SNP LEADERSHIP ELECTION
CAMPAIGNING 2004 STYLE
Well,
nominations closed with the promised surprise – but not the one I
had expected! I wouldn’t like anybody to think I had an inside
track. It was as much a surprise to me as to anybody to learn that
Alex Salmond was to lodge nomination papers. Now the contenders for
Leader and Depute Leader have to campaign and get their views over
to their voters – the SNP members. On previous occasions Branches
and Constituency organisations would hold meetings, exchange views,
maybe hold hustings and those at the meeting would agree how their
delegates would vote on behalf of the Branch etc.
Under
the changes agreed at our Spring Conference in Aberdeen, SNP members
will each have a postal vote in this leadership contest. Some of
them may not have been at a meeting for some time. How do the
candidates for office reach them? There will be an “election
address” for each candidate which will be delivered with the ballot
paper but you can’t challenge a leaflet or ask it questions. So a
series of hustings meetings have been arranged by local
organisations in various locations around the country so that
members have an opportunity to hear the candidates for the posts of
Leader and Depute Leader and ask them questions. If the media
attend, members can read the comments of reporters in various
journals but it would obviously be better to get an undiluted view.
You can get details of hustings on the SNP website
www.snp.org “The Herald” have also arranged a public debate in
Edinburgh on 12 August (see Herald for details). Ballot papers will
arrive with members on or around 13 August; there’s a lot of ground
for candidates to cover in a short time.
To try
to reach people who don’t go to meetings some candidates have
published websites where manifestos are published, questions are
asked and answered and up-to-date statements are published. Like
the candidates themselves the websites vary as you can see for
yourselves on any of the following:
As Jim
Lynch said last week, I have already publicly declared my support
for the Salmond/Sturgeon partnership. I will not use the columns of
the Flag for persuasion but urge all who have a vote, and those who
have an interest, to read, listen and question before completing
their ballot papers.
THE SNP’S
HEADLINE DEBT
And
I say “Headline” advisedly. Not to play it down but to say that if
you read below the headlines you would see that the figures are
those current at the end of December 2003, the debt is being managed
and during the first six months of 2004 progress has been made in
reducing it by £150,000.
The SNP was one of the political parties who led
the campaign to have donations to political parties made public.
The success of that meant also that we had to open our accounts to
public scrutiny and we should not complain. What we might complain
about is that, with a couple of exceptions, the media in their
comments do not compare like with like. We cannot legitimately be
compared with the Labour Party in Scotland. In their case there is a
flow of resources across the border with, for example, staff being
paid by the Labour Party (GB) and probably other examples of shared
resources. It’s even more interesting that the Conservatives do not
publish separate accounts for Scotland – they’re just one big UK
family!
It’s a tough challenge waiting for the new Party
Leader on 3 September. Not only will he/she have to pull the Party
together into a strong campaigning organisation for the Westminster
Elections but will also have to lead a strong fundraising team. I’m
sure it can be done. Just as I’m sure that members and activists
round the country will work as hard as they’ve always done to raise
what funds they need for vigorous, high profile campaigns to promote
their candidates for Westminster.
PROJECT
ISOLUS
That’s
the name of the project that has been on the go since about 1999 to
find a solution to the problem of decommissioned nuclear
submarines. There have been seminars, conferences, working parties
and dear knows what else. They still don’t have a solution but
continue planning to build more. We are told that when nuclear
submarines are decommissioned their radioactive fuel is removed and
taken to Sellafield for storage. The remaining radioactive stuff (a
technical term!) is left in the vessels, which are stored afloat at
Devonport or Rosyth. But the Ministry of Defence has run out of
space and they want this remaining radioactive waste to be stored on
land – you couldn’t make it up, could you?
The latest information tells us that there are 4
consortia who will be tendering for the work. They were down to
investigating 118 British coastal sites that might be suitable.
Then on Monday we heard that Adam Ingram – Labour’s armed forces
minister – had said in a written parliamentary answer that the
review had identified the Royal Armaments Depot at Coulport, close
to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs national park, as “suitable in
principle”. A decision will not be made until 2006 but it is felt
that Mr Ingram’s answer makes it almost certain the Coulport is the
preferred site.
A spokesperson on the radio tried to tell us that
no decision had been made and the tendering process was not complete
but I can’t say that I found him convincing. We don’t have detailed
information about how it is going to be stored – no doubt that will
be published on a day when they feel it can be hidden behind some
“bad news” story. Can you imagine large reactor compartments for 27
decommissioned nuclear submarines sitting close to the boundary of
the national park? Are they going to tell us the result of the
environmental impact assessment of this decision? Do you think they
have made one? Will we believe them?
The SNP is calling for an all-party campaign to
oppose these plans. Roseanna Cunningham, Shadow Environment
Minister, said that Scotland must unite against plans to dump
nuclear waste on the Clyde. She said that :“Scotland must
present a united front in opposition to nuclear dumping. We must
unite to fight plans to use the Clyde as the MOD’s nuclear sewer. If
we do not unite, our nation will be saddled with waste that will
remain radioactive for thousands of years. That makes this an issue
that goes far beyond party politics. I want to see MSPs, MPs and
MEPs of all colours come together and speak with a single voice and
tell the MOD that Scotland will not be their dumping ground. We have
watched as Scottish yards were passed over for lucrative refitting
contracts for the submarine fleet. Now, having been denied the
benefits, we are being asked shoulder the radioactive risks. The
people of Scotland have long been hostile to the nuclear powered,
nuclear armed submarines based on our shores. Now we must unite to
reject the MOD’s nuclear dump.”
KEEP DEATH
OFF THE ROADS
This
story is a bit out of date but it’s something that people should
know so I make no apologies for including it in this week’s flag and
it follows on quite well from my previous piece. Nukewatch is a
network of activists set up to expose the secret transportation of
live nuclear weapons in the UK. I got the story from them and have
had it confirmed by Scottish CND members who saw it pass.
At 11 am on the morning of 15 July a top secret
military convoy with a large police presence passed underneath
Stirling Castle on its way to England. The convoy, made up of four
Foden nuclear warhead carriers, an escort of armed Royal Marine
commandoes and a unit of armed Ministry of Defence Police, was also
accompanied by a large number of civilian Police officers from
Strathclyde and Central police forces, including a Police helicopter
flying overhead.
The nuclear warhead
convoy left the Royal Navy’s armaments depot at Coulport at 9.00 am
that morning having loaded up with Trident nuclear warheads on the
previous day. It was tracked by members of Nukewatch during its
journey to Aldermaston. Nukewatch protests are intended to highlight
the vulnerability of these lorries to terrorist attack and
accident. Each lorry can carry two nuclear warheads, with the
capacity equivalent to eight times the destructive power of the bomb
that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The convoys happen several
times a year.
These weapons are
immoral, redundant and a massive waste of money and it is outrageous
that the MoD put the public at risk by transporting nuclear weapons
so close to the major cities of Scotland. Thousands of people would
have to evacuate their homes and large areas could be contaminated
if there was a serious accident or terrorists were to attack these
warhead convoys.
PREPARING
FOR AN EMERGENCY
I’ve
got a wee theme going here. The Government has spent £8 million to
publish a Public Information pamphlet on “Preparing for an Emergency
: What you need to know” and it’s due to be delivered through your
door soon, . The last time I remember such a pamphlet I think it
ended up with us hiding or sleeping under the table if a nuclear
bomb was dropped. I loved the article by Melanie Reid in the Herald
on Tuesday where she represented it as “platitudinous nonsense” and
I’m looking forward to receiving my copy because it sounds as if it
might give me a few laughs. Of course people need to know what to
do in an emergency but it’s all about how this type of information
is presented – and why. Is it going to worry people? Is it going
to make them afraid? As suggested by Melanie in her article, would
it be cynical to suggest that the government wouldn’t mind an
insecure electorate because there’s a better chance that they’ll be
compliant and cling to nanny’s hand?
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".
(Despite Jim metaphorically wrapping me on the
knuckles last week I almost forgot to include the postcard again!)
The
current international situation is unstable and unpredictable.
Scotland has no voice on the European or world stage and no say in
decisions which directly affect her.
In a devolved parliament the SNP would co-ordinate international
relief and aid from Scotland and establish a network of commercial
embassies to represent and promote Scotland abroad.
However, in order to implement the policies that are fundamental to
the SNP’s international vision, Scotland needs the full powers of
Independence.
·
The SNP believes that international stability can only be secured by
the co-operation of nations in our international organisations.
·
The United Nations is our protection against world disorder - a
forum in which all countries, large and small, can come together as
equals to build a more peaceful and secure world.
·
We must redouble our efforts to build an effective international
order. To secure peace in the Middle East. And to close the gap
between rich and poor, for it is that, more than anything, that
breeds terrorism.
·
Successive UK Conservative and Labour governments have had a woeful
record in international aid, unlike our northern European
neighbours. The SNP has made a firm commitment for a timescale to
contribute the UN target of 0.7% of GNP to help developing
countries.
SYNOPSIS
The quantity of Press Releases is less this week
because of the Parliamentary recess but the quality is good as our
elected representatives continue to fight the fight and fly the
flag.
Friday 23 July
290 JOBS TO GO AT ROSYTH
HIDDEN
SUBSIDIES TO ENGLISH YARDS MUST END
It has been announced that a further 290 jobs are
to go at Rosyth Dockyard. Bruce Crawford, SNP MSP for
Mid-Scotland and Fife said:
“I am angry and disappointed for the workers who
will lose their jobs but I am not surprised this has happened. “How
can Rosyth be expected to achieve a full order book when it is has
been so blatantly discriminated against both in past and present
terms. Rosyth has to compete against hidden running cost subsidies
that are paid by the UK Government to the English Yards. It is
estimated that Devonport alone receives about 6 million pounds each
year from the Government by way of hidden running cost subsidies.
Consultants Grant Thornton has already conducted
a study for the government’s Warship Support Agency into the subsidy
English yards receive over Rosyth, yet the government refuse to put
the report into the public domain.
BRDL at Rosyth could compete with the best if
they had a fair and level playing field on which to bid for work,
but the only way that this will happen is if the scandal of the
hidden running cost subsidies to English Yards is ended
immediately. I will be writing to Geoff Hoon, asking him to make
the Grant Thornton report public and calling on him to carry out an
immediate enquiry into this scandal and to put an end to this
discrimination against Rosyth.”
Monday 26 July 2004
SNP SIGNS UP TO REGIMENTS CAMPAIGN
'FEAR
OF SNP SAVES AT LEAST ONE REGIMENT BUT CAMPAIGN GOES ON'
Ms Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Mr Alex Salmond MP,
Ms Annabelle Ewing MP and Mr Pete Wishart MP today campaigned in
Perth to save Scotland's regiments including the Black Watch who
have their regimental headquarters there.
The SNP team met at the Black Watch statue on the
North Inch at Perth, where they signed up to a local petition
campaigning to save the Black Watch. The four also signed up to the
national 'Save the Scottish Regiments' campaign.
The SNP's calls come as it has been revealed in
reports today that a senior Ministry of Defence source said that
military cuts have been reduced due to fear of the SNP.
Mr Salmond said:
"My SNP colleagues in Westminster have really
brought this issue to the forefront of political debate in the House
of Commons. They have fought for the Black Watch at every
opportunity. Scotland's regiments have provided the backbone to the
army for generations. Their skills, expertise and professionalism
are second to none. In these days of global instability and
insecurity, the skills that they have developed in a range of
environments across the globe are needed as never before. It defies
belief that as Scotland's regiments are fighting Blair's wars for
him overseas, he is prepared to stab them in the back at home.
Fears of the SNP campaign may have reduced the
cuts but it will not stop us from fighting for all of Scotland's
regiments. It just goes to show that voting SNP makes a difference.
For more information on the 'Save the Scottish
Regiments' campaign, see
www.savethescottishregiments.co.uk/main.htm
Monday 26 July 2004
CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE MORAY BASES
MP
LAUNCHES PETITION AT THREATENED AIRBASE
Moray Scottish National Party MP Angus Robertson
launched a petition outside RAF Kinloss calling on the UK government
not to close either RAF Kinloss or RAF Lossiemouth, both of which
are in Mr Robertson's constituency.
The petition launch follows last week's defence
review announcement in Westminster in which the Secretary of State
for Defence announced a reduction in the number of Nimrod's at
Kinloss and review of RAF bases, including both Moray bases.
At present the bases contribute over £96 million
each year to the local economy and employ significant numbers of
local civilians in addition to the several thousand military
personnel.
Mr Robertson said:
"Although the MoD last week announced a reduction
in staffing levels at the Moray bases the decision to review the
requirement for the bases is not as clear cut. It is important
therefore that the Minister is made well aware of the strength of
feeling in the Moray area against any potential base closure.
The petition is already being supported by the
local press in Moray and it will be widely distributed throughout
the constituency. I would urge anybody who wishes to collect
signatures to contact my Elgin office who will be happy to provide
copies.
Before any decision is made by the MoD, the House
of Commons Defence Select Committee will be reporting on the
proposals and it is important that they have as much information as
possible on the impact any closure in Moray would have.”
Thursday 28 July 2004
DEMOS AND O.N.S. REPORTS REINFORCE NEED FOR CHANGE
CRITIQUE
OF SNP BACKFIRING BIG TIME – MATHER
The
Office of National Statistics confirmed the disastrous continuing
trend in population decline, and the think-tank Demos published a
report showing Scotland is suffering lack of self-esteem. Mr Jim
Mather , Shadow Minister for Enterprise said:
"With
every passing day the SNP is being given data and research that
proves the need for Scotland and its people to assert themselves and
claim the power needed to foster self-esteem and prosperity.
This
data and research is now coming from so many sources that it is
impossible for the Scottish Executive to refute the mounting
evidence that they are failing Scotland.
Their
technique of positive spin is not working as can be seen from the
recent State of the Nation Report from the Joseph Rowntree Reform
Trust, where they reported 66 percent of Scots wanting more powers
for the Scottish Parliament. No surprise, given that most people can
see the effects of relatively lower incomes, greater insecurity,
family separation and poor health.
That
reality is what causes lower self-esteem, especially when people see
others from elsewhere with better more satisfying jobs, more
buying-power, greater confidence and stronger opinions.
The
fact of the matter is that this is not their fault. It is the fault
of our failed system of government.
No
wonder we favour independence.
The
future does not
belong to the people, who are happy with Scotland's current lot and
our dreadful social and economic problems. The future does not
belong to those who are content to tinker with the symptoms of the
failure to successfully manage Scotland economy and the huge
potential of our country and our people.
Rather it will belong to those of us, who can blend
vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals
and great enterprises of a new vigorous Scottish Society. And that
is why more and more people are realising that it is the only way we
can prosper, face down the risks and uncertainties of our current
situation and be all we can be."
Thursday 29 July 2004
SIGNIFICANT FALL IN TEACHER NUMBERS
MUST
RECRUIT MORE PEOPLE TO FULLY SOLVE PROBLEM
Scottish Executive figures published show a drop
in the number of teachers across Scotland. Shadow Deputy Education
Minister Mr Brian Adam MSP said,
“The Executive has said that they are still on
target to reduce class sizes, despite a fall in the number of
teachers, but what they have failed to mention is that if their
future projections for graduates fall short, we will be left in an
even worse situation.
While some progress has been made, the underlying
problem is that there is a large proportion of teachers who are
reaching retirement age and there are not enough people entering the
profession to replace them.
The Executivehas pledged to reduce class sizes
across the country by 2007 so that our children can learn in a less
crowded environment with more one to one time with their teacher.
However, my main concern is that this pledge is
based on the number of people choosing to enter teaching in the
first place, and indeed the number of students who successfully
graduate, which is not something that the Executive can control.
If we are truly serious about improving our
education system, then we must look at ways of recruiting more
people into the profession, otherwise all we will be able to do is
tread water instead of fully solving the problem.”
