 | 'It is wrong to force people who have saved their entire working lives through national insurance contributions to work an extra two or four years before being able to claim their pension. The decision to work past the traditional age of retirement should be a voluntary one, not dictated by government.' Marie Whitehead, 25 th September 2005. |  |
The Scottish Socialist Party is contesting two parliamentary
by-elections to be held on September 29. Its candidates Ñ long-time
local activist Ronnie Stevenson, standing in the Scottish Parliament
seat of Glasgow Cathcart, and trade union activist Steven Nimmo,
standing in the Westminster seat of Livingston - have, like other SSP
candidates, pledged to live on the average skilled workers' wage if
they are elected.
Cathcart became vacant when Labour MSP Mike Watson resigned after
pleading guilty to charges of deliberate fire-raising at an Edinburgh
hotel.
Thousands of jobs in Cathcart stand to be lost with the take-over of
Scottish Power by a German-owned company. In 1991 Scottish Power was
privatised, and has since made billions of pounds of profit while each
winter many Scottish old-age pensioners freeze to death because they
cannot afford the electricity to heat their homes.
In an SSP election broadsheet, Stevenson commented: "Like our
railways, Scottish Power was plundered from the public sector by the
Tories. I'm calling for all Glasgow MPs and MSPs to back a campaign to
safeguard jobs by returning the company to public ownership. Instead
of massive profits for international shareholders, we should be
slashing fuel bills for pensioners and other low-income households."
The September 16 Scottish Socialist Voice quoted Stevenson as saying:
"There has been a big response from the party to the opportunity
presented by the by-election to get across our key policies on jobs,
poverty and stopping the imperialist war in Iraq."
The UK parliamentary seat of Livingston was left vacant by the death
of former Labour cabinet minister Robin Cook. The SSP's Steven Nimmo
has been campaigning against service cuts at local hospitals and in
support of striking transport union workers at local bus company
FirstBus Edinburgh and Midland.
On the SSP by-election weblog, Nimmo wrote: "The SSP is the only party
that has consistently opposed the war in Iraq and calls for the troops
to be brought home now. A vote for the SSP in this election is a vote
against the Iraq war and is a vote against the lies of Tony Blair. Our
campaign will also centre around our proposals that will affect the
people of Livingston's lives on a day-to-day basis.
"Throughout the campaign I aim to bring into focus our flagship
policies of scrapping the council tax, abolishing prescription charges
and for the introduction of free nutritious school meals. With these
things in mind I'm asking the people of Livingston, not just to vote
against Blair and his lies but to vote for the kind of society they
want to live in."
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