorola are losing their jobs at Bathgate. Despite the warm words of Wendy Alexander according to trade unionists at the plant, they have had no help from the Scottish Executive.
One union official said, "They promised us a £10 million special fund but we haven’t seen a penny. The only thing the workers at Motorola have got from the company is a gagging clause stopping them talking to the press and a free mobile phone. Given that they have six million stockpiled that they are about to dump on the Chinese market, this is hardly generous."
The other insult to the Motorola workforce is that some of them have been asked to go to Germany to train the German workers how to do their jobs when they are transferred to Germany. This will be a three months’ contract and then they will be sacked. The German plant remained open because they used their labour laws to gain advance warning of the closure and negotiated a deal to keep open the German plant. The Bathgate workers got no advance notice, indeed their 90-day consultation period does not expire until July 25th, but the company has sacked them all this week.
Tommy Sheridan said,
"The whole Motorola saga is an indictment of New Labour. Firstly they blocked the European Directive which would have given the workers the same advance warning as the German plant which is remaining open. Secondly we heard of their anguish and their £10 million package which has failed to appear. Now to add insult to injury they are giving the workers a free mobile phone. I think it stinks and I shall be tabling questions to Wendy Alexander on her failure to deliver."