Rejected Tories can’t impose will on Scotland

Cameron’s intervention was the perfect example of Scotland’s subservient position within the British Union. Like his hero Thatcher, he treats the Scots with contempt

Posted by Campbell Martin on January 13, 2012. Filed under Campbell Martin,Scotland. Posted with the tags:Independence, SNP
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Photo by The Cabinet Office

As part of the independence movement, one of the challenges faced by the SSP is persuading a majority of our fellow citizens to vote for Scotland to retake the status of a normal independent nation.

The last poll of 2011 showed the tide of public opinion beginning to flow towards independence, and the first days of 2012 brought more good news. David Cameron, the Tory Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – a man whose party has no mandate in Scotland and only one MP – decided to interfere in the proposed Independence Referendum by telling Scots that if the SNP didn’t get a move on, the London-based UK Government would impose a date for the vote and decide what the question should be.

Cameron’s intervention was the perfect example of Scotland’s subservient position within the British Union. The people of Scotland elected an SNP Government, with a majority in parliament and a manifesto commitment to hold an Independence Referendum in 2014 or 2015, but a Tory politician in London saw fit to over-rule the democratic decision of the Scottish electorate and tell us what we should do instead. Cameron, like his hero Thatcher, treats the Scots with contempt.

It is for the people of Scotland to determine our constitutional future, not a coalition of Tory and Liberal Democrat politicians rejected by Scots at the ballot box. On that point the independence movement is united, but there are other significant issues where differences of opinion exist.

The SSP is the political party most clearly in support of re­establishing our country as a normal independent nation, with the full powers necessary to govern ourselves at home and represent ourselves on the world stage.

While the SNP talks of a multi-option referendum and possibly giving tacit support to ‘fiscal autonomy’ or ‘devolution max’, the SSP is wholly committed to securing for Scotland the full sovereign powers required to radically transform Scottish society and deliver a better, fairer country for all of our citizens.

Be under no illusions; in its campaign to retain control of Scotland’s wealth the British establishment will use every imaginable lie, smear, distortion of reality and dirty trick.

The independence movement in Scotland must counter this onslaught by setting-out the benefits and merits of retaking political control of our own country, and the SSP must be prepared to rise to the challenge of leading the fight for Scotland’s future. We have the people, we have the policies and we have the determination to succeed. We should place no limits on the role the SSP can play in securing our country’s independence.

As a party once again growing in numbers, we must also rise to the challenge over the next 12 months of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with members of our local communities. Every one of us knows how savage cuts being imposed by the Tory-LibDem UK Government, the SNP Scottish Government and Council administrations are devastating towns, communities, families and individuals.

Across Scotland the SSP has been campaigning on our socialist alternative to the cuts – we should be taxing the rich, forcing the bankers, company directors and corporations to pay their fair share – and in 2012 we must build on our commitment to fight-back against the capitalist politicians who put the interests of millionaires and billionaires before those of men, women and children in our local communities.

Part of the fight-back against the parties of the right – Tory, SNP, Labour, Liberal Democrat– will see SSP members representing the party and local people by standing in May’s Council Elections. Electing socialist councillors will give local communities a real voice in Council Chambers, a voice prepared to say ‘No Cuts’ and prepared to propose budgets to meet the needs of local people, instead of slashing services and sacking workers simply to generate ‘savings’ that are then redirected by central government to pay debts accrued by spivs and speculators in privately-owned banks and financial institutions.

We won’t deliver independence or establish a socialist Scotland by securing SSP councillors in May, but we can use the elections to show there is a political party on the side of the people. Our campaigns in May give us the opportunity to present our alternative vision of a country and local communities where the interests of ordinary men, women and children take precedence over the right-wing political dogma of parties funded by millionaires.

The Scottish Socialist Party has nothing to fear from the challenges we face in 2012. We are a party that has emerged from a dark period; we are a party growing in numbers and strength; we are a party articulating the needs of the people.

We are also a party that will not tolerate Tories attempting to impose their will on Scotland.