The third largest of the pro-independence parties, the
Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is a left wing Scottish political party which
campaigns for a socialist economic platform and Scottish independence.
The SSP was formed out of the Scottish Socialist Alliance
(SSA) in 1998. The SSA had itself formed in 1996 from an alliance of various
leftist groups operating in Scotland. Scottish Militant Labour (which had itself
formed out of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency in the early 1990s) drove the
formation of the SSA. Other participating groups included the Scottish
Republican Socialist Party (SRSP) and the Communist Party of Scotland. The
principal founders were Tommy Sheridan and Alan McCombes.
The SSA performed fairly well in the sixteen seats they
contested in the 1997 general election and this prompted moves to formalise the
alliance into a new political party. Again, Militant Labour served as the
driving force, and in 1998 it was agreed to form the SSP.
In 1999 the SSP (in their first ever nation-wide electoral
contest) polled fairly well in that year's Scottish Parliament election. They
did however get fewer votes than Socialist Labour (a UK-wide party of the left
led by Arthur Scargill which has consistently refused to countenance the idea of
joining forces with the SSP because the SSP stand for an independent Scotland).
Nonetheless the elections to the Scottish Parliament went better than many
expected, with Sheridan gaining election as a representive of Glasgow.
The party has become the foremost far-left force in
Scottish Politics polling significantly better than the Socialist Labour Party
in the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary election. Indeed, many would argue that not
only are they the most significant far-left force in Scotland, but across the
whole of the United Kingdom as well. Their success since formation certainly
played a major part in the formation of a Socialist Alliance in England. The
Socialist Alliance had links with the SSP, but failed to make a similar
significant electoral breakthrough south of the border, largely due to the fact
that election to the British Parliament does not use proportional
representation, whereas the Scottish Parliament does.
Whilst most SSP members expected to challenge the Labour
Party, the SSP's electoral performance has indicated that the SNP vote has been
most affected by the emergence of the SSP. There is also some overlap with
the Scottish Green Party vote.
The SSP managed to return six members to the Scottish
Parliament in 2003, all of them 'regional list' MSPs rather than constituency MSPs
(this has now been reduced to four with Sheridan and Byrne's resignation). Not long after the election Lloyd Quinan, a former SNP MSP defected to the
SSP.
They have also unsuccessfully courted Campbell Martin (independent, former
SNP MSP) and Dennis Canavan (independent, former Labour MSP), but managed to
gain John McAllion. At the 2003 parliament election McAllion lost his seat to
Shona Robison, the SNP candidate. The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) pulled out
of contesting the seat in favour of McAllion, but ironically this may have
assisted his defeat. In 2006 McAllion stood for the SSP in the Dunfermline and
West Fife by-election of 9 February, gaining only around 500 votes and 1.6% of
the vote.
On November 11, 2004 Tommy Sheridan announced his
resignation as convener of the party, citing personal reasons as being behind
his decision. There were two candidates to replace him: Colin Fox, widely
regarded as a favourite, and Alan McCombes. At one point it was expected that
Carolyn Leckie would stand, but she supported Alan McCombes. Delegates to the
SSP conference voted on February 13, 2005 and Fox was elected with 252 votes to
McCombes' 154; 9 delegates abstained and 1 ballot paper was spoilt.
The SSP have
been strongly supportive of the cross-party
Independence Convention and a number
of SSP activists and MSP's have given their support to the
Independence First referendum campaign.
The SSP have recently split over Tommy Sheridan's
court case. Sheridan has set up a new party with Rosemary Byrne MSP and other
party activists which is currently called Solidarity -
Scotland's Socialist Movement. the anti independence SWP and CWI have joined
Sheridan in this new venture.
It's possible that Sheridan's old party will actually
become stronger without the CWI and SWP but they have been severely damaged by
the court case and it remains to be seen what will happen next. Many expected Sheridan to stand for the SSP leadership in
the wake of his court victory however he seems to have calculated that his
opponents were too well placed within the party leadership and structures and
that a clean break was required.
The SSP is a founding member of the European
Anticapitalist Left.
See also the following article
by Alan McCombes ('Scottish Independence and the Struggle for Socialism')
Colin Fox - SSP Leader
SOCIALISTS BID FOR
INDEPENDENCE
The Scottish Socialist Party
has launched its Holyrood manifesto with a commitment to an independent
Scotland. The left-wing party also outlined its plans for free,
Scotland-wide public transport, in the battle to fight climate change.The SSP was co-founded by its former leader Tommy Sheridan, who has
set up rival socialist party Solidarity.
The SSP said that, whatever the outcome of the
election, it would push for an independence referendum within a year. The
party insisted that a Scotland-wide free public transport network was an
idea "whose time has come", and that radical action was needed to move
hundreds of thousands of travellers from private cars to public transport.
The SSP said it would cost £1bn a year to introduce
the free system and expanded services, fully accessible to disabled
travellers, as well as bringing buses and railways into public ownership.
Part of the plan would see the Scotrail franchise transferred to a
publicly-owned Scottish national rail company and fares for all rail
journeys within Scotland scrapped.
This would happen when the franchise expired in
2011. Party leader Colin Fox said: "Our call for free public transport,
independence and wealth redistribution is going down a storm.Our manifesto is an unashamed socialist programme that would make a
massive difference to the millions of Scots."
Mr Fox added: "You won't find any big businesses
backing the SSP."
The party said a parliamentary bill would be brought
forward to re-regulate Scotland's buses before setting up a publicly-owned
bus group, divided into 10 regional companies. A further phase would see
the removal of bus, underground, and passenger ferry fares.
Elsewhere, the SSP said it would build 25,000 new
homes for social rent every year, financed by the abolition of councils'
housing debt which, the party claimed, would generate £2bn over four
years.
Scottish Socialists would also push for free school
meals, the costs of which they claimed would be "negligible" when set
against the overall Scottish budget, and replace council tax with an
income-related alternative.
