Since the
commencement of the SI's 'Flag in the Wind', a Tartan Day Tribute
has been posted on the web around 6 April and in conjunction with
Alastair McIntyre of Electric Scotland this year is no exception.
The focus of the 2004 tribute is The Declaration of Arbroath,
signed on 6 April 1320, the date chosen to celebrate Tartan Day in
America, Canada and now in Scotland's longtime ally, 'The Auld
Alliance', France. Also featured is Scottish involvement in the
development of America and Canada with a first-hand report from
Alastair McIntyre, who has spent the last six months between both
countries. Alastair finds wherever he goes evidence of the
Scottish diaspora and evidence of Scottish influence. France, for
the first time, features in the annual tribute. The tribute is
complemented, as usual, by poetry, music and song.
TARTAN “WEEK” IN THE UNITED STATES
The
original concept of a one day celebration on 6 April now seems to
have stretched and we saw Scottish politicians and business people
in the US to join the celebration, promote Scotland and build
relationships. The occasion threw up a miscellany of stories
ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. (That was Jack
McConnell’s pin striped kilt!) John Swinney MSP, Leader of the
Scottish National Party took the opportunity to visit the United
Nations complex in New York. There he met Kieran Prendergast, the
lead official with responsibility for conflict resolution to hear
of UN plans for the future of Iraq and to discuss the way forward
for the world community after the bitter divisions of the Iraq
war.
John also spoke at
New York’s Columbia University where he spoke of the United States
as a nation built on immigration, which continues to see benefits.
Projections show the US population increasing by almost 50 percent
over the next 50 years. Of that growth, two-thirds will come from
immigration.
A recent UK Home
Office report showed that in 1999/00, immigrants contributed 31.2
billion pounds to the UK Treasury, 2.5 billion pounds more than
they received in public services. The benefit to the Treasury was
the equivalent of 1p on the basic rate of income tax.
The SNP Leader said
that the SNP agree with Jack McConnell's Fresh Talent initiative
for Scotland but it must go hand in hand with increased economic
powers designed to make Scotland an attractive place to live and
work. He said:
”We would like to be more like the USA in this respect, by being
better able to retain these people and their children. The role
model exists. We can follow the US example and encourage more
people to see themselves as proud participating Scots, who will
build great lives for themselves and contribute to the economic
and cultural development of our wonderful country."
Scotland's
voice was also heard in the heart of Washington as Sir Sean
Connery and John Swinney MSP met Congressional leaders and members
of the U.S. Cabinet at the Tartan Week Capitol Hill reception.
Then John went on to Georgetown University to meet Democrat
presidential hopeful John Kerry before delivering a speech to
students. Scotland's voice was heard at the most senior levels.
Congressional leaders from both parties, members of George Bush's
Cabinet and the Democrat frontrunner for the Presidential
nomination all heard what Scotland has to say.
John Swinney said “Tartan Week is not just about selling Scotland
to the U.S. but also about forging the political links that put
Scotland on the map. Amidst all the pageantry, it is opportunities
like these - opportunities to make Scotland heard - that matter.
"That's why I will be taking the chance to speak up for our nation
in the very heart of Washington."
SNP
MPs SPEAKING UP FOR SCOTLAND
I
have heard voters say that they are surprised that the SNP
campaign so hard to send MPs to Westminster now that Scotland has
a Parliament in Edinburgh. Some SNP supporters did not even turn
out to vote in the last set of elections for the Westminster
Parliament because they did not feel that it was an election that
was relevant to Scotland in current circumstances. How wrong they
were! Decisions taken on international affairs, defence, tax and
benefits have a direct impact on Scots and, as long as Westminster
holds the purse strings, the Scottish Parliament is limited in
what it can achieve. Scottish political journalists tend to focus
on the Scottish Parliament and many Scots do not know who their
Member of the Westminster Parliament is – or what they do. What we
think typical Scottish MPs ought to be doing is working hard in
their constituencies dealing with the concerns of electors there
and, in Westminster, representing their constituents and speaking
up for Scotland.
The House of
Commons Library Report, “Parliamentary Questions and Debate
Contributions” was last updated a month ago on 8 March. The
figures in the Report are for all MPs throughout the UK, and are
for the 2002-03 Parliamentary Session, which covers the period
from 13 November 2002 to 20 November 2003. It shows that the five
SNP MPs have contributed to more debates in the House of Commons
than any other political party.
The figures show
that, on average, each of the five SNP MPs made a total of 46
contributions to debates in the House of Commons in Session
2002-03 – the largest out of all the political groups in the House
of Commons, and over double the average of 20 debate contributions
per MP.
On average, Lib Dem
MPs made 29 debate contributions, and the Tories 28. Excluding
Government Ministers shows that backbench Labour MPs made 29
debate contributions, on average. If Government Ministers are
included, the Labour figure declines to 16.
The breakdown for
Scottish MPs shows that the five SNP MPs are all in the top
places:
SNP Westminster
leader Mr Alex Salmond (Banff & Buchan) is in joint first place,
along with the Father of the House Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow), at 67
contributions each.
Mr Angus Robertson
(Moray) and Mr Mike Weir (Angus) are in joint third place at 49.
Mr Pete Wishart (North Tayside) is 8th equal at 33, and Ms
Annabelle Ewing is 14th equal at 29.
In a joint
statement, the five SNP MPs said:
“The SNP pledged to
speak for Scotland and fight for the Scottish interest when we
were elected – and that is exactly what we are doing.
“By contrast,
Labour MPs and those from the other London-based parties regularly
stay away from debates, or don’t say a word even when they do turn
up – and then troop through the lobby to vote against Scotland’s
interests.
“For example,
during the recent debate on university top-up fees, there were no
Scottish Labour MPs present in the Chamber – with the honourable
exception of Tam Dalyell, who voted against the Government. But
they turned up at the end to vote for top-up fees in England,
which will create a funding shortfall for Scottish higher
education.
“Scotland needs MPs
who speak for Scotland and vote for Scotland – a job that only the
SNP are able and willing to do.”
ONLY TWO MONTHS TO GO
Thursday
10 June is Polling Day for the elections to the European
Parliament and I am back into election mode – not on my own, of
course, but with a team of activists knocking doors, delivering
leaflets and carrying tables into shopping centres and market
places to set up our stalls. The same is happening all over
Scotland as the political parties gear up for the campaign. There
is an expectation that the turnout will be low and for a while we
thought that Scotland would be used as a pilot for an all postal
vote to try to increase participation. For a number of reasons
that did not happen so it will be a conventional ballot where you
can have a postal vote if you want one – you don’t need any
special reason for it – or you can go to the polling place to vote
in the traditional way. It’s very important that as many people
as possible do vote, so check your diary and make sure you’ll be
around on 10 June – and if you’re not, or there’s any reason why
it might be difficult for you to vote in person, then apply for a
postal vote NOW. There’s no problem about it. Contact your local
Electoral Registration Office (it’s in the phone book) and ask for
a form to be sent to you. You can have a postal vote for this
election only or for all elections. And when the ballot paper
arrives by post remember that the two SNP Members of the European
Parliament, Ian Hudghton and Neil MacCormick, punch well above
their weight and are renowned for speaking up for Scotland.
NO
NEW NUKES
Before
you read the piece below let me invite you to join Scottish CND at
a March and Rally at the Faslane Base on Monday 12 April – Easter
Monday. The March will assemble at the Faslane Peace Camp from
1.00pm and will march off at 1.30pm to the North Gate of the base
(about a mile and a half away). The Rally will start at 2.30pm.
Speakers include John Swinney MSP, Tommy Sheridan MSP, Alan
Mackinnon (Scottish CND), Chris Ballance (Green Party). At the
head of the march will be a group of 45-50 people who will leave
Glasgow City Chambers at 1.00pm on Friday 9 April – a “Peace
Walk”. They will be in Clydebank on Friday evening, Dumbarton on
Saturday, Helensburgh on Sunday and arrive at the Peace Camp on
Monday in time to lead the march. For more information see:
http://www.banthebomb.org/events/faslane.shtml
Why
Easter?
This will be the first march and rally organised at Faslane by
Scottish CND for several years and will coincide with a march to
Aldermaston from London by British CND as part of a revitalised
campaign against Trident and the possibility of the UK joining the
US in building a new generation of nuclear weapons.
Why
Faslane?
The Easter demo will be an attempt to re-focus attention on
Britain's Weapons of Mass Destruction, all of which are based here
in Scotland.
Why Now?
The march & rally will be an opportunity to deliver a clear and
unequivocal message that the Scottish people do not want nuclear
weapons. It will also be a chance to expose the hypocrisy of a
government that lied (and went to war) over other countries having
weapons of mass destruction but has done nothing to reduce its own
arsenal and even intends to increase the size of it.
The larger the number of people at Faslane on
Easter Monday the clearer that message will be.
BACKGROUND
In
1958 thousands of people marched to Aldermaston because of the
fear of a nuclear war. That fear is still here. In 2004 they will
march to stop the next generation of nuclear weapons from being
built at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston and to
put pressure on the government to withdraw support from unlawful
policies of pre-emptive wars and comply fully with the spirit of
the NPT by disarming Trident, Britain‘s submarine-based nuclear
weapons system.
AWE Aldermaston is at the very heart of Britain’s nuclear weapons
programme, responsible for the research, production, and
maintenance of Britain’s nuclear warheads, and their eventual
decommissioning. AWE currently supports the Trident system, which
consists of 190-200 nuclear warheads and four submarines - one of
which is on constant operational duty.
Publicly available evidence suggests that the UK is now planning
to research, develop, build and test the next generation of
nuclear weapons at AWE Aldermaston.
·
In
June 2003, the Observer and the Guardian reported that AWE was
planning to producer “mini nukes“ (non-strategic “battlefield“
weapons).
·
In
July 2002, AWE Aldermaston published its Site Development Strategy
Plan, outlining proposals for a supercomputer, hydrodynamics
facility, new laboratories and a state of the art laser facility.
·
In
March 2003, Geoff Hoon stated - in the context of Iraq - that if
threatened by biological or chemical weapons, the UK would be
prepared to use nuclear weapons.
·
In
May 2003, Aldermaston started recruiting some 80 new scientists;
·
In
November 2003, the Ministry of Defence submitted their first
notice of proposed development to the local planning authority;
outline planning for the new laser facility was agreed in December
with no parliamentary discussion;
·
In
December 2003, the government defence white paper stated that a
decision about a replacement for Trident would be made in the next
parliament.
·
The
US is reportedly going ahead with the development of a new type of
nuclear “bunker buster"; funding was released by Congress in 2003,
and the contracts have already gone out to tender.
Both the UK and the US are signatories to the nuclear
Non-proliferation treaty (NPT), and at the 2000 NPT review
conference they committed themselves to an “unequivocal
undertaking ... to accomplish the total elimination of their
nuclear arsenals”. And you don’t need to be a rocket scientist
to work out that the development of nuclear weapons in either
country is a direct violation of the NPT.
Join the
Scottish CND Demonstration on Monday 12 April
POLICY
POSTCARDS
We continue our
publication of the SNP Policy Postcards; we will publish a new one
every week, each one dealing with a different aspect of SNP
policy. The full list can be seen on the SNP website under
"Vision" and "Policy".
Better off
British? Poverty
The UK has the
highest poverty rate in Europe. (Source: Eurostat 2003). It
doesn’t have to be like this - small EU countries like Denmark and
Finland have all but eradicated child poverty in their societies.
An independent Scotland could do the same thing.
Small EU nations
such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Austria have among the lowest
levels of poverty in the EU – around half that of the UK. (Source:
Statistics Netherlands 2003).
Unemployment is
higher in the UK too and our government spends the least on
getting people back into work. Denmark spends over 18 times more
than the UK on training and job creation.
No wonder the UK
has such a low rate of employment growth at less than 1%, compared
with almost 3% in Ireland.
(Source: Eurostat
2003).
SYNOPSIS
During
Treasury Questions in the House of Commons the Scottish National
Party MP for Perth Ms Annabelle Ewing raised the issue of the
imposition of tax stamps on the Scotch whisky industry in the
recent Budget
Speaking after her
question, Ms Ewing said:
"The Labour Party are split on
the issue of whisky tax stamps north and south of the Border. In
the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, the First Minister and
Labour MSPs voted to express their 'disappointment' over the
damaging tax
stamps
- which threaten jobs in a vital Scottish industry. But at
Westminster, Labour MPs trooped through the lobbies in support of
this anti-Scottish measure."
Commenting on
the Prime Minister's Summit on immigration policy the Scottish
National Party's Westminster Home Affairs Spokesperson Ms
Annabelle Ewing MP said:
"As the only part
of the UK - and virtually the only nation in Europe - with a
declining population, Scotland has the biggest interest in
attracting new talent to our country. And yet there is no-one from
the Scottish Executive at Tony Blair's immigration summit.
But in any event,
the London summit and the Scottish interest seem to be at cross
purposes. While Scotland badly needs new people, the aim of the
summit seems to be to keep migrants out, as a result of chaos in
the UK's immigration policy.
During
Business Questions in the House of Commons the Westminster leader
of the Scottish National Party Mr Alex Salmond MP questioned the
Leader of the House, Peter Hain, on the resignation of Immigration
Minister Beverley Hughes. Mr Salmond asked:
"If it has now
become a resignation matter to inadvertently mislead Parliament
and the people over the question of the Home Office and
immigration, then why is it not a resignation matter even to
inadvertently mislead Parliament and the people over weapons of
mass destruction and Iraq?" Peter Hain answered: "Quite simply
because there was no misleading involved in the question of Iraq."
The Westminster
leader of the Scottish National Party Mr Alex Salmond MP has
tabled a Motion in the House of Commons, on a cross-party basis,
regarding the execution of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israeli forces
last week.
Mr Salmond's Early
Day Motion is modelled on a United Nations Security Council
Resolution on the matter which the United States vetoed - and the
UK abstained on in the vote. It currently has the support of 10
MPs from the SNP, Plaid Cymru, Labour, and the Lib Dems, and reads
as follows:
EDM 956 - EXECUTION
OF SHEIKH AHMED YASSIN
That this House supports the
text of the United Nations Security Council Resolution of 25th
March that was vetoed by the United States and which the United
Kingdom abstained on; therefore condemns the extrajudicial
execution by the Israeli Government of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, along
with six other Palestinians, outside a mosque in Gaza City on 22nd
March.............................................(The full text
is available on the SNP website)
Commenting on
the changes announced to the Fisheries Council deal agreed to last
December - which Scottish fishermen, fishing communities, and
their representatives have been campaigning for - Banff & Buchan
MP Mr Alex Salmond said:
"This is welcomes
news, and vindicates the stance taken by fishermen, fishing
communities and their representatives in demanding changes to the
disastrous December Fisheries Council deal. The December deal will
surely go down as the worst worked out in the sorry history of the
Common Fisheries Policy.
The re-opening of
fishing grounds will mean that the enforced throwing back of
quality fish dead into the sea can now stop."
Commenting on the
announcement, SNP Shadow Fisheries Minister Mr Richard Lochhead
MSP said: "This climbdown is a direct result of fishermen and
fishing communities refusing to accept the mad and bad deal that
the UK signed up to in Brussels last December - which was riddled
with mistakes.
But there remains
the problem of days at sea restrictions, and the discrimination
against the Scottish fishing fleet. Scottish fishermen need the
time and the space to build a sustainable fishery, which can
access the stocks that are there and will support our communities
around the coastline of Scotland."
Famous author joins MSP in fight for National
hospital
The
author Alasdair Gray today joined Glasgow MSP Sandra White as she
stepped up the pressure to keep the Queen Mother's Maternity
Hospital open. The author of Lanark lives in the West End of
Glasgow where the closure threatened hospital is sited but both
emphasised the fact that the Queen Mother's treats babies from
across Scotland. The two visited the hospital to meet with
midwives including Sue Forsyth, Head of Midwifery and Unison rep.
Sandra White said after the meeting "I felt it was important to
hear what the midwives had to say. They, after all, are working at
the frontline and it seems nobody is listening to them". Mr Gray
said his impression after the meeting was that the midwives were
continuing to provide a first class service but that morale was
understandably low.
Draft rule book
goes online
In
the run up to Special Conference later this month, which will
debate a proposed new Party Constitution, the corresponding Draft
Rule Book has now been published online at
http://www.snp.org/constitution. Although the Rule Book will not
be debated until the National Council meeting of June 26, the
Draft has been made available to inform delegates prior to
Conference, to help understand how it will tie-in with the new
Constitution if it is approved. National Secretary Alasdair Allan
commented: "The process of proposing the new Constitution has,
since it began at Conference last year, been geared towards
keeping members informed at every stage. Now, we have published a
draft of the Rule Book fully eleven weeks before it is due to be
debated, so that members have an early idea of how it will tie-in
with the plans for the Constitution. The draft still requires the
input of members, both prior to its publication as a resolution to
National Council, and through amendments at Council itself. In the
meantime though, I hope that it gives a greater understanding of
how the new Constitution would work, so that delegates will know
what they are voting for when they scrutinise the proposed new
Constitution later this month."
Bring rail back
into public ownership – Sturgeon
Nicola
Sturgeon MSP today called for the railways to be brought back into
public ownership. The Glasgow MSP was speaking after a House of
Commons report into the state of the railways was published. And
she said the fact that Alistair Darling, the Transport Minister,
had offered no defence, was a "sign of how bad things really are".
