The Scottish Socialist Party is being endorsed by a growing number of trade union activists and leaders, who have called for an SSP vote but also warned we face massive struggles against cuts by the incoming Scottish Government
SSP Election Campaign Organiser, Richie Venton, said:
“Not only is every one of our candidates a worker and trade union member, but we are delighted to have leading figures in workplaces and trade unions actively campaigning for a Scottish Socialist Party vote on the regional lists across Scotland.
“These include leading figures in the Fire Brigades Union; the leader of workers on Scotland’s ferries and other RMT activists; the Scottish co-convener of the civil and public service union PCS; train drivers in ASLEF; NHS workers; GMB activists in FE colleges; teachers; retail workers; Bakers’ union organiser; UNISON and UNITE members in local government; posties, and a host of others.
“But all these working-class fighters share the SSP’s belief that huge battles for the future of Scotland will ensue after the polling stations have shut.
“Several economists, including the Fraser Allander Institute and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, have accused the mainstream parties of hiding the stark cuts that will flow from Scotland’s financial black hole of £4.7 billion by 2029.
“The SSP accuses not just the Tories and Reform UK, but Labour and the SNP, of throwing a blanket of silence over their real intentions to wreak havoc on jobs and vital public services. They plan austerity behind the backs of voters.
“As a whispered aside at the start of the election campaign, John Swinney admitted up to 20,000 jobs would need to be cut, and Labour’s false promises of reducing taxation would make that butchery even bloodier.
“The SSP fundamentally rejects the assumption that there is no alternative.
“A 5% wealth tax on Scotland’s richest 20 families alone would raise £1.25 billion.
“The Scottish Service Tax advocated by the SSP to replace the hated Council Tax – based on income, ability to pay – would have increased local government funding by £2.6 billion last year.
“Based on research last year for housing charity Shelter, building 100,000 high quality council houses for affordable rent would add over £55 billion to the economy in the first year, and create 150,000 jobs, with all the income tax returns that would produce.
“If the Scottish Government was prepared to stop subsidising billionaire-owned private bus company profits by nearly £500 million a year, that could help provide an expanded, publicly-owned People’s Transport Service – not just buses, but trains, ferries, subways and trams – free at the point of use for all.
“Yes, there is an alternative, a socialist alternative, but it will require the full potential power of the organised workers’ movement and their communities to achieve it.
“We want SSP MSPs elected, not to shuffle bits of paper round Holyrood, but to spearhead mass movements of trade unionists, communities and young people to stop austerity – no matter which party is carrying it out – and to use Scotland’s fabulous wealth for the millions, not the millionaires.”
