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Solidarity Rejects the SNP's 'Growth Agenda' |
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The Scottish Government's first budget has set out what they have described as a "growth agenda" for Scotland. In truth what this amounts to is an attack on the most vulnerable and economically weak members of society as the SNP's progressive cloak is pulled back to reveal their neoliberal heart.
Solidarity rejects the idea that creating an entrepreneur-friendly country, with slimmer public services, will lead to prosperity for the people of Scotland.
The SNP cites Ireland as the economic template for a future independent Scotland. For Ireland the reality has been a low-wage economy with privatised public services and poverty levels that have increased year on year. This so-called 'celtic tiger' has devoured jobs and services in a competition for jobs with other low-wage economies. Lower business rates lead to increased profits for businesses and not to job creation or improved pay and conditions for workers.
We call on the SNP government to honour their election pledges. In particular we demand that they honour their pledge to write off student debt and to scrap the Council Tax and replace it with an income-based alternative. To this end, we urge them to consider Tommy Sheridan's proposal for a Scottish Service Tax, compiled in co-operation with leading academics from Paisley University and which will benefit over 80 percent of households in Scotland.
Of the SNP's first budget in Government, Sheridan said:
"The new SNP government is filled with people who, like me, enjoyed the benefits of free university education. It is a disgrace that they will deny that right to those who have been students in recent decades. The repayments of these student loans will go straight to cutting business rates, it is a slap in the face to all those who voted SNP expecting their student debt to be scrapped."
Solidarity is committed to an independent Scotland in which the interests of the many are placed before the interests of the few. New Labour spent the last ten years attacking low paid workers, pensioners, students, and immigrants in Scotland. We urge the SNP not to go down the same path. |
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