SNP LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION

 I write on 25 January, the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns.  If, as is widely expected, Tony Blair calls an election for 5 May there are exactly 100 days to go till Polling Day.  Today Alex Salmond launched the SNP's campaign for a Westminster General election by urging voters to "make Scotland matter".

Mr Salmond promised to put Scotland "front and foremost" in the campaign, setting out the SNP's stall with the slogan: "If Scotland matters to you, make it matter in May."  The following are some extracts from his speech which I found of interest and thought you might do so too.

“The SNP plans to hold up the success of Norway - which celebrates 100 years of independence this year - as an example of what an independent Scotland could become.

The Party's campaign themes centre on the proposal for a non-means-tested "Citizen's Pension'' of £110 for singles and £168 for couples, saving Scottish regiments, and creating a Norwegian-style "oil windfall fund" from North Sea revenues to finance public investment.  The themes also include opposition to any new nuclear power stations or successors to the Trident nuclear submarines, attacking "unfair" proposals for heavy grid charges for renewable energy plants in the north of Scotland, and opposition to identity cards.

We will make progress in 2005 because we are Scotland's Party - trusted to represent Scotland first and always. Because we are inclusive as a party and ambitious for our country. And because we are an effective, national team with the ideas and leadership to take Scotland forward

Contrast this with the competition.  Blair is the least trusted Prime Minister in recent political history and Labour no longer trusted to represent Scotland.  Howard scrapes the bottom of the political barrel looking for votes but can’t shake off the fact that he was a Cabinet Minister in failed Tory governments The Liberals are pretending to be an opposition in London while they prop up Labour in Scotland

Today, our message to the people is clear.  If Scotland matters to you, make it matter in May.
Vote for Scotland’s Party and put Scotland back political centre stage.”

Already we have contacted more people than any other party in Scotland – and we’ve only just started. We have given voters the chance to tell us what matters most to them, what matters most for the future of Scotland.  They have told us they want to hear our ideas on health, pensions and childcare and they will. They have told us that they are opposed to illegal wars and are heart sick of the council tax and we will campaign on these issues.  They have told us they want to save the Scottish regiments and believe that community policing is the way to local security.

Voters tell us that they are appalled by the way Britain treats our pensioners. The state pension in the UK is one of the lowest in the developed world. And that is not some Tory legacy; it is the product of 8 years of Labour rule.

A Labour pension is a means tested pension and more and more older Scots are falling into this pensions trap. It means almost one third of older Scots lose out on money that is rightfully theirs.  At this election, each and every SNP vote will be a vote for a Citizens’ pension without means testing.  The main features of the proposals are:

 

• The SNP will introduce a Citizen’s Pension to provide every pensioner in Scotland with a decent secure income in retirement.

• The Citizen’s Pension will initially be at least 106 pounds a week for a single person and 161 pounds for a couple.

• The Citizen’s Pension will be payable to all pensioners age 65 and over and based on simple residency requirements.

• Future increases to the Citizen’s Pension will rise in line with earnings, to ensure the value of the payment is maintained over time.

• The Citizen’s Pension will be funded by current expenditure on the Basic State Pension, the Pension Credit (and associated administrative costs) and through savings from the reform of tax relief.

If Scotland matters to you, we can win an Oil Windfall Fund – for better public services.  Since 1997, since Labour came to power in London, Scotland has pumped almost £40billion in oil revenues – that’s up to £1000 every year for each and every one of us - into the UK Treasury’s coffers. And we’ve got so little to show for it.

Compare devolved Scotland with independent Norway.  Norway controls its own resources and since 1996 - just the year before New Labour came to power - has invested some of it in a fund that today has grown to almost £80billion. That fund will provide an income for the people of Norway for the rest of time. It is money from oil that will keep Norway wealthy long after the oil has run out.

Two similar nations, sharing a sea and a win on the natural lottery. The big difference is Norway’s independence, an independence that they celebrate the centenary of this year.  But it’s not too late for Scotland. There’s still more than enough to transform our prospects - still more than half the oil and gas in the waters around Scotland remain to be developed. 

It is a windfall that can transform Scotland – if we use it properly. That is why the SNP will create Scotland’s own oil fund, a Windfall Fund for now and for future generations. A fund to put Scotland’s oil where it belongs, under the control of the Scottish Parliament.  Within a few years that fund will produce an income greater than the revenue from North Sea Oil, and as the fund will keep on delivering revenue and better hospitals, schools, roads for Scotland by anchoring our proposals for a public investment trust.  Not a one off boost, squandered by Britain, but long term success for Scotland, with the benefit felt by all of us, our children and their children’s children. It could be our greatest legacy, if it matters enough in May.


 

Over the past few months, the SNP has been doing a lot of research into the views of the people of Scotland. And they have told us that we are the party most trusted to stand up for Scotland at Westminster.  Indeed we are the only party trusted more than the “don’t knows”.   They’ve also told us the words they most associate with the SNP:

Scotland,   Idealism,  Independence,  Vocal,  Sincere,  Open,  Fighters,  Campaigning,   Empowering,  Likeable,  Hard Working,  Democratic

These are strong words and it is up to the SNP to live up to them in this campaign. And yes we are vocal, we are fighters and that is why our success will Save Scotland’s Regiments.  The men and women who stood and faced danger on the front line deserve so much more, so much better than to be stabbed in the back by Labour politicians.


 

The SNP seek a nuclear free future for Scotland and will campaign to achieve it. Together we can save Scotland from Labour’s nuclear nightmare.  Their double dose – son of Trident for the Clyde, and a new nuclear power station, venue yet to be decided.  The combined cost of these follies will run into billions of pounds and they are both unnecessary and dangerous.

It matters to the SNP that the fall out from this new nuclear power station could affect any and every Scottish constituency – new sites for radioactive storage dumps; more toxic waste transported by road and rail; cancer-causing particles in our seas, along our shores and drifting through the air. Higher risks and higher costs long term. And it matters because there is an alternative.

In Scotland we are blessed with a second energy windfall, we are a nation that could win the natural lottery not once, but twice. With 25% of Europe’s wind resources and 10% of Europe’s wave and tidal power, we can power Scotland if we do it right.

But first, we must pull the plug on Britain’s unfair energy charges The government seems to resent it when Scotland has a natural advantage – we see it as an opportunity for us all.  We must stop London Labour from blocking this exciting new industry for Scotland – an industry that could secure our energy needs well into the future, bring new well paid jobs and world-beating skills to every corner of our country and lead the way in fighting one of the biggest battles of our generation, global warming.  SNP success can stop the discrimination - charges that would see a clean green power plant in Skye pay £24 a kilowatt to deliver electricity to the grid, while an old belcher in central London gets £6 of a subsidy.  Scottish jobs and an energy rich future are at stake here; Scotland’s reputation as a source of the finest produce, from land and sea are endangered by Labour’s plans.

Meanwhile at every level SNP elected representatives are flying the flag and campaigning to get the best possible deal for Scottish voters.

Friday 21 January 2005 – For Immediate Release

EXEC DRAWS A VEIL ACROSS SCHOOL DISCIPLINE FAILURES

Shadow Education Minister Ms Fiona Hyslop MSP has today (Friday) accused the Executive of trying to cover up its inadequacies in dealing with classroom violence and indiscipline and challenged Ministers to publish an annual survey on indiscipline so that progress on the issue can be measured.   Ms Hyslop said:

“The Executive is trying to hide the fact that their policy on reducing indiscipline in schools isn’t working.  How can the First Minister say that tackling school discipline is National Priority 2 in education when they have bundled it in with several other issues. .

The Education Minister has said he is “deeply concerned” about violence in Scottish schools and that he needed a “comprehensive picture of what is actually happening in our classrooms”. I find it difficult to see how this will be possible when we have to wait three years to get the facts.  What we need is an annual report to help us hold the Executive to account over its attempts to tackle the issue.

We’re seeing exam results suffering, and we know that the biggest barrier to teaching and learning is currently indiscipline in the classroom and the Minister needs to face up to that.  Indiscipline in schools affects all of our children and it’s time for the Executive to take the matter seriously instead of concentrating solely on covering up its own inadequacies.

Sunday 23rd January 2005

STURGEON - TORY PLANS WOULD ADD TO SCOTLAND'S POPULATION CRISIS

The SNP today hit out at the new Tory immigration policy which would limit the number of migrants and refugees allowed in Scotland, at the same time as Scotland’s population is shrinking.

Following the announcement today that the Conservatives would limit both the number of people fleeing persecution and much needed skilled workers from coming into the country, SNP Deputy Leader Nicola Sturgeon MSP labelled the plans as both intolerant and a disaster waiting to happen to Scotland’s economy.

“This lurch to the right by Michael Howard is a desperate panic measure by a failing Tory leader.

With Scotland projected to lose half a million people over next 40 years, it’s vital that we seek to attract skilled workers here in increasing numbers.  The plans outlined by the Tories today would be disastrous for Scotland and our economy, and would have a similar effect on the thousands of refugees who seek refuge from terror and persecution on our shores.

Only by increasing our population can we grow our economy and compete with other small European countries on an equal basis.  Michael Howard’s policy would tie one hand behind our back when trying to face up to one of Scotland’s key challenges. Scotland should be a welcoming and tolerant country, geared to attract vital skilled workers and protect those fleeing for their lives from elsewhere.

With the Tories and Labour competing on an increasingly right-wing agenda on immigration and asylum, only the SNP can be trusted to stand up for Scotland’s interests.  Only with full control over our immigration policy can we implement a policy of managed migration to benefit all of Scotland in the future.”

Monday 24 January 2005

SNP CALLS ON PENSIONS COMMISSION TO PUSH FOR CITIZEN’S PENSION

‘TIME TO END COSTLY SYSTEM OF MEANS TESTING’

Shadow Scottish Minister for Work & Pensions, Mike Weir MP, has today submitted the Scottish National Party’s response to the First Report of the Pensions Commission. The SNP’s Citizen’s Pension would eliminate means testing, which the SNP believes is an unfair system with an incomplete take-up. It is also expensive with the Department of Work and Pensions estimating that it costs ten times more per case to deliver means tested pension benefits than it does for the Basic State Pension. The Citizen’s Pension would tackle pensioner poverty and provide a solid foundation on which to save for retirement.

Mike Weir MP said:  The current system of pension provision is outdated and inadequate with UK pensions being amongst the least generous in the developed world. One in five of Scotland’s pensioners currently live in poverty.  Much of the problem lies with the unfair system of means testing. It is expensive to run, a means tested pension costs ten times more than the basic state pension to administer and many pensioners do not take up their entitlement.  Women are discriminated against with only 13%, receiving the full basic state pension in their own right, mainly because they take time out in their careers to care for children and other relatives.

The SNP would propose introducing a Citizen’s Pension, payable to all pensioners based on simple residency requirements. The pension would be set at £106 per week for single pensioners and £161 for couples. This would give single pensioners £26.40 a week more than at present and couples £33.75 extra every week.  Pensioners have spent a lifetime working hard and contributing to the wealth of the country. They deserve a decent standard of living.

Wednesday 26 January 2005 

SNP CALLS FOR RETHINK ON EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION

‘DOCUMENT IS NOT RIGHT FOR EUROPE OR SCOTLAND’

The Shadow Scottish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Angus Robertson, has today called for a renegotiation of the European Constitution. His remarks come as the Government publish a question and timetable for the proposed referendum on the European Constitution. Angus Robertson MP said:

“The SNP campaigned long and hard for a Referendum on the European Constitution. This is an important document that will change the way Europe is governed forever. It also provides an opportunity to have a vigorous public debate over Europe’s future.  The European Union is often perceived as being distant from people’s every day lives. It is time for us to make Europe relevant and encourage people to get involved in a debate on how we can make Europe matter and work better for everyone. This Referendum is an ideal way of returning the debate over Scotland’s future relationship with our European partnership to the heart of Scottish political debate.