SSP joint national spokesman Colin Fox will challenge Chancellor Alistair Darling in the General Election and the party will look to target 10 key seats across Scotland in the poll.

Colin Fox said :

"The SSP will fight the General Election on two key battlegrounds, the economy and Afghanistan.

"We will take the fight to Alastair Darling in his own constituency on his stewardship of the economy, the fact that he took this country into the deepest and worst recession in 80 years and because he now intends to slaughter the jobs and services of working people to pay for his incompetence and his banker’s greed.

"Equally, we will be the only party in this election opposed to the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and calling for an immediate withdrawal of British troops.

“Despite the undemocratic voting system and exorbitant cost of standing candidates the Scottish Socialist Party will offer a bright alternative to the 4 neo-liberal, warmongering parties in Scotland—Labour, Lib Dem, Tories and SNP—who are shamefully trying to outdo one another to see who can make the most savage cuts in jobs and essential services.

“Our message is clear therefore—those who caused the banking crisis should pay for it. That means higher taxes and sacrifices by those enjoying their luxury lifestyles. Working people like nurses, teachers, firefighters and postalworkers didn’t cause the crisis and they shouldn’t be expected to pick up the bill for it with pay cuts and sackings. That’s the social justice we believe millions of Scots expect to see.

“In what will be an unsavoury ‘doom and gloom’ election contest about which party can best satisfy the City of London’s demands for slashed public services and cuts jobs the SSP will stand out as a bright alternative, a welcome light of optimism, with our message that there is no way we will accept cuts and hardship for working people. There is an alternative, the SSP say another way is possible.”

“I particularly relish the prospect of challenging Alastair Darling the former revolutionary socialist and now arch conservative neo-liberal Chancellor justifying his plans for feather bedding the rich and assaulting the pay and conditions of those who used to be Labour’s key supporters in Edinburgh South West.”

19 responses to “Scottish Socialist Party Election Challenge”

  1. “Equally, we will be the only party in this election opposed to the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and calling for an immediate withdrawal of British troops.”

    That’s Lib Dem style nonsense, there’ll be a Green candidate in Edinburgh South West, also opposed to the occupation of Afghanistan.

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  2. Not to mention Solidarity.

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  3. @James, the Green Party are opposed to the occupation of Afghanistan ?? Well youse are keeping it well hidden then, in all of our campaigning on Afghanistan over the past months we’ve never heard a Green Party representative or member speak out against the occupation once.
    @chjh, I’m not sure Solidarity are standing, they’ve given no indication that they are.

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  4. Perhaps Eddie could explain why his SSP chums refuse to get involved in the TUSC – you know, the real reason.

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  5. @James, now James, that’s a little bit disingenuous, The Scottish Green Party is a separate organisation from the Green Party in England and is widely recognised as being further to the left than it’s Scottish counterpart. Just to repeat, in Scotland the SSP has been campaigning against the occupation of Afghanistan with 3 new branches of the party in 3 months. In the process of doing so we have not come across any Greens who support our position of immediate withdrawal of all the troops.
    @Doug, the SSP are a bit more than my “chums”, I am assistant national secretary. Having ruled out any support for the undemocratic chauvanist lash up that was No2EU it’s hardly surprising that we would be underwhelmed by the latest shiny new plaything of the Socialist Party.
    I would have thought the last experience of launching an electoral front that disappeared without trace just a couple of months before an election would have taught youse a lesson but it seems not.

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  6. Eddie:

    Will your candidate beat the SSP’s most recent result of 152 votes?

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  7. @Mark P, an electoral cretin may well reply by asking the CWI’s Solidarity if they will get more than the 53 votes they got in the Glenrothes by-election.
    A more relevant question might be does the CWI think that the latest electoral front it is dabbling in will do any better this time than the caning No2EU got in Scotland last year?
    By and large I think the SSP will get around 1% of the vote wherever we stand and that’s probably what any left of Labour / SNP candidate standing for a first past the post seat in Scotland will be looking at.
    Of course the big difference is that those of us who haven’t succumbed to the Socialist Party’s bizarre electoral cretinism will be looking to the election to further build and consolidate the impressive growth the SSP has had in the past year.

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  8. “Impressive growth” my EYE (see comments policy). Your congenital dishonesty is showing again, Eddie.

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  9. @Mark P, 3 new branches in 3 months, take a look at the website, you may not like it but it’s there for all to see.
    “Congenital dishonesty”.
    That’ll be the left unity pitch, yes ?

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  10. Eddie:

    Your bitter little rump SSP has made it very clear that you aren’t interested in unity with anyone. I’m more than willing to take you at your word on that subject, although I won’t take you at it on any other.

    As for “new branches”, splitting branches is easy . The British SWP launched dozens of new branches while their membership was falling. The SSP is a tiny irrelevance.

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  11. James mackensie is making a very confusing point above.

    He provides a link to a webaite from the Green party of england and Wales, concerning a demonstration in London.

    can james please expain what bearing this has on the Scottish Green party?

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  12. Eddie your awarded the nodding bastard for your tenacity.Rock on Scotlands Independance and all power to the S.S.P.

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  13. I see from the UKLN that the SSP held its Socialism 2010 rally this week. With 70 in attendance. On the up side Eddie, no doubt with a bit of creative accounting you could organise them into 70 branches again.

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  14. The SSP are finished as a serious force in Scottish politics- the only force the Scottish working class should support this side of independence and the break up of the imperialist British state is the Scottish National Party.

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  15. @Mark P, what are you wittering on about ? Socialism 2010 is today (Saturday). There was a meeting on the Friday night which if there was 70 at I would be more than happy with as I didn’t go myself seeing it was in Maryhill… on a Friday night..

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  16. One thing is for certain Scotland, will be independant.And with its P.R.system the left will have their say at the big hoose.

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  17. TUSC would have stood a chance if the SP/SWP up here had invited the SSP to talks about this

    But you didn`t as Colin Fox`s blog made clear

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  18. Yeh it would have been a great oppertunity to bury the claymore over the last few years ,and move forward.

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