Alex Miller
In the British general election scheduled for May 5, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) will be standing candidates in every Scottish parliamentary constituency, with the exception of East Kilbride, where Rose Gentle, mother of Scottish soldier Gordon Gentle who was killed last year in Iraq, will be standing as an independent candidate against New Labour armed forces minister Adam Ingram.
Cathy Pederson, who has stood down as SSP candidate for East Kilbride, was quoted on the SSP website on April 11 as saying: "The party locally and nationally has tremendous admiration for the principles and courage of Rose Gentle in her campaign to bring the troops home from Iraq. We will be enthusiastically campaigning to hold Adam Ingram to account for the lies, death and destruction resulting from the Iraq war."
East Kilbride SSP branch member Carolyn Leckie, a member of the Scottish parliament, was quoted in the same press release as saying: "I would normally be against the party standing down for independent candidates. Cathy Pederson would have been a great candidate and I'm sorry she's no longer standing. Rose Gentle lost her son in the carnage in Iraq and she is standing on an anti-war, troops out platform. Rose Gentle not only deserves the support of the SSP, but of all parties that claim to be anti-war. The Greens, Liberal-Democrats and the Scottish National Party should also stand down their candidates. This is a tremendous opportunity to strike a blow at the heart of Tony Blair's war cabinet."
The Westminster elections are run on the archaic and undemocratic "first past the post" system, which discriminates against smaller political parties like the SSP, and although the SSP is not expecting to win a Westminster seat, it will offer the voters who elected six socialists to the Scottish parliament in 2003 the opportunity to make a significant protest vote.
In a press release issued on the SSP website on April 5, SSP national convenor Colin Fox stated: "The Scottish Socialist Party will contest this general election with a socialist manifesto that would transform the lives of millions of Scots. The SSP will be offering a socialist alternative to the mainstream establishment parties who are heading further to the right with every passing day. The SSP is proud of our socialist vision which includes support for an independent Scottish republic, the bringing back of the rail industry into public ownership and an £8 an hour minimum wage.
"This election gives voters the opportunity to voice their anger at the continuing lies and deception that surround the war on terror and the occupation of Iraq. A big SSP vote will give an impetus to those who will converge on the G8 Summit in July to protest against globalisation and in favour of fair trade, international aid and policies that promote real justice across the globe."
From Green Left Weekly, April 20, 2005.
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